Logo image
Back
From clinical to judicial decision-making, and back again in Bell v. Tavistock? Preparing for the legacy of court involvement in gender care for minors
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

From clinical to judicial decision-making, and back again in Bell v. Tavistock? Preparing for the legacy of court involvement in gender care for minors

Fae Garland, Ed Horowicz, Georgina Dimopoulos and Michelle Taylor-Sands
Medical law international, Vol.23(3), pp.209-240
09/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/09685332231180037
pdf
From clinical to judicial decision-making, and back again in Bell v. Tavistock? Preparing for the legacy of court involvement in gender care for minors234.58 kBDownloadView
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0,  Open Access
url
From clinical to judicial decision-making, and back again in Bell v. Tavistock? Preparing for the legacy of court involvement in gender care for minorsView
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0,  Open

Related links

Metrics

138 File views/ downloads
39 Record Views

Abstract

gender-diversity children Judicial decision-making consent children’s rights transgender
Gender care for minors in England has recently been scrutinised by the courts and is currently undergoing significant transformation, shifting away from the long-standing centralised service provision model. Alongside this change, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health has recently published Version 8 of its Standard of Care, which introduces radical changes that shift away from age restrictions on medical interventions. This article considers what role judicial decision-making could, or should, play in this new era of healthcare provision for adolescent gender care, especially since Bell v. Tavistock. Despite Bell seemingly returning decision-making to clinicians, patients, and their families, we argue that the decision has left the door open in a way that threatens the autonomy and rights of gender diverse children. Through a comparative analysis with Australian case law, we demonstrate how and why uncertainties left by Bell may in fact lead to continued court involvement. Finally, we suggest several pragmatic responses that may mitigate the risk of unnecessary and time-consuming court involvement.

Details

Logo image