Children's Hospital Boston Launches Sex Change Program For Kids

Children's Hospital Boston Launches Sex Change Program For Kids

www.boston.com

Dr. Norman Spack, who is a pediatric endocrinologist, started a new clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, with the goal of delaying puberty in children so they can decide whether they want a male or a female body.
The clinic that Spack started is called the Gender Management Service Clinic, where kids as young as 10-12 for girls and 12-14 for boys, are given drugs to stop puberty from hitting.

(visit the link for the full news article)

In an interview done at Boston Globe, Spack is asked, "At what age do you give kids drugs to delay puberty?"

His answer was, "The puberty-blocking drugs work best at the beginning of the pubital process, typically age 10 to 12 for a girl and 12 to 14 for a boy. Stopping puberty is, in itself, a diagnostic test. If a girl starts to experience breast budding and feels like cutting herself, then she's probably transgendered. If she feels immediate relief on the [puberty-blocking] drugs, that confirms the diagnosis."

How do you expect a child of twelve to make such far-reaching decisions . Its absolutely criminal what is happening to children today, all thanks to over zealous doctors and shrinks.

Just when you think things couldn't get any more bizarre, another day dawns and it does.


www.boston.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 20-4-2008 by Master_Wii]

No minor that age can give informed consent to any medical procedure.,as laws encouraging minors to get treatment for STDs without fear of parental notification. Now I'm wondering, how many states have laws authorizing 12-year-olds to give informed consent to the hormonal part of sex change procedures with irreversible consequences? Not sure how in the hell the hospital and the doctors can keep their malpractice insurance with this act. Oh well let the lawsuits begin.....

Just another example of the "anything goes" sickness that is infiltrating the U.S. How many kids will needlessly have their lives screwed up by parents that are either afraid to say "no" to their narcissistic children, or who by some genetic/mental defect of their own, think this is actually a good thing?

I was attacked for pointing this out on the thread about a publicly funded islamic school, but people take a look at where things like this make their first appearances. It is always in a "liberal" state such as California, New York, or in this case Massachussetts - the first state (only?) that legalized gay marriage.

I'll take traditional values any day over trash medicine such as this.

From the same source:


Oh, it couldn't be a psychological problem, now, couldn't it? There is absolutely no chance whatsoever that some screwed up family situation has confused these children as to what role they play in society? I assume from the article that no other cause has even been considered for these poor children, since none is mentioned.

Has any thought been given to the fact that brain neurotransmitters are different in developed males and females? How about brain development itself? Both are proven. But no, just change the hormone levels and everything will be OK. The H*** with science, we have technology!

So now a minor child, prepubescent child, a child so young they do not even have the concept of sex yet, is allowed to make such a decision? They are not old enough to take medicine without parentla supervision, and are not even able to take some medicines period, but they can decide to go under the knife of one quack-pot who has somehow deluded himself into thinking this is God's work? (read the end of page 2 for that little reference.)

We don't need more health care in the US, we need more psychiatric care for the health providers! Sheesh! I gotta have another cigarette...

Is it just me, or does ATS lead to increased smoking?

TheRedneck

Originally posted by TheRedneck

We don't need more health care in the US, we need more psychiatric care for the health providers! Sheesh! I gotta have another cigarette...

Is it just me, or does ATS lead to increased smoking?

TheRedneck

Lol, I don't know Redneck, I have'nt started smoking yet, maybe I should leave ATS just in case lol.
Yep we live in a sick little world where just about anything goes, soon it will be lawful for a man to marry an animal, we do know our pets love us and we love them, so why not marry them? There has even been a sick excuse for pediphiles now, some people claim that pediphiles just love children, so what now? Are we going to allow sickos to marry little girls or little boys? This may happen someday soon, and the minorities that support it will brutally attack you and so will the media if you contest it. That my friend is the kinda world we live in, a world that calls evil good, and good evil.

-Jimmy

Sounds like it's just the market satisfying a legitimate demand. Ironic to see the free market demonstrated so well in Massachusetts. If the treatment works and ends the suffering of these children when other options have failed, hurray. There's also a touch of natural selection here as it is stated the treatment likely renders the patients sterile. Even with all our technology, evolution is a powerful force. Don't get in its way.

Here is the bottom line, Boston Childrens has had this really undeserved reputation as being the Best Childrens hospital in the US. Recently they have been bounced from the ranking by Childrens of Phillidelphia and this may be some cheap publicity stunt designed to grab headlines. They could not find some conjoined twin to separate so they go this route.

Im going to do some digging to see where this guy is getting his grant money from. Its a bit much IMHO and I work at a top ranked childrens hospital myself.

The Gender Management Service (GeMS) Clinic at Children's Hospital Boston is a new multidisciplinary clinic that treats the medical and psychosocial issues of infants, children, adolescents and young adults with disorders of sexual differentiation (DSDs).

We are also the first major program in the United States that not only treats disorders of sexual differentiation, but also works with transgendered children and young adults.

www.childrenshospital.org...

What are DSDs?
DSDs, or Disorders of Sexual Differentiation, refer to medical conditions where average sexual development does not occur. DSDs can include genitourinary or hormonal disorders, medical issues that may make it difficult to determine a child's sex or conditions that interfere with a patient's sexual and reproductive function.
What are some examples of DSDs?
Examples of DSDs include:

ambiguous genitalia
androgen insensitivity
congenital adrenal hyperplasia
hypospadias and epispadias
intersex disorders
Klinefelter Syndrome
transgender issues
Turner Syndrome
vaginal agenesis and MRKH

This is interesting to say the least. Transgenderism is a real thing, but I wonder if some of these kids are just a little to young to really know that they are transgendered or not.

[edit on 20-4-2008 by Master_Wii]

We maybe I shouldl take all my kids to Boston!!!(joke)

14yo Son- Wants long hair, in a pony tail. What I say! Yep in a pony tail. Why??? Van Damn wears his hair in a pony tail mom, he is sooo cool!

Two months later mom I want my hair cut to look like Jet Li.

Ok no gender problems with him, maybe my 9yo girl has a problem.

9yo girl- wants six shooters, cowboy boots and a cowboy hat in the morning and then she comes out dressed in a toto and makeup in the afternoon.

Oh No wait Dr. Spack I figured it all out myself. They are kids, they are just playing. Nevermind.

I have known some people in this situation in my life, and it's not fun for them.

It's important to remember that some of these kids are not just "transsexuals", but what they call "intersexed" - they are born with ambiguous physical sexual characteristics, and they are raised as "whatever the doctors' best guess is" - which is not always what they identify as growing up.

Once they hit puberty, it can be pretty rough, so I think this is a program that will do some good.

It is not a "sex change program", despite the title, because it does not do sex change surgery or anything permanent - it just delays puberty so these kids have some time to figure out who they are.

I can't side with the traditionalists here at all - the old way of dealing with kids like this left a lot of them permanently mentally damaged.

This is a much more sensible way of dealing with what is basically a medical problem, despite all the cultural baggage.

reply to post by Master_Wii



I am confused, how will stopping puberty for a while change if you are male or female? I had a penis when I was born. Therefore, I was born male. Same with females born with vaginas. I'm not trying to attack transgendered people, I'm just confused as to how halting puberty will suddenly change ones gender.

Originally posted by xmotex
I can't side with the traditionalists here at all - the old way of dealing with kids like this left a lot of them permanently mentally damaged.

Right. Sounds like they are already "mentally damaged". And like this "new" way of dealing with this "problem" doesn't have the potential to do that and a lot worse if kids are mistakenly put in the program, or it really isn't what a kid needed. Our whole legal system is based on the premise that better a guilty person goes free than an innocent is prosecuted. I think the same logic should apply here before we start shipping our kids off to be drugged into gender choices. Anyone remember ritalin?

If this is a natural thing, it must have been going on since the dawn of history. Oh how did all those past "victims" cope with such a problem?

This is a much more sensible way of dealing with what is basically a medical problem, despite all the cultural baggage.

Medical as in PSYCHOLOGICAL problem, not hormonal problem. "Sensible", as in just another way deal with one of life's so-called problems by giving someone drugs. It's all so much more neat and tidy that way. Here take these pills so you won't be a burden on your parents and society ...

This is so wrong in so many ways. Again, anything goes for some people around here. Truly anything goes. Question for you. Is there really any limit to what you will support being done to our kids? Is NAMBLA OK, too? How about that commune in Texas that's been in the news, OK with that, too?

[edit on 4/21/2008 by centurion1211]

Originally posted by Finn1916
reply to post by Master_Wii

 

I am confused, how will stopping puberty for a while change if you are male or female? I had a penis when I was born. Therefore, I was born male. Same with females born with vaginas. I'm not trying to attack transgendered people, I'm just confused as to how halting puberty will suddenly change ones gender.

Dear confused. Stay on the line. One of the "anything goes" crowd will be with you shortly to recommend a course of drug therapy for you.

reply to post by centurion1211

Yes, anything goes. That's called "freedom." It's not your life. It's the lives of these children and the decision of their parents to try a new treatment for a medical problem that until now has seen little success with conventional treatments.

Sexual identity disorders are legitimate and usually go untreated leading to a host of other problems. Everything from hermaphrodites to transgenders qualify. You are aware of hermaphrodites, yes? People born with sexual organs of both sexes? They go both ways. (haha!) Sometimes they decide to be male. Sometimes they decide to be female. Sexing is much more than whether or not your sex organs dangle. It is a complex interaction of processes and when some of them get screwed up during development you end up with girls in boys bodies and so on. If there is an Intelligent Designer, he got his engineering degree at a community college.

Usually these people just get written off as being gays that like dressing up in the clothing of the opposite sex. Some are, but some actually feel like something is wrong and they're more comfortable living as that person.

When these identity conflicts arise in childhood they can lead to self mutilation, drug abuse, and suicide. The old way of dealing with this not only left them mentally damaged, it left them addicted to psych drugs or dead. Because you come from a biased perspective and are disgusted by the reality these people live you condemn a treatment that could end their suffering?

Because of the serious permanent impact this treatment has it should be a last resort option. But now that that option exists it must be available. Who knows... one day you might want a feather instead of that plume.


reply to post by Finn1916

Besides the obvious differences males and females are pretty much the same until puberty begins and hormones start telling the body how to develop. In males for example testosterone starts the growth of facial hair, triggers growth spurts (both vertically and horizontally), lowers the voice and promotes muscle growth. Blocking it causes the body to develop more like a female's.

Originally posted by apc
Besides the obvious differences males and females are pretty much the same until puberty begins and hormones start telling the body how to develop.

Anyone, I mean anyone who has ever had a child, or even spent some time around children knows the above statment is totally false. Therefore, I challenge you to try and back it up by showing us some real research that agrees with what you said. Not junk science from one "doctor" in Boston, but something from like the Mayo Clinic, stc.

reply to post by apc


Whateva fella. This is crap science and that is it. It is another excuse for people to play God. It is the most absurd thing I have ever seen discussed on this site. Gender reassignment for children!!!! Stay away from my children.

Originally posted by apc
reply to post by centurion1211

 

Yes, anything goes. That's called "freedom." It's not your life.

One of the more foolish, short-sighted and naive posts I've ever seen on ATS.

Yes, there is freedom, but there are also laws, traditions and common sense. You have freedom of speech, but that doesn't mean you can yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater as a joke.

It's not my life, but it could be the life of my kids and their kids - or yours. You all love conspiracy theories, so how about this one: The "treatment" we are discussing gains the acceptance of the government (many of you are soooooo afraid of) - but more likely a liberal state such as California or Massachussetts - and your kids are forced to submit to the "treatment" in order to be allowed into school - like vaccinations are forced on kids today.

There's your "freedom" ...

X 100 followed by a

[edit on 4/21/2008 by centurion1211]

I don't know if anyone actually read the article. It sounds like everyone read the OP and went on their rant.

First, this is only delaying puberty to make it easier for children to have a choice in their lives. Yes, we can make choices, and yes, we can decide what gender fits us best. We can decide if we want that although I was born with a penis, it's not really for me, and before my voice goes deep and balls drop I want to have a say.

Second, the gender reassignment part is not solely the decision of the 12 year old. This decision takes place between the practicing doctor, the parents or caregiver of the child, the child's psychiatrist (not Psychologist) and of course the child. It's a decision that takes months to make, and is not as light a decision as hair color piercings.

reply to post by centurion1211


Are you implying that it will become a forced practice to have your children's gender changed in order to go to school or travel, like vaccines?

Wow buddy, that's a bit silly if you ask me, and counter to the point of the procedure.

Just wait until everyone is forced to have a lobotomy before we're allowed to post on ATS! This is the first step!!