Mick Hartley

Doctors are not happy with the BMA. Good news from the Times:

The British Medical Association is being criticised by doctors and NHS leaders for its “unethical” demand for children to be given puberty blockers.

The doctors’ union announced last week that it would oppose the implementation of recommendations in a report by Dr Hilary Cass, which called for an overhaul of services for children wanting to change gender. At a meeting that critics described as secretive, the BMA’s governing council passed a motion calling for a “critique” of the Cass review and arguing it is discriminatory to stop prescribing sex hormones to children.

But the decision angered medical leaders and doctors, including many of the union’s 195,000 members. They have organised an open letter saying that the BMA’s “unacceptable” stance “does not reflect the views of the wider membership”.

The letter, addressed to Professor Philip Banfield, chairman of the BMA, says: “We write as doctors to say, ‘not in my name’. We are extremely disappointed that the BMA council has passed a motion to conduct a ‘critique’ of the Cass review and to lobby to oppose its recommendations.

“The passing of the motion was opaque and secretive. It does not reflect the views of the wider membership, whose opinion you did not seek. We understand that no information will be released on the voting figures and how council members voted. That is a failure of accountability to members and simply not acceptable.”

The letter goes on to say that implementing the Cass review is essential to ensuring children get appropriate care, and it “is the most comprehensive review into healthcare for children with gender related distress ever conducted”.

It urges the BMA to “abandon its pointless exercise” of critiquing the Cass review, adding: “By lobbying against the best evidence we have, the BMA is going against the principles of evidence-based medicine and against ethical practice.”

Well said. The BMA has disgraced itself, allowing trans ideology to overrule clinical evidence. First do no harm.