Aida Cerundolo

Children are by definition cognitively immature. It is impossible to obtain true informed consent from a child for irreversible medical and surgical interventions that involve the disruption of healthy physiology and bodily functions. An understanding of the functions that have been altered or lost is unlikely to be fully grasped by a child until maturity, which may be years after the interventions were performed. It is equally impossible for a clinician to definitively diagnose a child with transgenderism that persists into adulthood. These two major ethical and logistical shortcomings of pediatric gender-affirming interventions practically guarantee misdiagnosis and poor outcomes. No other medical field allows for the intentional disruption of children’s healthy physiology or body parts. Given this departure from standard clinical practice, patients who have been harmed by pediatric gender interventions should have an extended statute of limitations to seek restitution for harms they have suffered.