Phenton Harker

Written Testimony in Support of SB 520 Senate Bill 520 – Relative to Breast Surgeries for Minors House Committee on Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs Submitted by P. Travis Harker, MD, MPH Family Physician, Manchester New Hampshire I write in support of SB 520, which restores a narrow but meaningful exception to New Hampshire’s current prohibition on breast surgery for minors — specifically, permitting the procedure when elected by the minor in consultation with her primary care physician. As a family physician with more than two decades of clinical practice and medical education experience, I believe this bill reflects something fundamental about how good medicine works: it begins with a trusting relationship between a patient and her doctor. The existing law, as written, removes the primary care physician from a decision that is deeply personal and medically significant. SB 520 puts that physician back in the room. It does not mandate any procedure. It does not bypass families. It simply recognizes that a minor, in consultation with her own doctor — the clinician who knows her history, her values, and her circumstances — may be best positioned to make this decision with appropriate medical guidance. This is not a radical proposition. It is the foundation of patient-centered care. Legislators are concerned about protecting minors from potential harm. I share that concern. But medicine also requires us to recognize that withholding care can itself cause harm — physical, psychological, and developmental. Blanket prohibitions that prevent physicians from exercising clinical judgment do not protect patients; they abandon them. SB 520 is a carefully scoped bill. It adds a single, limited exception to an otherwise restrictive statute. It preserves the role of the primary care physician as a trusted partner in the decision. It honors the patient’s voice without removing appropriate medical oversight. I urge the Committee to recommend SB 520 for passage. Respectfully submitted, P. Travis Harker, MD, MPH