WASHINGTON—Dr. Eithan Haim, a surgeon from Texas, said some physicians cannot handle the shock of realizing that prescribing drugs or performing surgeries for youth with gender dysphoria can cause harm.
Haim said such doctors “have to grow a spine” and speak out about this alleged malpractice in the medical community. He said it turns vulnerable youth into “chronic medical patients.”
“Self-reflection for them would be self-immolation,” Haim said in a March 12 interview with Jan Jekielek on NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times. “Their souls, I don’t think, could survive that reality, that truth. So they lie to themselves.”
Those charges were dropped shortly after the election of President Donald Trump.
Haim was a guest panelist at a recent Capitol Hill forum highlighting detransitioners—individuals who have undergone gender transition procedures but have since chosen to halt those procedures or attempt to reverse them.
The panel, hosted by detransition advocacy group Genspect, was held on March 12, Detrans Awareness Day. Established in 2021, Detrans Awareness Day honors the experiences of detransitioners and raises awareness about the harmful effects of gender ideology and “gender medicine.”
Speaking during the panel, Dr. Patrick Hunter, a pediatrician, said he is “not optimistic” that doctors will change their minds about “gender-affirming care” unless motivated by public scrutiny and the threat of legal and financial action.
“Make them defend themselves, that will damage their reputation, and help save kids,” he said.
Dr. Patrick Lappert, a plastic surgeon, told attendees that hormone therapies can be reversed, but many “below-the-belt” surgeries cannot, leaving patients disfigured and unable to conceive children. These detransitioners may also experience kidney, bladder, and bowel problems.
Surgical assistance to detransitioners after such surgeries involves “managing the complications of what they’ve done in the past,” Lappert said.
Underlying Psychological Trauma
The detransitioners who spoke at the event said their decision to undergo gender changes was preceded by psychological trauma, sometimes involving family problems.Laura Becker said that while growing up, she suffered psychological and emotional abuse from her father. The 28-year-old artist and author said her father’s behavior was “very damaging.” It left her feeling worthless and considering suicide.
She said her doctor and therapists diagnosed her as transgender without addressing her family situation, drug abuse, or suicidal thoughts.
“I wasn’t being accepted by my own family, and when I found gender ideology ... I believed it because I didn’t have any other framework besides self-hate,” she said.
“My identity was self-hate. That’s what transgenderism is.”
Forrest Smith, who underwent hormone therapy, received breast implants, and had his testicles removed, said his gender dysphoria was preceded by an addiction to online pornography, which began when he was a child.
The 28-year-old said the addiction quickly spun out of control. It resulted in a compulsion to view increasingly more deviant material, which disgusted him but had an iron grip on his young mind.
“It was really ugly, and I really look back and think there were pedophiles on the other side of that,” he said.
After years of shame and trauma, Smith said the prospect of gender transition seemed like a “spiritual” transformation that would help him break free of his self-loathing. He was presented with “total affirmation therapy” by doctors and psychologists, but he said none of these professionals asked, “Where does this come from?”
He was offered the chance to be placed on a waiting list to receive breast implants.
“If I hesitated, they would say, ‘Well, you'll have a year to make up your mind and it’s free, so why not just get on a waitlist?’” he said.
Smith also said some of the physicians seemed conflicted about their own work. When he decided to cancel his breast implant surgery, the surgeon told him he was making the right choice and that he thought that many of his own patients were making a mistake.
However, Smith eventually did have the surgery, as well as an orchiectomy to remove his testicles. Although he has since had the breast implants removed—a procedure his insurance refused to cover—his lower body surgery cannot be reversed.
“And of course, as soon as I start to question my transgender identity, the therapeutic profession doesn’t want to touch me,“ he said. ”It’s hands-off.”
California native Abel Garcia said his therapist never mentioned his childhood trauma until he decided to detransition. Before that, he said, it was like being on a “conveyor belt.” He had reached out to a therapist for help because he was confused about his gender identity. The therapist quickly told him that he was transgender.
Garcia told one medical professional that he did not want his genitals altered, a procedure commonly referred to as “bottom surgery.” He said he was fast-tracked for it—and for breast implants—anyway.
“Now, luckily, I only did get the implants,” he said.
The same therapist later tried to discourage him from detransitioning, he said.
