.jpg){kind=link}
The policy change comes after a whistleblower revealed that gender-confused children were recommended for hormones and surgery almost by default.
A hospital in deep-blue Washington state is discreetly rolling back its policy of providing sex-change hormone therapy to children and will instead require more due diligence from medical providers who prescribe gender-dysphoria treatment after a whistleblower revealed that kids were being fast-tracked to receive the life-altering interventions.
MultiCare’s Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, located in Tacoma, Washington, will be adopting a “holistic approach” to minors who experience gender confusion starting in September, according to an internal memo to board members obtained by the independent media outlet unDivided.
“As a result of our review – and based on the best clinical evidence available today – we will enhance our holistic approach to gender-affirming health care for adolescents,” read the hospital’s July 17 letter to board members, titled “Updates to Mary Bridge Children’s gender health services.”
“Based on the most up-to-date science, we believe this enhanced approach will provide the best and safest course of treatment for our young patients.”
The decision comes after former MultiCare therapist Tamara Pietzke went public with her testimony that she was effectively told to “throw out” her patient training when dealing with a young person diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Asked for comment, Multicare confirmed that it is instituting the “holistic approach” but did not fully distance itself from so-called gender-affirming care.
“As a result of our review – and backed by the best clinical evidence and science available today – we will enhance our holistic approach to gender-affirming health care for adolescents,” the hospital said.
”Our new, integrated, multi-disciplinary team includes experts in endocrinology, adolescent medicine, behavioral health and social work,” the facility added. “This team will take a judicious approach to providing care and will work collaboratively with families to support their needs. Mary Bridge Children’s has not and does not provide gender-affirming surgeries.”
Pietzke witnessed an urgency to medicalize gender-distressed youth, potentially causing irreversible damage to their healthy bodies, rather than first addressing any psychological co-morbidities or pre-existing conditions possibly at the root of their confusion.
“No matter the patient’s history or other mental health conditions that could be complicating the situation, I was simply to affirm that the patient was transgender, and even approve the start of a medical transition,” she wrote in a story published by the Free Press.
With the new strategy, the hospital said it will consult “experts in behavioral health, endocrinology, adolescent medicine, and social work” to decide on treatment plans for gender-dysphoric kids. Rather than shutting out parents from the process — a practice that detransitioners say has been embraced by many gender clinics — the hospital pledged that it will “work collaboratively with families to support their needs.”
In her interview with the Free Press, Pietzke detailed how she was instructed to refer a 13-year-old girl to undergo gender interventions despite her having a turbulent background that included an extremely disruptive home life and exposure to pornographic content.
The teen patient revealed to Pietzke that her mom tried to kill her sister, that she watched adult movies at home, that her mother had participated in bestiality, and that she herself would “age regress” and sit in front of the TV for hours, watching Teletubbies and sucking on her thumb. She also wore a “furry” costume at school, dressing up like an animal.
Former pediatric gender clinician Jamie Reed in 2023 similarly blew the whistle on so-called gender affirming care at Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. The New York Times seven months later confirmed core elements of her story, most notably that a substantial number of adolescent patients were prescribed testosterone treatments before their underlying mental-health issues were addressed. Moreover, the St. Louis clinic exhibited a categoric lack of record-keeping and patient tracking.