It was the role of doctors, not courts, to decide if a child under 16 was capable of consenting to drugs that pause puberty, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales said in its ruling.
The case was brought by 24-year-old Keira Bell, who says she regretted taking puberty blockers at 16 and cross-sex hormones at 17, and an unnamed mother.
Their case – a first in Britain – inflamed divisions globally over how best to treat children who are transgender or questioning their gender.
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which runs England’s only youth gender clinic, welcomed the decision. “It affirms that it is for doctors, not judges, to decide on the capacity of under-16s to consent to medical treatment,” a spokesperson said in an