A doctor's unwavering conviction
Dr Helen Webberley on The Dr Hilary Show: ten years of GenderGP, with Dr Hilary Jones, The Dr Hilary Show
Doctors who speak up for trans patients are driven by ideology or a cause they chose. They weighed it up, decided it was worth the risk, and stepped forward. It was a considered position.
That is not how it happened for me. I did not decide to become an advocate. I decided to be a good doctor, and being a good doctor meant I could not stop. Once you have looked someone in the eye and helped them, you cannot un-see what happens when that help is taken away. The parapet metaphor is right: once your head is up, it is up. What kept me there was not bravery or politics. It was knowing, in the plainest possible way, that what I was doing was right. That is a surprisingly solid thing to stand on when everything else is loud and frightening.
