Medicine does not work from one case
Dr Helen Webberley on Robby Starbuck: transition and children, Robby Starbuck
One person's bad experience is enough to shut down care for everyone. If a detransitioner regrets surgery, that proves the whole system is broken and nobody should be treated.
Medicine has never worked that way, and it shouldn't start now. We base clinical decisions on research across many, many cases, not on a single story, however painful that story is. I understand why one person's regret feels urgent and real, because it is, but the logic that follows, that therefore no one should receive care, would not survive five seconds in any other area of medicine. One severe allergic reaction does not mean we ban nuts. One surgical complication does not mean we abandon surgery. The people who benefit from gender-affirming care are not a footnote to the people who don't, and they deserve to be counted too.
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