The U.K. High Court issued a landmark ruling on Dec. 1 requiring doctors to seek a court order before administering puberty-blocking drugs to children under 16. The plaintiff, Keira Bell, 23, argued the Tavistock Center did not adequately warn her as a teenager of the irreversible damages of such hormone treatment. The judges said doctors failed to provide adequate scientific basis for the treatment or explain their long-term effects on children. They also chastised the center for its lack of record-keeping, including tracking the proportion of children who go on to take cross-sex hormones.
