A warning shot gets fired across the bows of NZ’s ‘gender-affirming care’ clinics.
The prescribing of puberty blockers for minors gets a warning, but not from the expected authorities.
The private group Inflection Point NZ did what our public health service should have done a long time ago. They consulted a lawyer, who, on their behalf, sent warning letters to more than 20 different medical practices and establishments, about the potential for malpractice litigation due to prescribing, or promoting the use of, puberty blockers for minors. Included in the letters’ recipients was the Royal College of GPs, as well as psychology and psychiatry practices.
Inflection Point is a group with quiet clout who works against the harms of gender ideology, largely behind the scenes, so far. This has caused some consternation in the world of those who’d like to roundly abuse them, as it’s not known where their vituperation should go. However, in May 2024 Inflection Point did go public and organised a conference called UNSILENCED, which was a huge success. It also caused a ridiculous, but not entirely unexpected, amount of upset amongst ‘progressives’. As its name implies, UNSILENCED was an event where gender critical speakers, whom mainstream media routinely silence, could have a voice.
At this point in time, neither Inflection Point nor their law firm, Franks Ogilvie, are releasing any of the letters, which were sent to the various medical practices and establishments, for public consumption. They expect they will be able to do that about mid next week, and I will re-publish them on this blog. In the meantime, what I write here is what has already been posted online or in news articles.
Besides the eye-watering number to date of two complaints to the NZ Law Society and one to the Police about Ogilvie Franks’ letters, Health NZ got into a fine state of umbrage about them, too. Their chief medical officer, Professor Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard, wrote to the recipients of the letters (not sure how she knew who they were) acknowledging they were “distressing” and “threatening” in tone. She assured practitioners that “The organisation and its legal team would support you and take the lead in responding to any complaints or legal proceedings issued in relation to that care. You would also have access to individual legal support from your own professional indemnity insurer.” I have a feeling that malpractice insurers may be a little more cautious than Health NZ about the ‘full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes’ approach.
The Ministry of Health also appears to have adopted a more cautious approach since the letters were sent out. Online chat mentions at least one hospital has put an informal pause on prescribing puberty blockers, due to the latest Ministry of Health advice recently received. Stephen Franks of Franks Ogilvie says that his client, Inflection Point, has only done what the Ministry of Health itself should have done in issuing a letter which warns of the risks of avoidable and irreversible harm from puberty blockers to minors who believe they are gender dysphoric, if practitioners do not ensure they have an up to date understanding of the evidence on the balance between the benefit and harm.
Mr Franks says not only were they informed by their client, but also by the Ministry of Health’s own evidence brief when it opened a public consultation on puberty blockers late last year. Suggestions that the letters are threatening or intimidating are wrong and hysterical in nature, he has said, and they are only a warning for the benefit of practitioners, seeing as they are clearly not getting it from the expected authorities.
This is despite the fact that numerous overseas authorities have stopped or restricted prescribing puberty blockers for minors, indicating that evidence for doing so is well established. Yet we are dragging the chain here in New Zealand on doing the same. Why? I’m not alone in surmising that the neo-rainbow and TQ+ lobby groups have got a choke-hold on our public service, not least by having indoctrinated staff and managers in decision-making positions. Neither does our coalition government as a body seem willing to take a stand against the alarmingly high rate of prescribing them here compared to other countries, before those countries put the brakes on. Winston Peters of NZ First seems to be the only leader of a political party in Parliament who has the gumption to say anything. In 2022, he spoke of what he foresaw coming as a result of the way we prescribe puberty blockers: “You watch, in years to come countless future court cases from young children and teens who were never given the time or chance to make the decision themselves. It’s criminal! Someone has to stand for them”. (https://x.com/2eteka/status/1894888655795183763)
The usual neo-rainbow and TQ+ lobby groups were asked for commentary about the letter from Franks Ogilvie of behalf of Inflection Point, and without fail they scrabbled to protect their vested interests via expressions of dire consequences for kids if they can’t get puberty blockers. After all, these lobbyists’ jobs rely on being able to sell gender ideology to gullible funders, so they won’t be changing their tune voluntarily.
Inflection Point have fired the first serious warning shot here about the harms of puberty blockers, which will result in some doubling-down for their retention, of course. However, that shot can’t be taken back. It’s gone, and there will be reverberations.
Greatly appreciate your work and words.
Well thank God for this at last and health nz needs to slide away into their own murk! Please make it quick! Thank you for a sparkle of light appearing on the horizon 🙏