In a shocking move, a Victorian gender clinic has sought funding to perform irreversible and radical surgery on teenage girls. Philip Morris, president of the National Association of Practising Psychiatrists has spoken against the move and has urged extreme caution.

The country’s biggest gender clinic at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne has asked for more public money to start double mastectomies on girls under 17 who identify as male, with director Michelle Telfer claiming in July 2019 that “chest reconstructive surgery” improves mental health.

The data simply does not support this assertion with corrections and apologies being made in relation to a 2019 study that falsely reported mental health was improved with radical treatments.

On August 1, the American journal published a correction, an editorial and letters from a dozen psychiatrists, clinicians and researchers in four countries identifying multiple flaws in the 2019 paper, with the conclusion that the data showed no improvement in mental health after surgery or hormonal treatment.

The correction said the authors agreed “with many of the points raised” after the letters triggered statistical reviews. They reanalysed the data, and found “no advantage” for mental health after surgery.

Paul McHugh, former chief psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore stated that gender activists would need to be “a lot more cautious” when making scientific claims because “they’ll know people are watching”.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt had previously ruled out a parliamentary inquiry into radical gender treatments but has since asked state ministers to conduct a review. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has initiated a review that is already underway, but no comments or findings are available yet.

Binary spokeswoman, Kirralie Smith, commended Philip Norris for speaking out.

“Biological science and medical practices must not become politicised. Children’s health and well-being is at risk when activists misrepresent studies and skew data to suit their own agenda. Medical practitioners have a duty to expose the deceptive practices employed by some so-called experts.”

“It is now up to state health ministers to ensure the reviews are balanced and accurate and not hijacked by the radical gender agenda.”