![]() “I don’t think there has been any case that has tested a policy or practice in this way. He acknowledged that the case would break new ground. It simply doesn’t compute, and therefore whatever medical professionals say is consent is not valid in law.” We say it is a leap too far to think that Gillick as a judgment could apply to this type of scenario, where a young person is being offered a treatment with lifelong consequences when they are at a stage of emotional and mental vulnerability. Two years later the House of Lords affirmed the doctors’ right, ruling that “the parental right to determine whether or not their minor child below the age of 16 will have medical treatment terminates if and when the child achieves sufficient understanding and intelligence to fully understand what is proposed”.īut Conrathe said the “Gillick competence” test should not apply when it comes to gender reassignment: “The issue is whether the young person is of sufficient maturity and capacity to understand the consequences of their actions. In 1983, Victoria Gillick, a Roman Catholic mother of 10, challenged the right of doctors to prescribe contraception to girls under the age of 16 without their parents’ permission or even knowledge. Conrathe suggested the legal action would be “pressing the case of Gillick to its breaking point”. cannot be delivered as a matter of general approach”. Providing this treatment – puberty blocking and cross-sex hormones – to any young person who wants them requires, he argues, “a specific order of the court on a case-by-case basis. “We are essentially seeking to say that the provision at the Tavistock for young people up to the age of 18 is illegal because there isn’t valid consent,” said Paul Conrathe, a solicitor with Sinclairslaw, which is representing Evans and the mother. At the heart of the case is the provision of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to young people who wish to transition or are considering doing so.
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