Tallahassee — Two new doctors appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to the Florida Medical Commission are doctors in Orlando and Jacksonville. oppose widely accepted medicine for them.
The appointment, announced Wednesday, comes a month after the state medical board voted to ban Florida doctors from prescribing gender-affirming treatments such as hormone-blocking drugs and surgery. . They are subject to approval by the Senate.
The appointment was announced the same day the 28-day comment period on the new rule from Chief Surgeon Joseph Radapo ended before the rule went into effect. This rule applies only to those seeking new treatment, not those currently receiving treatment.
“Now it seems that being transphobic is a prerequisite for the medical board,” said State Representative Anna Escamani, D-Orlando. “When I saw who they were, it was clear that that was the only motive for appointing them.”
She said these were life-threatening policies driven by “ideological beliefs that transgender people don’t exist.”
This policy impedes medical decisions between parents, children, and their health care providers, leaving parents with the final say on whether to mask and vaccinate their children against COVID-19. She said it was the exact opposite of the government’s stance of having.
The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DeSantis has named Matthew Benson, Ph.D., pediatric endocrinologist at Nemours Children’s Health in Jacksonville and Gregory Coffman, Ph.D., pediatrician at Orlando Health Physicians.
Coffman, who has practiced for nearly 30 years, wrote to the medical board in September urging them to protect children from this “misguided and harmful affirmative care model.”
“I never had a discussion with a parent about their child’s gender identity until the last couple of years,” Coffman said. is a serious problem.”
Some children suffer from gender dysphoria, but in most cases it is temporary. Some people are unaware that they can undergo gender reassignment surgery if they feel the same way.
These children need psychological support, he said, but providing gender-affirming care was wrong and “irrevocably malicious.”
Coffman’s views contradict policies set by the American Academy of Pediatrics, of which he is a member. They also go against scientific research and best practices established by the American Medical Association.
In a Nov. 14 New York Times article, Benson, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in Jacksonville, said, “We didn’t have enough data to conclude that we were doing the right thing.” said. When it comes to puberty blockers.
He also testified at a state hearing in July that Florida should stop using Medicaid to treat transgender people. Adopted a ban on gender-confirmed care for both adults.
Benson also signed an open letter to the Florida Medical Commission in support of “exploratory psychodynamic therapy,” aka conversion therapy, for transgender and gender nonconforming youth.
The letter was signed by Jacksonville pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Monica Mortensen, whom DeSantis appointed to the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine on December 6. Create various standards governing physicians and osteopaths for clinical trials approved by the Institutional Review Board.
No such IRB-sanctioned trials have been initiated in Florida.
LGBTQ and transgender advocates say state decisions to ban gender-affirming treatments and block Medicaid patients from receiving them harm already marginalized and at-risk groups .
“These rules, as written, put transgender youth at increased risk of depression, anxiety and suicide,” said Nicole Parker, Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality, 11 on the new rules. “These facts were deliberately ignored by the medical commission that piled up DeSantis’ political appointees, resulting in politics that were detrimental to the health and well-being of the people. ”
The Tampa Bay Times reported that members of the medical committee appointed by DeSantis donated more than $80,000 to his re-election campaign and political committee.
