Physicians on the State Medical Board and the Osteopathic Medical Board voted Thursday to wait until later this year to enact a permanent rule on transgender health care in Florida.
At an hour-long joint board meeting in Orlando Thursday afternoon, doctors unanimously voted to postpone and manage gender-affirmation care for both transgender adults and minors in the state. We discussed how to proceed with rule making.
Board Advisor Christopher Dearham advised the Board to proceed “timely and diligently,” suggesting three options on how to approach permanent rulemaking, and recommending that existing emergency rules could be adopted as a permanent rule. We may change the emergency rules and adopt them as permanent rules. Alternatively, start by creating a new agreement from scratch.
Medical Board Chair Scott Ackerman has submitted a motion to amend the emergency rule.
“I think we have the right emergency rules in place,” he said, adding that he would need to gather input over the next few months before moving forward with plans in October or December.
“As people go about doing things and trying to implement these rules, I think there may be some issues that we don’t know about yet, but I’d appreciate some good feedback to improve this a bit. I am sure you will get it.”
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The motion included looking to the proposed development rules to gather more input from the public.
Emergency rules are valid until superseded by formal rules. Ackermann said he hopes to have the new rules in place by the end of the year.
Emergency regulations passed at the June 30 meeting included an informed consent form for transgender adults and minors. They offer various guidelines for transgender people to undergo a mental health evaluation by a Florida-licensed psychiatrist or psychologist at the start of treatment and every two years thereafter, and to undergo upper surgery. Requires an adult to sign a witness for an adult who receives
A guideline requiring adults to undergo a mental health evaluation was removed from the informed consent document at Thursday’s meeting after questioning the authority of both boards to develop such a guideline.
Public comment lasted about 30 minutes, with speakers asking board members to listen to transgender Florida residents and questioning why this remains a political issue.
Rep. Anna Escamani, who attended several medical committee meetings, said much of the language in existing guidelines was “arbitrary and capricious.”
“Much of the foundation of this law and part of the rulemaking process is based on mere misinformation, a lot of political sensationalism about what is best medical practice,” she said. .
“As medical professionals and as people who provide care to patients, I think it is important not to ignore the reality that we are making rules based on junk science. It really matters what they are, what they are and what they are not” to jump hoops and hurdles to get treatment. “
This emergency rule was introduced after the passage of law SB 254, which has already been contested in court. In early June, a judge blocked enforcement of a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Since then, several transgender adults have joined the lawsuit.
Gender-affirming care for both transgender minors and adults is supported by nearly every major medical association in America.
Finch Walker is an education reporter for Florida Today.Walker (321-290-4744) or [email protected]. twitter: @_finch walker.
