Sex reassignment surgery among 15-year-old teens in Oregon may be performed even without parental consent, numerous reports say. Many Oregon residents were stunned to know that such law has been taking effect since Jan. 1, 2015. The surgery is also said to be covered under the state's Medicaid program, which is the Oregon Health Plan.
These are all according to the reports lately circulating online, creating a buzz, not only among the citizens of Oregon, but in the whole country and the world as well. As there are many other things such as going to a tanning bed and smoking that Oregon kids aged 15 and below are prohibited to do, the alleged new law came as a rather contradicting surprise.
Other reports stated that the first-of-its-kind law all over the US was "quietly" enacted in January 2015, allowing teens as young 15 to undergo sex change without parental notification and that the parents are only finding out now.
Health Evidence Review Commission (HERC) was the one responsible to include sex change operation, cross-sex hormone therapy and puberty-inhibiting medications in the covered procedures for the management of individuals with gender dysphoria. The news source also said that HERC did so without public debate.
HERC estimates that between 14 and 112 of the 935,000 Oregon residents enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan may have gender dysphoria. The total expenses needed to perform sex change, hormone therapies and administration of puberty-suppressing drugs may reach up to $150,000; however, HERC believes that Oregon may save costs if suicide attempts, usually associated with gender dysphoria, will be prevented. As per their estimates, suicide attempts will be lessened by up to one annually.
The Oregon Health Authority included in its policy statement information pertaining to the age of consent for the said law: "Patients should be able to demonstrate the capacity to make a fully informed decision and to give consent to treatment, regardless of age. However, nothing in Oregon law requires a health care provider to provide medical services to a minor or safeguard the confidentiality of a minor. In most cases, providers will encourage (and in some cases require) family engagement and supports unless it would endanger the patient."
The Oregon Medicaid plan also requires that mental health professional and a physician must come to an agreement of whether or not to treat a patient with such approaches. According to Danni Askini, executive director of Gender Justice League, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, majority of physicians are reticent to recommend such therapies and even those who do are highly vigilant in terms of guaranteeing that it is appropriate for the patient.
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), gender dystrophy is the presence of a marked distinction between experienced and expressed genders for at least six months. It is also accompanied by clinically significant disorders in relation to the condition.
