Human Rights Watch: Doctors need intersex care standards
In a statement for Intersex Awareness Day, Human Rights Watch and interACT have called for standards of care for intersex children in the US.
Medical professional associations should enact standards of care for intersex children that rule out medically unnecessary surgery before patients are old enough to consent, Human Rights Watch and interACT said in a report released today. After decades of controversy in the medical community over the procedures, the lack of centralized care standards allows doctors to continue operating on children’s gonads, internal sex organs, and genitals when they are too young to participate in the decision, even though such surgery is dangerous and could be safely deferred…
The statement documents research by the organisations that was published earlier in the year, as well as a new report on physician discomfort with current care practices.
The organisations also document leadership from three former US Surgeons General and Physicians for Human Rights.