The Health Policy and Advocacy Committee fundamentally agrees with RACS ACT’s submission and that “all individuals with variation in sex characteristics should be protected from harm and be free from external coercion, as well as receiving a high level of fully funded medical and psycho-social support.”1 HPAC also agrees that “the decision-making process and medical management plan for these individuals should be managed in a multidisciplinary team involving parents, legal guardians, clinicians and pyscho-social experts.” The points of contention that we will examine in line with the questions provided are as follows.
- There needs to be an effective use of a multi-disciplinary team (MDT)
- The list of variations in sex characteristics provided needs to be refined and corrected
- Criminality of intervention; punitive measures such as imprisonment are too harsh
- The Issue of consent
- There needs to be more engagement with the parents of a patient child is required as too much is left to an independent body with veto powers
- There is no appeals mechanism for parents
- The selection of an expert panel and committee members is unclear