Cancer, mental disorders and even death: The risks of transgender medical treatment come to light

Gender transition treatments have serious consequences on the health of the people who undergo them. This was exhibited by a report that revealed leaked internal conversations from members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). In these conversations, the doctors acknowledge the health problems that patients face after undergoing gender reassignment surgery or receiving hormone treatments.

The report was carried out by Mia Hughes and the investigation was promoted by journalist Michael Shellenberger, known for also revealing the details of cases such as the Twitter Files. The first to receive the conversations was Shellenberger, and Hughes was in charge of investigating the case and carrying out the report. Hughes created an extensive report for the organization he founded with Shellenberger, Environmental Progress (a non-profit organization).

The investigation is titled "The WPATH Files: Pseudoscientific Surgical and Hormonal Experiments on Children, Adolescents and Vulnerable Adults" and was published this week. It includes screenshots of posts from WPATH's internal messaging chat dating from 2021 to 2024 and several videos from an internal discussion panel.

'Improvising treatments as they go along'

WPATH is considered the world's leading scientific and medical reference on gender issues. In recent decades, it has shaped the policies and practices of governments, medical associations, public health systems and private clinics. The report explained that "however, the WPATH Files reveal that the organization does not meet the standards of evidence-based medicine."

He detailed that "members frequently discuss improvising treatments as they go along. Members are fully aware that children and adolescents cannot comprehend the lifelong consequences of 'gender-affirming care,' and in some cases, due to poor health literacy, neither can their parents."

In addition, Shellenberger posted several videos on X of the conversations. For example, there is one in which, according to Shellenberger, endocrinologist Dan Metzger acknowledges that they often explain medical terms to children who have not even studied biology.

Likewise, in another part of the conversation, Dr. Metzger indicated that many of his patients regret being sterilized. "I follow a lot of kids into their mid twenties, I'm always like, ‘Oh, the dog isn't doing it for you, right?’ They're like, ‘No, I just found this wonderful partner and now we want kids. So you know, it doesn't surprise me," Metzger explained.

In another video, a therapist acknowledges that she tries to do everything possible so that the children understand the procedure they will undergo. However, she stressed that "what really disturbs me is when the parents can't tell me what they need to know about a medical intervention that apparently they signed off for."

Mental disorders

Within the screenshots published by Shellenberger, there are comments that talk about the mental disorders that some patients suffer from. In addition, he shares the case of people who supposedly died months after receiving treatment. "After 8-10 years of [testosterone, they] , developed hepatocarcinomas... died a couple of months after," Shellenberger wrote.

Shellenberger also discussed the case of a San Francisco surgeon named Thomas Satterwhite, who posted an urgent message on WPATH's internal message chat in which he claimed he had a patient who became dangerous and had undiagnosed mood disorders that did not emerge until the postoperative period.

Environmental Progress indicated that the files demonstrate that patients with serious mental health problems, such as schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder, are allowed to consent to hormonal and surgical treatments. This situation also applies to people who are vulnerable due to lack of housing. Likewise, the report claims, health professionals often dismiss concerns about these patients and characterize efforts to protect them as unnecessary control.

"The files provide clear evidence that doctors and therapists are aware they are offering minors life-changing treatments they cannot fully understand. WPATH members know that puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries will cause infertility and other complications, including cancer and pelvic floor dysfunction. Yet they consider life-altering medical interventions for young patients, including vaginoplasty for a 14-year-old and hormones for a developmentally delayed 13-year-old," the report detailed.

Environmental Progress said it has written to all WPATH members named in the files to confirm their comments and offer them the right to reply. "Two people responded – one confirmed that the comments attributed to them were correct, and another did not deny their comments but refuted Environmental Progress’ interpretation of them," the organization explained.