Thank you to Karen Bercovici for her Nov. 14 guest column outlining the issues with “gender-affirming” care [“We need to rethink ‘gender affirming care’ for our children”]. As the parent of a child who identified as trans for a time and then desisted, I was looking into this issue closely and had many of the same concerns.

Our clinic was ready to start my 10-year-old on a puberty blocker after the first visit, using the “informed consent” model, which as far as I could tell meant “If you say you’re trans, you’re trans.” I was expecting them to want to do an extended assessment, but our say-so was good enough for them.

While I’m sure that’s great news for parents and kids who are 100% convinced they’re on the right path, I can easily see how it can result in a lot of regrets and messed-up puberty. We need to be more cautious with this trend of kids believing they’re in the wrong body, not less.

Sigmund P. Garr

Shelburne Falls