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CPA STUNS OAKLAND
OCTOBER 13, 2022 | VOLUME 34 | NUMBER 38
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VUMC responds to conservative outrage over pediatric transgender clinic Hospital said it will pause procedures on minors while noting it has not performed genital surgeries BY HANNAH HERNER
PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS
Jason Martin Says Race Is ‘Absolutely Winnable’ BY MATT MASTERS Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Martin spoke to voters on Oct. 1 at the Williamson County Democratic Party’s Hugh Williamson Unity Picnic, pitching “compassion and common sense” a little more than a month before the November general election. The self-described “girl dad” is a criticalcare doctor by trade who told the crowd of around 100 people in Franklin’s Strahl Street Park about his experiences working in an 18bed intensive care unit in a Sumner County hospital during the height of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 47-year-old Martin said caring for and witnessing more than 400 people die from the virus was “life-changing,” calling the experience key to his decision to throw his hat in the ring. “It’s what caused me to turn my life upsidedown, and [I] wanted to run this race because of the moments of pain that we felt in the
ICU,” Martin said. The state’s COVID-19 response was one example of what Martin said was a failure of leadership from Gov. Bill Lee, his heavily favored Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 election. “We got no leadership from Gov. Lee in those moments,” Martin said. “We got threats to defund the health department, we got silence from the governor when people in the General Assembly were pushing horse pills on people, we got executive orders to weaken school districts’ ability to protect their children and their teachers, and y’all, we’re not going to stand for it anymore in Tennessee.” Martin earned the party nomination when he narrowly defeated Memphis City Councilmember JB Smiley Jr. in the August primary. In July, Martin took part in a gubernatorial >> PAGE 3 and congressional candidate
In a letter sent to Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville), C. Wright Pinson, deputy CEO and chief health system officer for VUMC, said that among those patients receiving transgender care, an average of five per year received surgery. Of those patients, all were at least 16, and none received genital surgeries. VUMC noted that it follows standards of care of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, the Endocrine Society and a 2021 Tennessee law that prohibits providing hormone therapy to prepubescent minors. WPATH published a new version of its recommendations for health care professionals in early September, which VUMC said it will review, along with advice from local and national clinical experts. VUMC reps anticipate that process taking several months. The most recent WPATH guidelines do not give a specific age recommendation for chest masculinization surgery, but instead base recommendations on the child’s development and medical team recommendations. The standards of care also do not recommend phalloplasty in youth under 18, and while vaginoplasty surgeries are relatively uncommon
in minors, the standards state that “there may be a benefit for some adolescents to having these procedures performed before the age of 18.” The letter from VUMC is in response to a late-September letter penned by Tennessee Republicans. “While those 18 years and older are recognized as legal adults and free to make decisions in their best interests, it is an egregious error of judgment that an institution as highly respected as Vanderbilt would condone (and promote) harmful and irreversible procedures for minor children in the name of profit,” the letter from Republicans reads in part, calling the clinic’s practices “nothing less than abuse.” VUMC addressed the videos tweeted out by Daily Wire commentator Matt Walsh directly, while emphasizing the right for VUMC employees to be excused from procedures they believe are “morally objectionable.” “VUMC serves as the employment home for over 40,000 people and our people express their views in many forums, including hundreds of open conferences on our campus facilities each year,” the letter >> PAGE 2
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
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PHOTO BY HANNAH HERNER
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