LONDON, Ontario, October 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Canadian doctor who handed out prescriptions for cross-sex hormones to “transgendered” teens – even before their mental health could be assessed – has surrendered his medical license after being found guilty of professional misconduct and incompetence.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario found Dr. James Scott Bradley Martin guilty of those charges in late September.
“Dr. Martin agreed to give up his license and not practice in Ontario or anywhere else,” said Shae Greenfield, a spokesman for that regulatory body of doctors and surgeons in Ontario.
In one case examined by an expert for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, a teenage girl went to see the London, Ontario-based obstetrician-gynecologist because she wanted to get a mastectomy and, in her mind, become a boy.
It took only a single 30-minute visit to that doctor's office for her to get a prescription for cross-sex hormones.
In a video on the dangers of the current approach to dealing with children who suffer from gender confusion and think they are trapped in a body of the wrong biological sex, American College of Pediatricians president Dr. Michelle Cretella outlines the harm cross-sex hormones inflict on children.
“Cross-sex hormones are estrogen and testosterone,” says Dr. Cretella. “Those put young children at risk for heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancers, and even the very emotional problems the experts claim to be preventing.”
Dr. Martin, though, was handing out prescriptions for these hormones on his very first visit with patients.
In a summary of the investigation and then disciplinary action taken against him by his profession's regulatory body in Ontario, the expert in pediatrics and adolescent medicine brought in to review two of Dr. Martin's cases noted the haste with which he had prescribed cross-sex hormones.
“Cross-sex hormones have many side effects, including infertility,” the unidentified expert noted. “More time is necessary to process the information regarding side effects so that adolescents can make an informed decision. Dr. Martin lacked judgment in this regard.”
That expert concluded Dr. Martin's treatment of his patients exposed them to “harm or injury.”
According to that expert's report, the obstetrician-gynecologist did not address mental health diagnoses often associated with gender dysphoria, including depression and anxiety.
“There was no mental health assessment before initiating cross-sex hormones,” the expert reported.
This investigation of Dr. Martin by the regulatory body started in 2016 after it was tipped off by the ministry of health in Ontario.
But this was not the first time the physician's treatment of patients had been scrutinized by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
It was only in the wake of another disciplinary hearing into his practice in 2014 that Dr. Martin shifted his focus from treating infertility and eating disorders to the “treatment” of gender confusion and working with transgender patients.
Four years ago, the regulatory body banned him from practicing fertility medicine of any kind and told him to stop advising or counseling patients about eating disorders. He was found guilty of professional misconduct in relation to his fertility medicine practice and admitted eating disorders were not within his scope of expertise. He was also ordered to pay costs of about $40,000 to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
With his latest disciplinary hearing, Dr. Martin was ordered to pay costs of $6,000 to the regulatory body.