A Legal Assessment of the Dutch Protocol for Transgender Care to Children: Evidence, Ethics and Procedure

A Legal Assessment of the Dutch Protocol for Transgender Care to Children: Evidence, Ethics and Procedure In the Netherlands, healthcare for children with gender dysphoria is provided based on the Dutch Protocol . Typically, medical protocols are guiding in the interpretation of the medical-professional standard. For a protocol to be guiding, it (i) must be evidence-based, (ii) should carry limited medical-ethical weight, and (iii) have been developed through an adequate process. This article disputes the first criterion as highly debatable and maintains that the second and third criteria fail to be satisfied. Consequently, the Dutch Protocol cannot be regarded as a legitimate guiding standard.