New trans healthcare standards: what should intersex people know?

Healthcare for transgender people is guided by what’s called the WPATH (The World Professional Association for Transgender Health) Standards of Care. First released in 1979, the standards are updated periodically, and increasingly they’ve included guidance on care for intersex people. This newest release (Version 8) digs deeply for the first time into the unique healthcare considerations and potential medical harms that intersex people face. 

Here’s what intersex patients should know!

1. A surgeon can’t make all the decisions.

The guidelines recommend that intersex children be cared for by a “multidisciplinary team” to provide individuals and parents with access to specialists from different disciplines. This aligns with how many hospitals in the US have moved, where decisions are informed by psychiatric & other care team input rather than being steered solely by surgeons. While multidisciplinary teams can’t fix everything – especially if decisions are made without the intersex child’s input – WPATH recognizes that larger and more cohesive teams lead to a greater range of services and options being offered to patients, including psychological and social support.