Dr. Hilary Cass, author of the Cass Review, the discredited systematic review criticised for its high risk of bias, methodological flaws and misrepresentation of evidence has been implicated in a cover-up of a surge of 16 trans deaths since the 2020 Bell ruling. The report all but prohibits medical care for trans people under 18 years old, limiting to a select few who will be forced into medical studies contrary to medical ethics and international human rights law. Before this report, the Bell ruling prohibited medical care for trans youth until it was overturned in September 2021 yet medical care from the NHS remained prohibitive. Mira Lazine, writing for "Erin in the Morning" gives a detailed account of the situation, revealing that there was just a single suicide in the 7 years prior to the ruling, and 16 deaths after, representing an increase of 2800% over 4 years.
Jo Maugham, director of the United Kingdom legal advocacy organization The Good Law Project - wrote a detailed thread on X, saying he spoke with two whistleblowers who confirmed the data. One whistleblower attempted to raise concerns both with the Tavistock and with Dr. Cass, who has no clinical experience of GAHRT or working with transgender or transsexual adults or young people.
Details of the whistleblowers' evidence to Cass aren't present in the review, suggesting Cass ignored them as the review was being drafted. It was revealed that Cass has links to SPLC-designated hate groups and met with Florida's medical board while writing the review.
When challenged, "Cass referred Maugham to paragraph 5.65 in the Review, where she offhandedly discusses these suicides while underplaying the link between the NHS, Gender Identity Service (GIDS), and these deaths. Additionally, Cass fails to mention the total number of suicides in the Review from either before Bell or after.", reported Mira.
Two whistleblowers and "a named doctor for safeguarding children" corroborated their accounts, claiming that the Tavistock retaliated and threatened them with disciplinary action before suppressing the material. Despite this, details of the minutes show that the Tavistock were well aware of these deaths, and that some data was deliberately left out of FOI requests due to "reputational impact".
Jo Maugham, of the Good Law Project writes:
Good Law Project has supported several inquests into the deaths of young trans people on NHS waiting lists, I have spoken to the families of young trans people who have taken their lives whilst on the waiting list, and my inbox is full of emails from terrified parents. Our debased national discourse around trans people - the harassment of clinicians; its politicisation by some Ministers, journalists, cheerleaders, in the NHS has, I think on the evidence, led to young people taking their own lives. This is a profound, emerging national scandal.
Further reading:
Comments