*TRIGGER WARNING*Irish transgender teens sent to the UK for treatment by desperate parentsIrishCentral Staff Writers, September 1, 2013, 9:38 AM
Irish teenagers with trans identities, who may at a later date want to change their sex, are being referred to a UK clinic for hormone blocking treatment to slow the progression of puberty.
The treatment helps them to reduce the amount of surgery they may need later in life if they decide to opt for a sex-change operation as adults.
According to the Independent, three Irish adolescents have recently been sent by the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) to the Tavistock Clinic in London for the kind of treatment that can help them cope by slowing the development of their sexual organs.
But many Irish parents are being forced to pay for the costly overseas treatment for their teenagers themselves, often having to buy the prescribed drugs via the internet, the paper claims.
