has become one of the most controversial doctors in Britain.
The tribunal, meanwhile, concluded she was guilty of “serious misconduct” for not properly following up with patients A and B, and not fully informing patient C, the 11-year-old, about the fertility implications of taking puberty blockers. The headlines have not exactly been glowing. “Transgender children GP: Helen Webberley suspended for misconduct”; “Transgender specialist Dr Helen Webberley ran unregistered clinic”; and “Transgender services GP fined £12,000 over registration failure” were from the BBC alone.
The media coverage of this surprising landmark victory, however, was light in comparison to the previous deluge. When she started working with gender non-conforming patients, Webberley couldn’t understand how a child could know that they were trans. “I thought, ‘How can these people be so sure?’ I was talking to this 11-year-old and said, ‘how do you know that you’re actually a boy and not a girl?’ And he said, ‘how doknow that you’re a girl and not a boy?’ And I said, ‘well I just know’. And he said, ‘so do I’.
According to WPATH this treatment provides “adolescents more time to explore their gender nonconformity and other developmental issues”. Dr Helen Webberley: ‘I want to create a health and wellbeing system, to create knowledge and education that comes from trans people, rather than what other people think trans people should do’
What’s striking about Webberley is that no patients ever complained about her. Ian Stern KC, the barrister representing her, told the High Court in his closing speech that this was the “oddest of cases” as the patients were happy with their care. But how does Webberley feel now? Does she think she made mistakes?