FTC sues WPATH over misleading transgender treatment guidelines for minors

The organization, widely considered the leading authority on the medical treatment of transgender people, is facing allegations from the Federal Trade Commission that it created effective treatment guidelines for minors based on evidence that its leaders privately acknowledged was limited and uncertain.

The complaint, filed in Texas federal court by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas, accuses the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) of developing and promoting guidelines that healthcare providers rely on when recommending puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment procedures for minors.

The case could determine whether medical guidance shaping the transgender treatment of thousands of children was based on solid evidence or agenda-driven speculation.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said the case is a consumer protection case focused on whether families were properly informed about the risks and benefits of these treatments.

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“Children, especially their parents, should have complete and accurate information when deciding to purchase medical services,” Ferguson said in a statement. he said. “For decades, the FTC has taken action against organizations that make deceptive and false health claims.”

At the heart of the case are allegations that WPATH has publicly described its Standards of Care as evidence-based and based on expert consensus, while some of the organization’s own leaders have privately acknowledged limitations in the available evidence.

In the complaint, Dr. A 2023 strategy memo by Eli Coleman is cited: “We are all painfully aware that there are many gaps in our research that would support our recommendations.”

People hold signs during a joint meeting of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine to establish new guidelines limiting gender-affirming care in Florida on Nov. 4, 2022. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service)

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Dr. is also the lead author of the organization’s children’s department. He also cites comments by Amy Tishelman in an NPR interview acknowledging that there is no established “research basis” for determining the best assessments or treatments for “transgender youth.”

Federal regulators also allege that WPATH removed age minimums from the 2022 Standards of Care for procedures including breast removal surgeries without scientific justification. Internal discussions revealed that some WPATH leaders struggled to identify evidence-based reasons supporting the change, according to the complaint.

Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer of Do No Harm, an organization that advocates for medical ethics, said the allegations raise serious questions about how the organization’s guidelines were developed.

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“Conflicts of interest within the standards of care are significant and, again, have not been brought to light and that is part of this deception and kind of expressing the concern that WPATH has that the science behind pediatric medical transition is there when it’s not.”

Federal regulators allege that many clinicians and surgeons who helped draft the WPATH guidelines had financial and professional interests in the recommended treatments.

“What WPATH did was fill the deck with people who had a financial investment in promoting pediatric medical transition, and then you get guidelines pushing hormones, puberty blockers, and surgeries,” Miceli said.

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The lawsuit argues that WPATH’s influence extends far beyond its membership. The Standards of Care are widely cited throughout the medical world and have helped shape treatment protocols, insurance coverage decisions, and professional guidance in the United States.

WPATH is an organization that co-sponsors the Endocrine Society’s widely used clinical practice guideline on gender dysphoria and gender nonconformity. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry identifies WPATH and Endocrine Society guidelines as the two most common clinical guidelines used by providers caring for youth with gender dysphoria.

Among the most serious allegations are claims that WPATH promotes pediatric transition procedures as “life-saving” despite insufficient evidence that such interventions reduce the risk of suicide.

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The complaint cites instances in which parents were allegedly asked “whether they would prefer a living daughter or a dead son” when considering treatment options for their children.

“When WPATH said these were life-saving interventions and then doctors asked parents, ‘Would you rather have a dead son or a living daughter?'” Miceli said. “We hear him say, and again we hear this sentence repeated, which is not supported by any evidence whatsoever.” he said.

“The benefits that WPATH claims don’t actually exist,” Miceli told Fox News Digital. “The certainty of the benefits is actually very low.”

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Graham Linehan poses with a banner reading “There is no such thing as a transgender child” outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on September 4, 2025. (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

The complaint alleges that some minors who undergo medical transition experience lasting complications, including chronic pain, sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence, fertility problems, nerve damage and ongoing psychological distress.

WPATH denied the allegations Wednesday and called the lawsuit politically motivated and legally flawed.

“For the second time this year, the Trump Administration is abusing the authority of its own institutions and interfering with Americans’ rights to seek and receive health care, which must be decided between the patient and their doctor,” the organization said in a statement. he said.

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“For more than 50 years, WPATH has been committed to developing guidelines supported by established scientific standards, expert consensus, and patient-centered values.”

Miceli said the case should lead to broader scrutiny by medical organizations that rely on WPATH’s guidance.

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“We need the American Medical Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association — the list goes on — we need them to look at the evidence, and they need to do it now,” he said.

“The standards of care were deeply flawed and, as a result, again caused serious harm,” Miceli continued.