Re: Quinn

[2016] FamCA 617

FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

RE: QUINN [2016] FamCA 617

FAMILY LAW – MEDICAL PROCEDURES – Childhood gender dysphoria –Where the child is 15 years of age  – Consideration of whether the child is Gillick competent.

Family Law Act 1975 (Cth), s 67ZC

Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC 112
Re Jamie (2013) FLC 93-547

APPLICANTS:	The Mother and the Father
RESPONDENT:	The Secretary, relevant Government Department

FILE NUMBER:  By Court Order File Number is suppressed

DATE DELIVERED: 29 July 2016

JUDGMENT OF: Rees J

HEARING DATE: 26 July 2016

REPRESENTATION

By Court Order the names of counsel and solicitors have been suppressed

Orders

IT IS DECLARED

1. That the child Quinn, who was born on … 2001 is competent to consent to male chest reconstruction surgery for the purpose of treatment of  Gender Dysphoria in Adolescents and Adults in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (2013) (“DSM-5”).

IT IS ORDERED

1. That the full name of Quinn, his family members, his hospital, the Independent Children’s Lawyer, his medical practitioners, his school, this Court’s file number, the State of Australia in which the proceedings were initiated, the name of Quinn’s parents’ lawyers, and any other fact or matter that may identify Quinn, shall not be published in any way, and only anonymised Reasons for Judgment and Orders (with cover-sheets excluding the registry, file number, and lawyers’ names and details, as well as the parties’ real names) shall be released by the Court to non-parties without further contrary order of a Judge, it being noted that each party shall be handed one full copy of these orders with the relevant details included, to enable their execution, and one cover-sheet of Reasons for Judgment that includes the file number and lawyers’ names.

2. That no person shall be permitted to search the Court file in this matter without first obtaining the leave of a Judge.

IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under the pseudonym Re: Quinn has been approved by the Chief Justice pursuant to s 121(9)(g) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).

FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA

FILE NUMBER: By Court Order File Number is suppressed

The Mother and the Father

Applicants

And

The Secretary, relevant Government Department

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

1. The Father and the Mother (“the applicants”) are the parents of Quinn, born in 2001. Quinn identifies as male and wishes to have a bilateral mastectomy, colloquially referred to as “top surgery”. The applicants ask the Court to determine that Quinn is competent to authorise the surgery.

2. In the alternate, the applicants ask the Court to order that they can authorise the procedure.

3. In these reasons, reference is made to guidelines published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Standards of Care (“the WPATH Guidelines”).

4. The guidelines set out the generally accepted interventions as follows:

   1.   Fully reversible interventions. These involve the use of GnRH analogues to suppress oestrogen or testosterone production and consequently delay the physical changes of…