A key medical panel on Friday signed off on a draft rule — pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration — that would restrict Florida doctors from providing treatments to transgender people under age 18, setting up a final decision next week that likely will lead to a legal challenge. A joint committee of the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine heard five hours of at-times raucous testimony from experts, parents and the public — including transgender men and women and people who have “detransitioned” — before approving the draft rule. The proposal, scheduled for a Nov. 4 final vote by the full medical boards, would prohibit doctors from prescribing puberty-blocking, hormone and hormone “antagonist” treatments for patients under age 18. The plan also would ban surgical treatments for minors, which experts have said is rare. Friday’s action came after the Florida Department of Health in July filed a petition seeking a rule-making process on the contentious issue of treatment for gender dysphoria. The petition proposed prohibiting doctors from using medical interventions such as surgery or medications to treat minors diagnosed with gender dysphoria, which the federal government defines clinically as “significant distress that a person may feel when sex or gender assigned at birth is not the same as their identity.” The proposal given preliminary approval Friday would be prospective, meaning children already receiving hormone therapy or puberty blockers would be allowed to continue the treatment. The committee discussed requiring parents to sign a consent form for such treatments to continue but did not finalize guidelines. The committee also added a provision that would allow minors to begin receiving treatments such as puberty blockers if they participate in a federally approved clinical trial at a university-affiliated center. No such trials are underway in Florida, according to an initial review. 🔗 You can read the full story at the link in our bio. ✍️: Dara Kam (News Service of Florida) 📱: Forrest Milburn