Sweden : Leo was injured in trans care – now the hospital has reported itself

The background is SVT’s (Swedish Public service TV channel) «Uppdrag Granskning» revealing that several young people have received serious injuries from treatment in trans care.

«I am happy and relieved that the care now acknowledges that they have done wrong», says Leo’s mother Natalie to SVT.

Leo was only eleven years old when the medical treatment with stop hormones was started. The idea was to stop puberty because Leo, a born girl, identifies as a boy. Just over four years after the treatment was started, it was discovered that he suffered from osteoporosis and vertebral changes, he has stayed in the plant and has back and hip pain.

According to SVT, only after four and a half years, when Leo finally complained daily of pain, was the skeleton checked. At that time, no checks on bone density had been made during the years he was treated with stop hormones. A treatment that has known risks and according to experts should not last longer than a couple of years.

SVT’s «Uppdrag Granskning» has found 12 similar cases in Sweden and after the first program aired on 24 November 20221, the Karolinska University Hospital has made its own investigation of the Leo case. They now state that he and other children have been exposed to the risk of «serious care injury» and that there is a continued risk of incorrect treatment. In the report says «Uppdrag Granskning» , the hospital states that they have not had any routines for checking bone density and that the family «has not received sufficient and clear information about known side effects of the treatment».