@article {Notini743, author = {Lauren Notini and Brian D Earp and Lynn Gillam and Rosalind J McDougall and Julian Savulescu and Michelle Telfer and Ken C Pang}, title = {Forever young? The ethics of ongoing puberty suppression for non-binary adults}, volume = {46}, number = {11}, pages = {743--752}, year = {2020}, doi = {10.1136/medethics-2019-106012}, publisher = {Institute of Medical Ethics}, abstract = {In this article, we analyse the novel case of Phoenix, a non-binary adult requesting ongoing puberty suppression (OPS) to permanently prevent the development of secondary sex characteristics, as a way of affirming their gender identity. We argue that (1) the aim of OPS is consistent with the proper goals of medicine to promote well-being, and therefore could ethically be offered to non-binary adults in principle; (2) there are additional equity-based reasons to offer OPS to non-binary adults as a group; and (3) the ethical defensibility of facilitating individual requests for OPS from non-binary adults also depends on other relevant considerations, including the balance of potential benefits over harms for that specific patient, and whether the patient{\textquoteright}s request is substantially autonomous. Although the broadly principlist ethical approach we take can be used to analyse other cases of non-binary adults requesting OPS apart from the case we evaluate, we highlight that the outcome will necessarily depend on the individual{\textquoteright}s context and values. However, such clinical provision of OPS should ideally be within the context of a properly designed research study with long-term follow-up and open publication of results.}, issn = {0306-6800}, URL = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/11/743}, eprint = {https://jme.bmj.com/content/46/11/743.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Medical Ethics} }