Prominent child psychiatrist Jillian Spencer is being investigated by the national health regulator after she shared on social media an article from The Australian that quoted her concerns about gender-affirming medical treatment for children. Dr Spencer has been told by the Health Ombudsman that it is referring a complaint against her to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) after a notification that her post “criticised gender affirming care and encouraged followers to petition against it”. “The notification raised allegations about your conduct,” the Health Ombudsman said. The threat to Dr Spencer’s medical registration is the latest in a series of moves by AHPRA against medical professionals who have spoken out publicly against gender-affirming treatment for minors. The Health Ombudsman claims Dr Spencer’s post on social media platform X “has garnered significant attention, heightening the notifier’s fear for their safety”.
In the post Dr Spencer wrote: “This is how it works: I shared a mainstream newspaper article on X and now AHPRA will try to take my registration.” Dr Spencer told The Australian she was unable to release details about the complaint due to privacy restrictions protecting the complainant. The investigation – which could result in Dr Spencer losing her medical registration – comes just weeks after Queensland psychiatrist Andrew Amos was banned from posting his objections to gender-affirming care on social media. Dr Amos was also barred from having direct clinical contact with any patients. The complaints against Dr Amos alleged that as a result of his posts on social media there was a danger that trans people might not come forward in order to get care; that his comments could cause people to self-harm; and that he had misgendered a trans man. Andrew Amos is an academic psychiatrist who has written academic papers challenging the evidence base of gender-affirmative medicine.
Dr Amos is an academic psychiatrist at James Cook University and chair of the Queensland Section of Rural Psychiatry with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) but has been at odds with the RANZCP over gender medicine, arguing that the gender-affirming model of care is incompatible with evidence-based practice. Supporters of Dr Spencer and Dr Amos say the investigations and penalties represent a gross overreach by regulators in response to complaints by trans activists and a serious threat to free speech by the medical profession. Dr Spencer had re-posted an article in The Australian which revealed the regulators’ move against Dr Amos, with a comment reading: “An article in The Australian newspaper explaining how gender activists and AHPRA have worked together to destroy the career of psychiatrist Dr Andrew Amos for media and social media comments about gender.” The article quoted Dr Spencer’s concerns that other doctors, including herself, may be targeted by AHPRA.
“I’m very anxious that I’ll be next,” Dr Spencer said. “I’ve managed to keep my registration so far, but I don’t know how long I’ve got left.” Dr Spencer had written an open letter she hoped others in the profession would sign but said: “I’m a bit scared that all my colleagues will run for cover, because once AHPRA has acted so harshly, then no one’s prepared to take any risk. “Within our profession, there has been absolute suppression of any capacity to debate the issue in medical professional forums. And people say to us, this is a really sensitive and important debate, it shouldn’t happen on social media or in the media. But what they’re ignoring is we have no capacity to have the discussion within our profession. We’re not allowed to present at various conferences; journal articles get stopped by activist reviewers and so we can’t discuss it in public either.” Dr Spencer was suspended from the Queensland Children’s Hospital in April 2023 after she challenged gender-affirming care for minors causing harm to children which allegedly “disparaged” the health service.
A termination notice she received in September last year is to be reviewed in the Queensland Supreme Court on April 28. Dr Spencer is challenging the termination on the grounds that it did not adequately consider her implied right to freedom of political expression under the constitution or under the Queensland Human Rights Act. She has been waiting for almost two years for the outcome of her whistleblower appeal in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, which if upheld would protect her from reprisal action for speaking to the media. An AHPRA spokesperson said it could not comment on specific allegations or details of notifications about individual practitioners and that “notifications are handled confidentially to ensure fairness”.
Source: Compiled by Australian Prayer Network from media reports.