'Rubbish'—Finland's Top Pediatric Gender Psychiatrist Derides Exposé Claiming Her Clinic Provided Shoddy, Cruel Care

The prime target of journalist Evan Urquhart's scathing reporting about Finland's pediatric gender clinics characterizes his article as "intentional defamation."

Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, chief psychiatrist at the Tampere University Hospital Department of Adolescent Psychiatry in Finland and the prime target of journalist Evan Urquhart’s recent exposé about Finnish care of youth with gender dysphoria

Finland is often a target of Western transgender activists’ ire, due to the nation’s particularly restrictive policies on prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat gender dysphoria in young people. The Nordic bête noire for such activists is Dr. Riittakerttu Kaltiala, chief psychiatrist at the Tampere University Hospital Department of Adolescent Psychiatry in Finland.

In 2011, Dr. Kaltiala was tasked with launching and leading one of Finland’s two pediatric gender clinics. There, she and her colleagues sought to follow what’s known as the Dutch model of care for children with gender dysphoria. Researchers in the Netherlands had demonstrated promising results by carefully assembling a cohort of children with severe, ongoing gender…