PANEL 1: Inside the Exam Room | Dr. Michelle Stanford
2025 Rocky Mountain Summit: Medical, Legal, and Policy Perspective Panel
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2m 46s
“What does this actually look like for clinicians right now?” moderator Travis Morrell asks. Dr. Michelle Stanford, a Denver-based pediatrician, describes what she sees daily: anxious, traumatized, and neurodiverse teens presenting with gender distress—and parents desperate for guidance. She explains how many primary care doctors feel unequipped and afraid to deviate from the gender-affirming script, so they refer patients to ideologically driven clinics. The result is a medical culture where fear silences doctors and vulnerable children are pushed into life-altering interventions.
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