Medicaid and child abuse

Of course I don’t know all the details of the case.

Personally I’d be reluctant to operate on a 13-year-old’s breasts. They haven’t finished doing whatever they’re going to do. They could grow more, or the boy could grow to where the breast is now proportional.

That the plastic surgeon says it’s indicated does not necessarily reassure me. You go to Midas, you get a muffler…….

Cesar, my concern is the child will grow and then the gynecomastia is no longer noticeable.

That the gynecomastia is visible to the adolescent I understand.

So is a mastectomy scar, and that’s lifetime.

Recognizing completely it’s a judgement call. Of course, I haven’t seen the boy discussed here. I see my share of gynecomastia in 13, 14 year old boys, but never bad enough to even consider mastectomy. It settles out as they get older.

Then again, I’m FP, not peds/adolescent medicine or endocrinology or plastic surgery. I’m sure they will see one bad enough in those fields.

It has gone on for 2 years. The likelihood of this going away is actually quite small (per the texts that I have read). I don’t call it “abuse,” but I do call it incredibly insensitive and hard to stomach when I have to face this kid for 2 years. You have to understand, these are not just “man breasts” (like guys get when they are fat), they are significantly larger than many girls his age.