CHICAGO (AP) -- A doctor at Chicago children's hospital says he'd like to develop a gender identity medical clinic.
Dr. Joel Frader's comments come as reports about transgender children are published Monday in the medical journal Pediatrics.
He's a professor at Children's Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University. Frader says he'd like to model the clinic after one in Boston.
Medical reports say transgender teens and younger kids are getting sex-changing treatment at some U.S. clinics.
The numbers are small, but are on the rise.
These are children who are certain they were born the wrong sex. With parental approval, they're getting drugs to stop puberty, followed by
sex-changing hormones.
Some ethicists say the treatment raises concerns. But doctors who provide it say these kids often try suicide or self-mutilation until they get sex-changing treatment.