The decision to close the clinic was made earlier this summer by the English healthcare authority NHS.

Behind the decision was a report that pointed out a series of shortcomings.

These include long waiting times, lack of documentation and hormone treatments of young people – a treatment whose effects are poorly researched.

In addition, the clinic is accused of not having taken into account that those who seek care there in many cases have other psychiatric problems.

Law firm: Irreversible effects

The law firm behind the lawsuit, Pogust Goodhead, believes that many of the patients who received hormones have been mistreated and misdiagnosed.

- These children have suffered life-changing and in some cases irreversible effects from the treatment they received, says Tom Goodhead, CEO of the agency, to The Times.

The suit must be submitted to the UK Supreme Court within six months, writes The Times.

Disputed issue also in Sweden

Hormone treatment of minors has been a debated issue in recent years.

During the last year, Uppdrag gransning published a series of revelations about how hormone-treated children and young people suffered injuries and side effects.

Several clinics in Sweden have stopped hormone treatment of children and young people.

The social service has also updated its guidelines and now emphasizes that hormone treatments should only be given in exceptional cases.

However, the question divides the clinics and there are those who believe that hormone treatments have a good effect on patients who have experienced gender dysphoria since they were very young.

"The deficiencies in scientific evidence mainly concern the group with later onset and psychiatric co-morbidity.

Medical interventions must be based on science and proven experience, and there are several scientific studies that show that hormone treatments reduce gender dysphoria and psychiatric comorbidity," writes Louise Frisén, senior physician and associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the KID clinic at Bup Stockholm.

Javascript is disabled

Javascript must be enabled to play video

Read more about browser support

Hear from psychotherapist Marcus Evans about why he welcomes the decision to close England's only clinic for children with gender dysphoria.

Photo: SVT