An 18-year-old transgender patient whose surgery was called off when Children’s Hospital Colorado stopped providing gender-affirming surgeries is suing the hospital.
The ACLU of Colorado filed the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the 18-year-old, claiming the hospital violated state anti-discrimination laws.
Children’s Hospital said in July that it was no longer providing transgender surgeries, noting unprecedented referrals as well as threats to hospitals across the country. The hospital did not provide surgeries to minors and stopped offering them for those 18 and older over the summer, resulting in cancellations for an unknown number of patients who had scheduled procedures such as chest reconstruction.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the hospital stopped providing “medically necessary surgeries” to transgender patients “without warning, notice, or plans for ensuring continuity of care.”
The 18-year-old plaintiff, who uses the pseudonym Caden Kent in the lawsuit to protect his privacy, had just received insurance authorization for a chest masculinization surgery procedure at Children’s, the final step before receiving a surgery date, the lawsuit says. The surgery was planned after about two years of treatment for gender dysphoria, which the teen began receiving at age 16. He was a patient of Children’s TRUE Center for Gender Diversity and began hormone treatment in March 2022.
Caden was assigned female at birth, but identifies as male, according to the lawsuit. Gender dysphoria is a mental health condition defined as incongruence between a person’s gender identity and assigned sex at birth. Left untreated, it can lead to depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation.
The “abrupt cancellation of all gender-affirming surgeries for its trans patients was devastating,” Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado’s legal director, said in a news release.
Children’s was one of the few hospitals in Colorado where transgender patients could use insurance to pay for gender-affirming surgery.
Caden’s gender dysphoria caused him “severe distress” and “made him retreat from major aspects of his daily life,” including showering and using the restroom, the lawsuit says. “He avoided socializing with other people and speaking, so as not to be misgendered because of his voice,” it says.
After his surgery at Children’s was canceled, Caden’s family made plans to pay for the surgery out of pocket at another facility and in time for him to recover before going to college in the fall, the lawsuit said.
Children’s Hospital said it had not yet been served with the lawsuit and did not comment.
Besides chest masculinization surgery, Children’s had offered hysterectomies to patients 18 and older, according to the lawsuit.
About half of states have banned or restricted gender-affirming care, which may or may not include surgery, for children.