Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego ended gender-affirming hormone therapy for patients under 19, suspending services pending a legal challenge from California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta. The closure leaves hundreds of patients in limbo at Rady Children’s Health, California’s largest pediatric hospital system.
Rady Children’s Hospital patients and families expressed shock and dismay at the abrupt decision. One San Diego father stated “the whole world kind of dropped out from under me.” His son had started hormone treatment at Rady approximately a year and a half ago and had been seeing an endocrinologist described as “overwhelmingly loving.” The son’s mental health had “massively improved” through treatment, yet the family now faces uncertainty about where to obtain testosterone.
Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit seeking a permanent injunction, citing that the hospitals broke contractual obligations to maintain the same level of gender-affirming care through 2034. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated in a statement that gender-affirming care did “not meet professionally recognized standards of health care.” However, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society, and the American Psychological Association all oppose that view, stating the care is evidence-based and necessary for trans youth mental health.
Experts have characterized these actions as stemming from Trump administration policies threatening to pull Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals providing gender-affirming hormones and surgeries to minors. Hospitals nationwide receive approximately 50% of their funding from Medicare and Medicaid—at some institutions like Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, that percentage is even higher. Some families are considering moving abroad, with one father noting there is “a feeling of having to flee this country” and leave the country “that we all love, that we believed would protect every citizen.”
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://laist.com/news/health/childrens-hospital-of-orange-county-ends-gender-affirming-care-as-a-state-lawsuit-looms