DENVER — The ACLU of Colorado filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Children's Hospital Colorado, claiming the hospital's decision to stop offering gender-affirming surgeries violated Colorado's Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA).
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 18-year-old Caden Kent, which is a pseudonym, says Kent began receiving care at Children's Hospital Colorado's TRUE Center for Gender Diversity in 2021 when he was 16 years old. Kent was struggling with gender dysphoria that prevented him from "living a full life," the lawsuit claims.
In December 2022, Kent began discussing chest masculinization surgery with his doctors and care team at Children's Hospital Colorado, the lawsuit says. The surgery typically consists of subcutaneous mastectomy that is followed by reconstruction of the chest. The ACLU's filing says the surgery is regularly performed on transgender men who have a higher risk of developing cancer.
Kent and his family chose a plastic surgeon associated with Children's Hospital Colorado. The family was told that before surgery, they needed to receive letters of support from an endocrinologist and a mental health professional, as well as insurance preauthorization, the lawsuit says.
In May and in June of 2023, Kent received the needed letters of support. On July 13, Kent's insurance authorization came in the mail. The next day, Kent's father sent a message through the patient portal to the surgeon's physician's assistant to schedule the surgery, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims Children's Hospital Colorado determined it would no longer provide medically necessary surgeries to transgender patients for treatment of gender dysphoria beginning on or about July 13.
"You’re on the cusp of living as your true, authentic self and to have that ripped out from under you is a truly devastating thing," ACLU legal director Tim Macdonald said. "We’ve talked to lots of people in the community that provide support to the trans community and there has been a lot of outcry for this about why the hospital chose to make this decision and to try and persuade them to go back to treating people fairly and consistent with the law."
The ACLU's suit says Children's Hospital Colorado still offers the same procedures to patients, including non-pediatric patients, to treat conditions other than gender dysphoria, which violates the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act "on the basis of his sex, gender identity, gender expression, and disability."
Kent and his attorneys requested:
- An injunction and order that would require Children's Hospital Colorado comply with CADA
- A fine of $3,500 or actual monetary damages
- Three fines for violating CADA, totaling $1,500
"You’ve taken one of the providers doing these life-affirming, life-saving treatments and taken them away, that just increases the burden on the remaining entities that will do that and you have people who are in desperate position who really needs these surgeries, they’re going to have to wait longer and try to find other places that will do the surgeries," Macdonald shared, on behalf of his client.
Children's Hospital Colorado said they did not immediately have a statement because they had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
To this, Macdonald said the lawsuit should not have come as a surprise.
"Before we filed the lawsuit, we sent them a letter saying we thought this was a violation of anti-discrimination laws, so this is not something that came out of the blue," Macdonald said.
The letter to Children's was sent via email on July 31, 2023, shortly after the hospital moved to ban the surgical practices.
"We’re pressing our shoulder against the wheel and we’re going to try to make sure that the wheels of justice turn as quickly as they can so that Children’s will start providing the care that we believe the hospital is lawfully obligated to provide and were providing up until July," Macdonald said.
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