The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into Seattle Children’s Hospital, which the Trump administration has actively sought to abolish, for allegedly providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors.
In a post to declaration According to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the announcement was made on December 18th. the hill.
The declaration asserts that gender-affirming medical treatments, including hormone treatments and surgeries, are “neither safe nor effective” for children and youth with gender dysphoria, and warns doctors and hospitals that they may be excluded from federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid if they provide such treatments to minors.
According to reports NPRHHS’ declaration is based primarily on the conclusions of a peer-reviewed report earlier this year that advocated steering dysphoric youth toward behavioral therapy rather than treatment with puberty blockers, hormones, or surgical intervention. The report challenged standards issued by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and raised concerns that adolescents were too young to consent to treatments that could lead to future infertility.
HHS is also proposing two new regulations to go along with this declaration. One would prohibit federal Medicaid funds from covering transition-related care for transgender youth under the age of 19, and the other would strip federal funding from hospitals that treat gender dysphoria in transgender minors.
A coalition of 19 states and the District of Columbia sued HHS, accusing it of disclosing its intent to strip funding from practices and hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, seeks to block HHS from enforcing the declaration, alleging that it is factually inaccurate and illegal.
“Secretary Kennedy cannot unilaterally change medical standards by posting documents online,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the lawsuit, said in a statement.
Neither HHS nor Seattle Children’s Hospital has publicly commented on the investigation.
Seattle Children’s Hospital has faced intense scrutiny from conservative officials over its treatment of transgender youth. In 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a subpoena. in search of records Concerning a patient in Texas who received gender-affirming care at a hospital. The dispute was later resolved when the hospital agreed to revoke its license to operate in Texas.
At least four times, federal judges have quashed Justice Department subpoenas seeking personally identifying information about transgender youth who sought treatment at gender clinics in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington state. Other hospitals, including Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, Colorado, are engaged in similar legal battles over the Justice Department’s subpoenas, with no verdicts yet available.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
