A 20-year-old California woman has sued a San Francisco hospital for allegedly rushing her into gender transition during her pre-teen and early teenage years. Her lawsuit claims the care was “life-altering,” “irreversibly damaging” and conducted before properly informing her of the risks. She is suing for unspecified damages.
Her experience runs counter to the pre-treatment protocols, informed consent and other best practices required by medical professionals, hospitals, and medical associations that facilitate gender-affirming care.
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The lawsuit, filed Thursday by Kaya Clementine Breen, targets Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the largest transgender youth clinic in the nation. Kennedy says that eight years ago, Olson-Kennedy diagnosed her with gender dysmorphia “mere minutes” into their first appointment, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
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Olson-Kennedy allegedly “recommended surgical implantation of puberty blockers,” and Breen underwent hormone replacement therapy over the next few years. She also underwent a double mastectomy at age 14. Such surgeries are almost never conducted on trans minors.
Breen claims Olson-Kennedy hid vital information about the treatments, including their side effects and effectiveness. The treatments permanently changed her physical appearance, her singing ability, and her ability to birth children, she claims. Her lawsuit also says that Oslon-Kennedy didn’t explore the underlying mental health issues Breen experienced following childhood sexual assaults.
Furthermore, Breen’s lawsuit names San Francisco-based surgeon Dr. Scott Mosser for allegedly “rubber-stamping” Breen’s double mastectomy without “ever meeting with or talking to” her. Breen says Mosser only spoke with her for fewer than 28 minutes before taking her into the operating room.
While Lorenzo Benet, a spokesperson for the hospital, declined to comment on the allegations because of the lawsuit and patient confidentiality, he said that the clinic’s “treatment is patient- and family-centered, following guidelines from professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and Endocrine Society.”
Breen’s alleged experience does not reflect best practices for gender-affirming care practiced by major medical associations and gender-affirming medical professionals.
According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care, medical providers should provide informed consent to their patients, including information on how surgeries and medications can affect their lives, including possible infertility. Patients must provide health records demonstrating a history of gender incongruence (of over a year or more), usually from a personal therapist or psychologist, and also undergo a mental health evaluation to assess for conditions like gender dysphoria, anxiety and depression.
The standards of care for minors are even more stringent and should involve informed parental consent, additional proof that their gender identity has been “consistent, persistent, and insistent” for years, and multiple discussions with both mental health providers and physicians for assessment and risks before any medications or procedures are provided. Doctors will only consider procedures as one of several possible approaches to resolve significant cases of gender dysphoria, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality.
Breen — who has since detransitioned back to female and learned, with the help of a therapist, that she has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder from her experiences — is now a student at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
She is being represented by Campbell Miller Payne, a Texas-based Christian conservative law firm founded 1.5 years ago to represent detransitioners. The firm says its clients are mostly gay and lesbian who feel that proper care standards weren’t taken in handling their medical care.
“What all of our clients have told us is that their only goal in bringing a lawsuit is to prevent what happened to them from happening to another young person in their situation. And I would say that would be our goal as well,” firm co-founder Jordan Campbell told The Dallas Morning News. “If [what happened to Breen] is being practiced routinely, that just can’t be allowed.”
