Trans Patients File Groundbreaking Legal Complaint Against UPMC For Capitulation To Trump

UPMC bowed to Trump and abandoned its trans patients, advocates say. It may have violated state law.

UPMC - Mercy Hospital // Ronald Woan // Creative Commons

Transgender youth in Pennsylvania and their families made history this morning when they filed a first-of-its-kind complaint to the state’s Human Relations Commission, making them the first in the country to launch a legal battle against hospitals that allegedly discriminated against trans people at the behest of President Donald Trump.

The Women’s Law Project (WLP), a public interest legal firm, is representing all five trans plaintiffs—three of whom are minors whose parents signed onto the complaint, and two of whom are adults who lost their care themselves. They argue that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), which is the largest health care provider in Western Pennsylvania, violated the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act when it suddenly stripped trans people under the age of 19 of their health care this past June.

Puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapies, and surgeries (which were already rare for this age group) were suddenly withdrawn; UPMC did not provide referrals and refused to renew prescriptions. Untold numbers of trans youth, including some legal adults at age 18, faced the prospect of forced detransition if they could not find or afford another provider, many of whom would require out-of-pocket payment.

Now, plaintiffs are seeking reimbursement for medical expenses associated with the termination of care, emotional distress, and attorneys’ fees and costs; urging the Human Relations Commission to investigate UPMC for discriminatory practices; and pursuing immediate injunctive relief, so that all trans people and families devastated by the care stoppage can once again access evidence-based, life-saving treatment for gender dysphoria.

“It's ironic that I'm able to vote, buy a firearm, or adopt a child in this country, but I am considered too young to stay on a medication I have been benefiting from for years,” said one plaintiff, as per a statement from the Women’s Law Project. (The complaint is sealed; clients provided comments anonymously via the WLP due to safety concerns and the privacy of minors on the docket.)

Lodging this complaint with the Commission is a necessary first step in fighting the care stoppage on legal grounds. If the Commission fails to act, the plaintiffs may escalate the matter to state courts.

“What we are asking for is the resumption of care that UPMC was providing and that it has continued to provide to cisgender adolescents and adults,” WLP staff attorney Elizabeth Lester-Abdalla told Erin in the Morning. “Under state law, you cannot discriminate based on sex, and sex is defined as including gender identity and gender expression. It's also illegal to discriminate based on disability, and we argue that discriminating based on the diagnosis of ‘gender dysphoria’ is discriminating based on disability.”

Indeed, treatments like hormone replacement therapy, puberty blockers and mastectomies remain readily available gender-affirming treatments for patients who do not identify as trans. A spokesperson for UPMC did not respond to a request for comment as of publication.

The youngest patient in the case, represented by her parents, is just 12 years old; she began her social transition at age 5, and is universally known as a girl. Her medical treatment was abruptly terminated. She was denied a referral and forced off her medication, which could trigger “male” puberty—essentially making her medically detransition.

Another parent already moved across the country once to find a safe haven for their trans son. They described facing the same battle yet again as “a nightmare.”

Yet another parent-plaintiff lambasted UPMC for going along with Trump’s orders so readily. “Thanks to UPMC's cowardice and willingness to pre-comply with the Trump Administration’s bullying and cruelty, my child was forced off of medically necessary, safe, evidence-based, life-saving care,” they said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg. Who will be next to have their health care ripped from them?”

While attacks from the White House, the Department of Justice, and even the Federal Trade Commission may suggest otherwise, there is no Pennsylvania state law nor any federal law that fully bans transgender people from accessing appropriate health care. But in Pennsylvania and other states, there are anti-discrimination statutes that protect transgender people from disparate treatment. That’s why federal officials are using roundabout legal gymnastics to restrict care; they have weaponized everything from consumer protection laws, to health care fraud, to false claims of female genital mutilation in order to manufacture a reason to terrorize providers.

However, institutions that resisted have seen some promising results. Recently, Boston Children’s Hospital successfully fought to have a sweeping subpoena quashed that requested identifying patient and staff information, including names, home addresses, social security numbers, and sensitive medical data.

Earlier this year, over a dozen states banded together to sue the Trump Administration over its anti-trans health care policies. Most states put forth their attorney general as their representative, but when Pennsylvania’s conservative AG refused to do it, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro stepped up in his own capacity to ensure Pennsylvania was among those on the docket defending trans rights.

It remains to be seen if the state will take the same bold stance within its own borders.