Trans man sues hospital which refused gender reassignment surgery
A lawsuit has been filed against a hospital in California which refused to perform gender reassignment surgery on a trans man.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU against the Mercy San Juan Center in Carmichael, California.
The hospital, despite being part of the nonprofit Dignity Health, refused the surgery to Evan Michael Minton.
Minton had requested that the hospital performs a hysterectomy.
But because of ties to the Catholic church, he was denied the surgery.
The lawsuit argues that the hospital discriminated against Minton in the summer of 2016 when it said the gender reassignment surgery contradicted the intrinsic truth of human nature and that it was immoral.
It also alleges that the hospital scheduled the appointment before cancelling it.
“It devastated me, and I don’t want it to affect my transgender brothers and sisters the way it affected me,” Minton said
He has since been able to receive the treatment needed at another hospital.
But hospital administrators deny that Minton was discriminated against.
“The services we provide are available to all members of the communities we serve without discrimination,” hospital officials said.
The lawsuit says that the hospital’s actions were in violation of the California’s Civil Rights Act.
Directives from Catholic bishops state how Catholic hospitals can treat patients.
This includes lack of authority to perform any kind of sterilisation, under any circumstances.
A trans man in New Jersey also sued a Catholic hospital after he said it refused to offer him surgery.
The plaintiff in the case, Jionni Conforti, alleges that the St Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey, refused to allow him to have a hysterectomy on medical grounds.
Evan Thoma, a 63-year-old trans man worked with OutFront Minnesota, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
He sais that public insurance cover should cover gender reassignment surgery.
Currently, the state’s two plans, MinnesotaCare and Medical Assistance, offer hormone therapy and counselling but do not offer gender reassignment surgery.
The state stopped covering access to the surgery in 2005, but did offer it in previous years.
