CA judge clears hospital for youth trans treatments as NY facility halts program

A California judge is requiring a San Diego children’s hospital to continue providing transgender treatments to minors for now, extending a temporary restraining order as hospitals in California and New York take sharply different approaches to President Donald Trump’s executive order threatening to pull federal funding.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner agreed last week to extend a temporary restraining order by 15 days, allowing Rady Children’s Health to continue providing hormone therapy and puberty blockers to minors despite the Trump administration’s efforts to ban such treatments and fears of losing federal funds.

The judge’s order comes as a New York City hospital announced this week it is ending its Transgender Youth Health Program in part due to the “current regulatory environment” — a result of Trump’s executive order aimed at banning transgender medical procedures for minors.

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President Donald Trump speaks to the media after signing executive orders in the Oval Office. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

At issue is Trump’s executive order, signed shortly after he took office, that seeks to end transgender treatment for minors. In December, the Health and Human Services Department proposed a new rule that would strip federal Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide “sex‑rejecting procedures” for children under the age of 18.

NYU Langone Health, one of New York City’s largest hospital networks, said the change was due to what hospital officials cited as the “current regulatory environment.” 

Meanwhile, lawyers for the San Diego hospital argued in court that continuing the treatments for minors, even temporarily, could expose it to immediate risk and threaten its Medicaid and Medicare funding — a critical revenue source given Rady’s status as Southern California’s largest children’s health care provider.

Braner acknowledged after hearing from both parties that Rady and other hospitals likely feel caught “between a rock and a hard place” amid heightened scrutiny from the Trump administration.

Still, he said concerns about losing funding could be quickly addressed if that scenario unfolds. “We’ll clear our calendar, and we’ll have a hearing within 24 hours of any notice” from HHS, he said, according to local news outlets.

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Trump and protesters advocating on behalf of transgender treatments for minors are seen in this split imge. (Getty Images)

The reassurances from the judge, whose extension is slated to last through March 15, did little to assuage Rady’s lawyers, who cited the risks of noncompliance and told the judge that even in a short window, continuing the treatments could pose a “catastrophic risk.”

The legal back-and-forth comes as more than 40 hospitals in the U.S. have so far restricted such treatments for minors, in compliance with the administration’s guidance, according to data compiled by STAT News earlier this month. 

“Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,” NYU Langone officials said in a statement this week announcing the hospital was ending transgender treatment for minors.

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Hospital staff from Children’s National Hospital watch as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Airforce Thunderbirds fly over the D.C. area on May 2, 2020 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

“We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change. This does not impact our pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue,” the hospital said.

Officials at Rady in San Diego previously announced the hospital would also stop treatments for minors in accordance with the Trump administration’s guidance. The announcement prompted California Attorney General Rob Bonta to file a lawsuit earlier this year.