Mount Sinai Agrees to End Gender-Transition Procedures on Children

The Justice Department has secured an agreement requiring Mount Sinai Health System to stop providing gender-transition drugs and surgeries to minors. One of New York's largest healthcare systems will also pay a monetary penalty and commit $2 million to free medical care for people suffering harmful consequences from interventions they received as children, according to the department's September 4 announcement.

That is a welcome retreat by a major institution in the childhood gender-transition industry. Families who look to a hospital for help should be able to trust that its recommendations protect a child's future. Ending these interventions is a concrete step in that direction.

A Hospital's Reputation Carries Weight

Parents have a duty to protect their children, and they rely on medical experts to recommend care that is safe and appropriate. A recommendation from a large hospital carries authority that few families feel equipped to challenge. Advice that steers a child toward harmful treatment can carry consequences well into adulthood. That trust places a serious responsibility on any institution recommending drugs or surgery that alter a child's development or body.

Mount Sinai has agreed to withdraw these interventions from its services for minors. The importance of that commitment lies in what the hospital will stop doing. Children who come through its doors should receive support that protects their future without putting them on a medical path they may later wish they had never begun.

People Living With the Aftermath Deserve Care

The $2 million commitment recognizes that care may be needed long after a childhood gender transition. Hormone treatment can produce lasting physical changes, and people suffering harmful effects may need help well into adulthood. They should have somewhere to turn for that care. The Justice Department says the agreement will make free medical care available for that purpose.

Those patients deserve to be heard and helped. Their needs continue after a program changes direction or a hospital signs an agreement. Making resources available for them should be an ordinary responsibility of institutions that performed these interventions, and this commitment deserves close attention as it is carried out.

Federal Investigators Are Examining the Industry

The agreement emerged from a nationwide federal investigation. The Justice Department says its inquiry includes possible violations of healthcare and fraud laws, including allegations that false diagnosis codes were used to obtain payment from insurers and federal programs.

The Mount Sinai settlement resolves allegations without a determination of liability. It follows agreements with Texas Children's Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Connecticut Children's Hospital. The accumulating commitments give families something concrete to watch: whether the institutions carry out the changes they have promised.

Childhood Should Leave Room to Grow

Distress during adolescence deserves serious attention. So does the healthy body of the child experiencing it. Puberty is a normal stage of development, and adults should be extraordinarily reluctant to interrupt that process in pursuit of a gender transition.

A young person may have strong feelings today and a different understanding of life years later. Hospitals have a duty to take that future seriously. Their expertise should help families protect a child's long-term health, with patience and support that do not depend on moving toward drugs or surgery.

Other Hospitals Should Follow

Major health systems are facing growing scrutiny over experimental gender-transition interventions on children and the lasting consequences patients can face. Mount Sinai's agreement links ending these interventions with a commitment to care for people suffering harmful effects. Alongside the earlier agreements with Texas Children's Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Connecticut Children's Hospital, it adds to the momentum toward ending these practices.

The rest of the industry should follow suit. Hospitals should stop offering these interventions to children and take responsibility for helping patients harmed by them obtain the long-term medical care they need. Ending a program leaves a continuing obligation to the people living with its consequences.

Link to story: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-secures-agreement-mount-sinai-end-pediatric-gender-affirming-care