Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora ceased performing certain gender-affirming surgeries for patients 18 and older in July. Now, seven months later, a patient is suing the hospital over their canceled surgery, The Colorado Sun reported Feb. 14.
The hospital never performed gender-affirming surgery on minors, but in July did stop offering chest reconstruction procedures to patients 18 and older.
The ACLU of Colorado filed the lawsuit on the patient's behalf, stating that the hospital's July decision that went into effect immediately "with no prior notice to the public or to its patients whose procedures were scheduled or awaiting scheduling" left the patient in physical and emotional distress.
The patient is identified in the lawsuit by the pseudonym Caden Kent, an 18-year-old resident of Denver who had been receiving gender-affirming care from the hospital since 2023 when physicians at Children's Hospital Colorado determined "chest masculinization surgery was medically necessary" and that Mr. Kent was a "good candidate for the procedure."
But Mr. Kent received notice that physicians could no longer perform this procedure for him after months of working toward doing so.
The lawsuit on Mr. Kent's behalf seeks to find Children's Hospital Colorado guilty of discrimination against the patient on the basis of sexual identity and asks for an injunction requiring the hospital to comply with the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act that it alleges the hospital violated. Monetarily, the plaintiff seeks more than $1.5 million.
"The denial of care also caused Caden to experience feelings of hopelessness," the lawsuit documents read. "He felt like he and his family had worked for a year for nothing. He experienced heightened anxiety, not knowing whether he would be able to get the procedure before leaving for college in the fall. He had dreamt that he would be able to start school with greater comfort in his body; that he could present himself to his classmates as his authentic self; and that he could make new friends without worrying about his gender being misperceived. His mental health became weighed down with worry, fear, and loss at the thought of his dysphoria defining the beginning of the next chapter of his life."
The family did arrange for Mr. Kent to have the surgery elsewhere and pay for it out of pocket ahead of his entry into college.
Becker's reached out to Children's Hospital Colorado and a spokesperson said they have "not been served with any such litigation" against the hospital at this time, offering no further comment.