A transgender student is suing a Colorado children's hospital for discrimination after the facility canceled gender-affirming surgery — forcing the family to pay out-of-pocket for the procedure in time for teen's start of college.
Filing the lawsuit on Wednesday under the pseudonym Caden Kent, the 18-year-old transgender man from Denver — represented by the ACLU of Colorado — said he started getting care for gender dysphoria when he was 16, Law and Crime reported.
In 2023, Kent's doctors determined "chest masculinization" surgery was medically necessary for his treatment, and the teen went to Children's Hospital of Colorado, the lawsuit stated.
Kent then began talking about the surgery with the hospital in December 2022, when he was underage. Over the next six months, Kent and his family continued planning for the surgery, met with members of the medical team, and started submitting documents for insurance coverage.
But on July 13, when Kent's family got insurance authorization, the hospital decided it would no longer perform surgeries to treat gender dysphoria, according to the suit.
"He felt like he and his family had worked for a year for nothing," the complaint stated.
Kent said he had planned to have the surgery before beginning college, and "dreamt that he would be able to start school with greater comfort in his body," and planned to "present himself to his classmates as his authentic self," and "make new friends without worrying about his gender being misperceived," the suit stated.
He also said his mental health suffered as he was "weighed down with worry, fear, and loss at the thought of his dysphoria defining the beginning of the next chapter of his life," according to the suit.
Because the family couldn't start over with a new provider before Kent goes to college, the family says it will pay for the surgery privately, without insurance coverage, the suit claimed.
The suit seeks monetary damages.
"CHCO's abrupt cancellation of all gender-affirming surgeries for its trans patients was devastating to Caden, other impacted patients, and Colorado's transgender community," said Tim Macdonald, ACLU of Colorado legal director.
"Refusal to provide medically necessary care based on the identity of the person seeking it, and the condition for which they are seeking it, is discriminatory and illegal under the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act."
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