Johns Hopkins referred for probe on minors’ trans procedures

U.S. Health Department General Counsel Mike Stuart referred The Johns Hopkins Hospital and its larger health system for federal investigation on Tuesday. Stuart said he asked the Health Department to probe claims that Johns Hopkins violated medical care standards and caused intentional permanent harm to children by performing transgender procedures. Investigators at the Health Department’s Office of the Inspector General would ensure every child was protected from the destruction of God’s chosen human body, he said.

Stuart recently referred more than 10 other hospitals for investigation, including Boston Children’s Hospital and New York University Langone Health. Johns Hopkins is one of the most prestigious names on the investigation list so far.

Over the last few weeks, more than 30 hospitals and hospital systems said they would no longer perform sex-change procedures on minors, Stuart said. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons also recently released a statement opposing transgender procedures for children, he said.

Johns Hopkins Medicine had not received a formal notice of investigation from the inspector general’s office, Vice President of Public Relations Kim Hoppe said Wednesday evening. “Johns Hopkins providers do not perform gender affirming surgery on minor patients,” she added in a statement to WORLD. “Our patients remain our highest priority.”

The Johns Hopkins Center for Transgender and Gender Expansive Health only offers so-called gender affirming surgery only to patients over the age of 18, according to its website.

What’s spurring the changes, besides Stuart’s investigation referrals? Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Dec. 18 rolled out plans to start a federal rulemaking process to block doctors and hospitals that serve Medicaid patients from performing such procedures on minors. He also declared that transgender interventions violated medical professionals’ Hippocratic oath to do no harm.

Separately, a New York jury recently awarded $2 million to a detransitioned woman who sued a psychologist and surgeon for pushing her into receiving a double mastectomy as a teenager.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report for more details on the detransitioner’s $2 million malpractice court case.

— Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Johns Hopkins Medicine.