New York hospital closes transgender youth program

A top U.S. hospital has shut down its transgender medical program for minors. NYU Langone Health, a major Manhattan-based hospital, discontinued its Transgender Youth Health Program, hospital spokesman Steve Ritea told The New York Times. WORLD reached out to NYU Langone and Ritea for comment but did not hear back prior to publication.

The hospital’s Transgender Youth Health Program provided what it described as affirming and personalized medical care and emotional support to change a child’s gender, according to an archived version of the webpage. The program’s current webpage now redirects to NYU Langone’s Gender and Sexuality Service, which says it helps children explore their identity.

Why did NYU Langone discontinue the program? Ritea reportedly said the hospital’s decision stemmed from the recent departure of its medical director and what he characterized as the current regulatory environment. In December, the Trump administration rolled out plans to block hospitals that serve Medicaid patients from performing transgender procedures on minors. Under the plans, hospitals could lose federal funding for offering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical interventions to minors.

Then in February, the U.S. Health Department referred more than 10 hospitals for federal investigation over their alleged performance of transgender procedures on minors.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ recommendation to delay transgender medical procedures.