Lawsuit challenges decision of major CT providers to end transgender care for younger patients
A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 10 Connecticut residents and families, challenging a July decision by Yale New Haven Health and Connecticut Children's Medical Center to end the majority of their transgender services for people under the age of 19.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 Connecticut residents and families is challenging a July decision by Yale New Haven Health and Connecticut Children's Medical Center to end the majority of their transgender services for people under the age of 19.
Yale New Haven Health tells News 12 the decision was made "after very careful consideration of numerous factors," while CT Children's said over the summer that it was being done "in light of an increasingly complex and evolving landscape," and with guidance from its medical and legal teams.
"It's not secret that the Trump administration is openly hostile to transgender people and has been waging a pressure campaign to shut down this care," said Hannah Hussey, a staff attorney at GLAD Law, which is representing the families in court. "That being said, there was no state law and no federal policy requiring these hospitals and health care systems to do this."
In fact, GLAD says Connecticut law specifically prohibits health care services from discriminating against transgender people, and the lawyers claim that many treatments, like puberty blockers, are still available to cisgender patients to treat other issues, leading Hussey and her co-councilors to the conclusion that "these hospitals stopped providing treatment to our patients because they are transgender."
"It adds another layer of fear, not only for people in Connecticut, but really everywhere, because somewhere that was supposed to be labeled as a safe state switched just like that," said Cameron Celotto, a transgender teenager from Guilford.
While Celotto gets his treatment from a different location and has not been impacted here, he tells News 12 that if he did lose access to his hormone medications, a lot of the physical effects from them would start to reverse.
"After finally seeing myself the way that I want to be, I can't imagine what that would feel like to just have that stripped from me yet again," he said.
Even though both Yale New Haven and CT Children's say they worked to support the families as they ended their medical care, GLAD tells News 12 that some of its clients are still looking for new places to get their treatment, while others have to travel hours.
"It's been absolutely devastating for these young people and their families," said Hussey.
The lawsuit is now asking the court to make the hospitals restore the care, which it claims state law requires.
"I can imagine that it's just such an emotional toll on these children," said Sarah Celotto, Cameron's mother. “And that they feel that they're less than, and just not legitimate enough to deserve care, which is heartbreaking."
Yale New Haven Health tells News 12 it is still offering mental and other health care services to transgender youth.
Connecticut Children's Medical Center did not respond to an inquiry about the lawsuit, but did say in July that it is "committed to providing inclusive, respectful care to all children and to ensuring that every family continues to feel safe, supported, and heard."
