Manhattan hospital ends transgender treatments for minors

Manhattan hospital NYU Langone Health has ended its transgender treatment medical program for minors amid threats of losing federal funding.sLangone spokesman Steve Ritea told The New York Times on Tuesday, “Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program.”
The hospital said that it was “committed to helping patients in our care manage this change,” adding that there would be no effect on its “pediatric mental health care programs, which will continue.”
In December, the Trump administration proposed rules that would cut federal funding from any hospital that provides gender transition treatments for adolescents, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgery.
Langone’s announcement was not surprising, considering many families with transgender children who had been receiving treatments at major health systems have been looking for backup plans.
After an executive order by President Trump on transgender treatment for minors last year, Langone stopped accepting new patients into its transgender youth medicine program. 
The hospital also canceled appointments for new patients who were scheduled to receive implants that release puberty-blocking medication. But according to interviews with parents of transgender youth, patients who were already on puberty blockers or hormone therapy were able to continue with their treatments.
Over the past year, the Justice Department has sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and clinics that perform transgender medical procedures on minors, seeking confidential patient information.
Also, the FBI has asked the public to call its tip line with information about doctors “who mutilate” children “under the guise of gender-affirming care,” and the Federal Trade Commission is probing whether “practitioners of ‘gender-affirming care’ may be actively deceiving consumers.”
Across the U.S., a number of clinics and hospitals have responded to the Trump administration’s push by scaling back gender-related treatments.

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