San Diego Children’s Hospital Ordered to Continue Gender-Affirming Care
A children’s hospital in San Diego has been instructed to keep providing gender-affirming care to minors, despite the hospital’s previous moves to halt the program in a bid to save federal funds.
According to a ruling on Wednesday by San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Branagh, Rady Children’s Health must continue administering treatments, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, to patients under the age of 19 at least until March 10.
This ruling comes in the context of an ongoing legal struggle between the hospital and the California Attorney General’s Office. The AG’s office filed a lawsuit against Rady after it announced plans to stop offering certain treatments and procedures. Officials from the state argued that Rady’s decision was illegal and breached the terms set during its merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Associated Health Care Providers.
During the proceedings, Judge Branagh recognized that Rady and its staff might feel “caught in the middle” of the Trump administration’s scrutiny on transgender medical care for minors. However, he expressed skepticism about the hospital facing an immediate risk regarding critical Medicare and Medicaid funding.
On January 20, Rady declared that it would no longer provide gender-affirming care to patients under 19, effective February 6.
Branagh remarked, “At this point, I think the children are at a relatively high risk of harm.” He also noted that, while the potential loss of funding affecting 800,000 patients is serious, it’s still merely a threat at this juncture. “It could become a reality, but we are not at that stage yet,” he added.
Rady’s legal representatives warned that the hospital could face “catastrophic risk” of losing federal funding if it continues with care that may not align with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s declaration from December 18, which indicated that gender-affirming care for minors “does not meet professionally recognized medical standards.”
Rady’s attorneys contended that any perceived breach of this declaration could lead to terminated coverage from Medicare and Medicaid.
In a statement following the lawsuit’s submission, Attorney General Rob Bonta criticized Rady’s actions, claiming, “Rady Children’s Health has chosen to violate the merger agreement and California law in response to the Trump Administration’s illegal campaign against gender-affirming care providers.” He emphasized the need for compliance to ensure that Californians receive necessary treatments without facing undue obstacles.
For the time being, the judge’s ruling mandates that Rady Children’s continue to provide non-surgical gender-affirming treatments. A preliminary injunction hearing is set for next month.
