UPMC will no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care, leaving advocates for the LGBTQ+ community in Pittsburgh worried for the younger generations.<\/p>\n
On Sept. 18, UPMC came to an agreement<\/a> with the U.S. Department of Justice to end pediatric gender-affirming care, following a year-long federal investigation looking into potential violations of federal law. Transgender community advocates in Pittsburgh told The Pitt News they are scared for LGBTQ+ youth, fervently condemning the agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n UPMC, the largest network of healthcare providers in Pittsburgh with over 40 locations across Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, will stop administering hormones and puberty blockers to minors. It will also stop performing surgical procedures, among other provisions of care.<\/p>\n The DOJ subpoenaed<\/a> UPMC and more than 20 hospitals last summer, asking for patient records of children receiving gender-affirming care. These records were requested for an investigation into potential violations of federal healthcare laws, including the False Claims Act<\/a>, which addresses fraudulent billing.\u00a0<\/p>\n One Pittsburgh resident and faculty member at Pitt whose child received pediatric gender-affirming care from UPMC said it was extremely important for their child\u2019s development. They requested anonymity for privacy reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to all the doctor\u2019s appointments together. They were fabulous,\u201d the resident said.<\/p>\n They said their child was depressed before receiving the care, as a result of his gender dysphoria.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur child started taking the lowest dose of testosterone. He immediately started feeling better about himself,\u201d the resident said. \u201cHe felt confident and strong. A lot of insecurities went away.\u201d<\/p>\n After losing access to UPMC\u2019s gender-affirming care, they had to turn to a much more expensive private healthcare provider.<\/p>\n Some UPMC employees told the resident they risked losing their medical licenses if they did not comply with the DOJ\u2019s requests.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were scared. They were really, really scared,\u201d the resident said.<\/p>\n According to a DOJ press release<\/a> announcing the agreement, the investigation\u2019s purpose was to protect children from what it called \u201cdangerous\u201d gender-affirming procedures for minors.\u00a0<\/p>\n UPMC said in a statement that it chose to resolve the matter to avoid prolonged litigation, protect patients and families from unnecessary disclosure of sensitive personal and health information, protect employees and remain focused on patient care and advancing its core mission.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe agreement includes important privacy, confidentiality and non-prosecution protections for patients, legal guardians, providers and employees, and expressly includes no admission of wrongdoing, fault or liability by anyone involved in providing or receiving gender-affirming care to minors at UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital of Pittsburgh or other UPMC-affiliated facilities,\u201d UPMC said in the statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dana, a member of Pitt\u2019s Transgender Working Group<\/a> who requested to use a pseudonym to avoid impact on her job, condemned UPMC\u2019s agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFrom my perspective, UPMC chose to stop providing that care in response to outside political pressure,\u201d Dana said. \u201cI find that very difficult to reconcile with the UPMC I thought I knew.\u201d<\/p>\n Dana, a transgender woman who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, lived her early life without access to gender-affirming care or information about transgender people.<\/p>\n \u201cBack then, being transgender was not even a concept I knew even existed. I was taught that boys were boys, and girls were girls, and that was that,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n Dana said her life would have been significantly improved if she had access to gender-affirming care in her teenage years.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe I could have been spared decades of depression, confusion, dissociation and trying to fix everything else in my life except the thing that was actually wrong. I came frighteningly close to losing not just all of those years, but my life itself,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n Dana believes UPMC\u2019s agreement will negatively impact transgender youth and said transgender adolescents who need help will be neglected.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt honestly terrifies me, because I know what untreated gender dysphoria did to me,\u201d Dana said.<\/p>\n The DOJ reached a similar agreement with NYU Langone Hospitals<\/a> last week, as well as the Mount Sinai Health System<\/a>, Texas Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a>, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation<\/a> and Connecticut Children\u2019s hospital<\/a> earlier this year.<\/p>\n