Lurie Children\u2019s Hospital is scaling back its gender-affirming care for minors, the hospital said Tuesday, days after a top federal official called for an investigation into the hospital.<\/p>\n
The hospital will no longer offer gender-affirming medications for patients younger than 18 who have not previously been treated with the medications at Lurie, the hospital said in a statement. Lurie said in the statement that it made the decision because of \u201cactions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services\u201d including a department official\u2019s announcement Thursday that he was referring Lurie for investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis threatens our ability to care for all of our patients,\u201d Lurie wrote in the statement. \u201cWe empathize with those who are struggling with this decision and who have shown unwavering dedication to supporting gender-diverse patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Mike Stuart, general counsel for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a post on X that he had referred six additional hospitals, including Lurie, to the department\u2019s Office of Inspector General for \u201cfull investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThese hospitals appear to continue to operate outside recognized standards of healthcare and entirely outside @SecKennedy\u2019s declaration that sex-rejecting procedures for children and adolescents are neither safe nor effective,\u201d Stuart wrote.<\/p>\n
Stuart was referring to a declaration<\/a> issued late last month by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. saying that puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries are not safe or effective treatments for pediatric gender dysphoria \u2014 a message that followed the November release of a report by the department on treatments for gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n Lurie had already suspended gender-affirming surgeries<\/a> for minors last year shortly after President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing federal officials to take action to block gender-affirming care for minors.<\/p>\n Lurie, however, had been one of just a few Chicago-area hospitals that still provided gender-affirming medications to minors. Gender-affirming medications include puberty blockers, which are medications that delay puberty and hormone therapy, which can help individuals develop male or female characteristics.<\/p>\n Like Lurie, UI Health<\/a> suspended gender-affirming surgeries for minors last year but continued to provide other types of gender-affirming care. UI Health said in a statement Tuesday that it has not made other changes to its gender-affirming care services since stopping surgeries for patients younger than 19 in August.<\/p>\n Many other Chicago-area hospitals have also pulled back on their gender-afffiming care<\/a> for minors, amid funding threats from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n UChicago Medicine halted its gender-affirming pediatric care<\/a> entirely over the summer, and Advocate Health Care said in August it would no longer provider gender-affirming medications<\/a> to patients younger than 19. Rush University System for Health stopped offering hormonal care<\/a> to new patients under the age of 18 this summer.<\/p>\n In many cases, the rollbacks have sent families with children who are transgender scrambling to find new options<\/a>. In recent days, the nonprofit advocacy group Trans Up Front Illinois has been fielding calls from families of Lurie patients looking for care, said Asher McMaher, the group\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n Before Trump took office, McMaher could refer families seeking gender-affirming care for minors to more than 100 medical providers throughout the state, McMaher said. Now, Illinois has about 29 practices \u2014 many of them independent and operating on membership models \u2014 that still offer hormonal therapy to minors, and only a handful of practices in the state still offering puberty blockers, McMaher said.<\/p>\n While McMaher appreciates that Lurie will continue to provide medication for patients who were already taking it, McMaher thinks it\u2019s premature for Lurie to stop offering gender-affirming medications to others, noting that the federal government has not yet actually started pulling funds from hospitals over the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re going to sit here and continue to bow to these threats, we\u2019re giving this administration what they want,\u201d McMaher said. \u201cWhat we should be doing is standing up and fighting back and continuing to provide care and showing we stand with youth and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n In December, the administration took another step toward actually pulling funding from hospitals providing the services, formally proposing rules<\/a> that would strip Medicare and Medicaid funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to anyone younger than 18.<\/p>\n Most hospitals would not be able to survive a loss of Medicare and Medicaid dollars. About half of Lurie\u2019s patients were on Medicaid in 2022, according to the state. Medicaid is a state- and federally funded health insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder my leadership, and answering President Trump\u2019s call to action, the federal government will do everything in its power to stop unsafe, irreversible practices that put our children at risk,\u201d Kennedy said in a news release at the time the rules were proposed. \u201cThis Administration will protect America\u2019s most vulnerable. Our children deserve better \u2014 and we are delivering on that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n