Children's Hospital Colorado resumes trans care — but says no doctors will provide it

On Monday, Children’s Hospital Colorado announced it was resuming gender-affirming care for transgender youth due to a court order — but, in a confusing twist, added that none of its doctors are willing to provide such care.

“That is false. Children’s Board of Directors implemented a policy telling its staff to stop providing gender-affirming care, and they did as they were told,” attorney Paula Greisen wrote in an email shared with The Colorado Sun. “Now the Hospital is throwing the providers ‘under the bus’ and claiming that the doctors are refusing to comply with the law.”

Greisen, who was part of the legal team that represented trans patients who sued the hospital, said the scapegoating of the hospital’s staff was “shameful.”

Related: Two medical associations update their recommendations on gender-affirming care for trans youth

“Instead of complying with the court order, Children’s Hospital is now claiming that it is not responsible for whether its medical staff discriminates against children based on sex, gender identity, race, religion, or any other protected category,” Greisen also wrote.

The Aurora hospital suspended gender-affirming care in January after the federal government threatened it could lose its Medicaid funding by continuing to do so. The result of which could mean loss of care for tens of thousands of patients.

According to the Sun’s report, about half of the Children’s Hospital’s patients are covered by Medicaid, and it’s the only hospital in the state that offers certain vital procedures, including pediatric heart and bone marrow transplants. If funding were to cease, children on Medicaid would have to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to get the critical care they need.

Related: U.S. court allows state bans on gender-affirming care for adults in unprecedented ruling

Shortly after the suspension was announced, a group of families with kids who had been receiving care there filed a lawsuit against the hospital, claiming the sudden suspension of gender-affirming treatment was causing their children to experience depression and trauma. They also argued the cessation of care was discriminatory, since Children’s is continuing to provide hormone therapy and puberty blockers to youth who aren’t trans for other medical reasons. The hospital does not perform gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 18 and never has.

After the ruling to resume care, the hospital board asked a judge to require the families in the suit to post a $250,000 bond before the hospital would restore gender-affirming treatment, arguing that it was needed given the financial risks the hospital now faced. However, Children’s dropped the request the next day, stating it had “no desire to cause any concern for these patients and families.”

In the order requiring care to resume, Judge Ericka Englert, appointed in 2019 by the first out gay governor, Jared Polis, set the bond at $1.