A New York State jury has awarded $2 million to a woman who underwent a double mastectomy at age 16 as part of treatment for gender dysphoria.
The verdict, which marks the first successful medical malpractice lawsuit brought by a detransitioner, was announced last week following a three-week trial in White Plains, N.Y.
The plaintiff, 22-year-old Fox Varian of Yorktown Heights, accused her psychologist, Kenneth Einhorn, and plastic surgeon, Dr. Simon Chin, of failing to obtain adequate consent by fully informing her of the risks associated with the procedure before she agreed to undergo it in 2019.
Varian alleged that Einhorn and Chin deviated from accepted standards of care governing gender-related medical treatment when they treated her and approved the surgery.
Varian, who was 16 at the time of the surgery, was assigned female at birth and identified as male as a teenager. She later expressed regret over medically transitioning and now identifies as a woman, according to The New York Times.
According to the Free Press, Varian’s parents separated when she was seven, leading to a prolonged custody dispute and estrangement from her father. She later struggled with multiple mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, and social phobia, was diagnosed with autism at 14, and experienced eating disorders and body-image issues.
At age 15, Varian began questioning her gender, according to court documents. She changed her name to Rowan, began binding her breasts, and expressed an interest in transitioning to Einhorn, who had been treating her for two years and had no formal training in transgender-specific care.
Einhorn said he suggested hormone blockers as an initial step, but that Varian insisted on undergoing a double mastectomy, also known as “top surgery.” Nine months after she expressed a desire to transition, Einhorn referred her to Chin, describing her diagnosis as “body dysmorphia” rather than gender dysphoria — even though surgery is typically advised only for dysphoria. Einhorn later said he used the term for insurance billing purposes.
Varian’s mother, Claire Deacon, a licensed practical nurse, testified that she initially balked at the prospect of surgery, saying the idea made her “physically ill.” Deacon further testified that she felt pressured by Einhorn to consent to the surgery, saying he insisted it would improve her daughter’s health and warned that, without the procedure, she might become suicidal.
Einhorn denied making the comments to Deacon.
The crux of the case, Varian’s attorney Adam Deutsch argued, was inadequate communication between Einhorn and Varian, as well as between Einhorn and Chin.
Einhorn recommended that Varian seek additional counseling at an LGBTQ nonprofit, but never followed up, according to Deutsch. Had he done so, he would have discovered that Varian told a counselor that she was still unsure of her gender identity. Less than five months later, she underwent surgery. Deutsch also argued at trial that Einhorn and Chin allegedly failed to communicate with each other, leading them to move too quickly toward surgery.
At trial, lawyers for Einhorn and Chin argued that Varian sought the procedure and that Deacon granted consent.
Deutsch countered that the doctors wrongly assumed Varian suffered from gender dysphoria and failed to fully inform her of the risks and effects of “top surgery” and alternative treatments. He also argued that Einhorn and Chin should have ensured Varian’s other psychological conditions — including anorexia, depression, ADHD, autism, and body dysmorphia — were “well-controlled” before recommending or approving the surgery.
The jury ultimately ruled in Varian’s favor.
Following the verdict, Deutsch downplayed the case’s potential impact on other detransitioner lawsuits, emphasizing that it centered on medical malpractice.
“This was never a debate over the legitimacy of gender-affirming care,” he said. “It was about whether medical professionals met the standards that covered their own profession.”
Many advocates of gender-affirming care agreed. Dr. Loren Schechter, an expert on transgender health care and president-elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, testified for the plaintiffs, arguing that the decision to approve the surgery was based on “assumption and inference.”
“This case was a medical malpractice case, not a referendum on gender-affirming care,” WPATH said in a statement responding to the verdict. “When care is delivered ethically and responsibly within these guidelines, the integrity of the field is strengthened.”
Currently, 28 detransitioner lawsuits — many alleging that doctors rushed patients with gender dysphoria into surgical interventions — are working their way through U.S. courts, according to the New York Post. It remains unclear what impact the verdict in Varian’s case will have on those cases.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican, signed a new law last week prohibiting state funds from covering transition-related treatments for transgender inmates.
The law, which took effect July 2, is primarily an appropriations bill funding the Missouri Department of Corrections. As first reported by transgender journalist Aleksandra Vaca on her Transitics Substack, it allocates money for DOC programs, training, mental health services, food storage, and overtime pay -- among other expenses -- but also contains a one-sentence provision barring the use of state funds for gender-affirming care for transgender inmates.
Republicans in Congress have added six anti-LGBTQ riders to the annual State Department funding bill for fiscal year 2027.
Democrats have denounced the riders as "poison pills" that could jeopardize the bill's passage and unfairly target LGBTQ people.
"None of these riders make our world any safer," U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, said in a statement. "It's beyond shameful that the Republican majority has again tainted this vitally important bill with these poison pill riders."
A Brooklyn man who fatally stabbed gay dancer O'Shae Sibley during a confrontation at a gas station in 2023 has been convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime, but acquitted of murder charges.
Dmitriy Popov, 20, a smoke shop employee from Brooklyn's Sheepshead Bay neighborhood, was accused of fatally stabbing O'Shae Sibley, a 28-year-old professional dancer who had moved from Philadelphia to New York City to pursue a career in the arts.
Popov faced nine charges, including two counts of second-degree murder as hate crimes, two counts of first-degree manslaughter as hate crimes, and aggravated harassment based on race, religion, or sexual orientation.
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