Vanderbilt transgender health clinic suspends gender-affirming surgery for minors

The ’pause’ in gender-affirming surgeries for under 18s came after political pressure from Tennessee Republicans

Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) has suspended gender-affirming surgeries for patients under the age of 18 while it reviews its practices, officials said.

The announcement was revealed in a letter from university executive C Wright Pinson to Tennessee Republican state lawmaker Jason Zachary who posted it on Twitter.

Calls for an investigation into the clinic intensified after video surfaced on social media last month of a doctor claiming the gender-affirming surgeries were “huge money-makers” for hospitals.

The videos, shared by right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh, showed a VUMC doctor saying in 2018 that those “types of surgeries bring in a lot of money”.

A staff member said anyone with religious objections to the treatment should quit, in another leaked clip.

Republicans in Tennessee had pressured the private nonprofit hospital to pause surgeries on minors who were transitioning genders while it investigated the claims, the Associated Press reported.

Dr Pinson said in the letter that the suspension was due to a review of new guidance on treating transgender patients from the World Professional Association of Transgender Health, adding that the review “may take several months”.

Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee has suspended gender-affirming surgery for minors (Associated Press)

Please see Vanderbilt Medical’s response to the @tnhousegop.
VUMC has agreed to pause gender transition surgeries on minors as well as honor religious objectors. https://t.co/xXlbSaAOMS pic.twitter.com/4G8laJfQfY

— Rep. Jason Zachary (@JasonZacharyTN) October 7, 2022

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