Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Permanente Medical Group, and the doctors who guided a teen through hormonal and surgical transgender procedures are facing a lawsuit from another individual who has been victimized by “gender-affirming care” and is now detransitioning.
Kayla Lovdahl, along with her legal representation from the Center for American Liberty, filed a lawsuit on June 14th in the San Joaquin County Superior Court in California. The lawsuit alleges that medical professionals expedited Kayla’s gender transition process starting at 12 years of age, a decision she now profoundly regrets.
“This case is about a team of doctors,” the lawsuit says, “who decided to perform a damaging, imitation sex-change experiment on Kayla, then a twelve-year-old vulnerable girl struggling with complex mental health comorbidities, who needed care, attention, and psychotherapy, not cross-sex hormones and mutilating surgery.”
Kayla faced challenges with her mental health while growing up and came across influencers online who identified as transgender. These individuals influenced Kayla to believe that she, too, had been born the wrong gender. Consequently, Kayla told her parents that she identified as a boy, as detailed in her lawsuit.
Seeking guidance on how to handle the situation, Kayla’s parents sought advice from the doctors involved in the case, “who immediately, and negligently, affirmed Kayla’s self-diagnosed transgenderism without adequate psychological evaluation,” “promptly placed her on puberty blockers and testosterone at age 12,” and “performed a double mastectomy within six months at age 13,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims that Kayla’s physicians neglected to ask about the psychological factors or accompanying conditions contributing to her gender confusion.
Furthermore, the legal action alleges that the medical professionals failed to adequately obtain informed consent from Kayla and her family, neglecting to disclose the substantial health risks associated with the administration of off-label puberty blockers and male hormone medications to a young female.
The family was informed that Kayla’s dysphoria would not alleviate unless she pursued chemical or surgical transitioning and that her failure to transition posed a significant suicide risk. This is a common lie that families are fed to pressure them into going through with these dangerous treatments. The reality is that gender “transitions” cause far more harm, physically and psychologically, to patients than good. In fact, multiple studies show that those who undergo “transitions” are more likely to commit suicide than their peers.
Kayla’s preexisting mental health concerns, including suicidal thoughts, self-harm, anger, depression, fluctuating moods, and more, persisted after her “transition.” At the age of 17, she no longer identified as a man and began detransitioning. However, the hormonal and surgical interventions she underwent have left her with profound physical and emotional scars, and she now experiences significant remorse.
Despite the fact that a growing number of these heartbreaking stories are emerging, the California State Legislature wants to increase access to “transition” procedures. Lawmakers are considering AB 1432, which would require all California insurance policies to cover “abortion, abortion-related services,” and “gender-affirming care,” which includes sterilizing cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors. In addition, AB 571 would increase the number of doctors who can offer abortion and gender-affirming care in California by ensuring that providers in the state can obtain professional liability insurance without facing discrimination based on their provision of these services.
No child should have to endure the tremendous pain and regret Kayla and many other detransitioners are experiencing. Ideology has superseded real healthcare in many California clinics, and these bills would only subject more children to the same abuse Kayla endured.
