New York jury finds psychologist and surgeon didn't follow best practices...

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

New York jury finds psychologist and surgeon didn't follow best practices in gender-affirming care case

https://www.advocate.com/health/transgender-health/jury-rules-malpractice-transgender-treatment 🔗

Trudy Ring (4 Feb 2026)

For the first time, a jury has ruled that a medical professionals who approved and performed gender-affirming surgery on a minor committed medical malpractice.

The verdict came in a suit filed by Fox Varian, now 22, of Yorktown Heights, New York. At age 16, while identifying as a transgender male, Varian underwent a double mastectomy. Varian now regrets the surgery and identifies as female.

Adam Deutsch, Varian's lawyer, said the case was about malpractice, not gender-affirming care. "This was never a debate over the legitimacy of gender-affirming care," he said, as quoted by the Times. "It was about whether medical professionals met the standards that covered their own profession."

Dr. Loren Schechter, president-elect of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, agreed. Testifying in court on Varian's behalf, said the approval of her surgery was based on "assumption and inference," which was not sufficiently rigorous to justify it.

After the verdict, WPATH released a statement saying, "This case was a medical malpractice case, not a referendum on gender-affirming care. When care is delivered ethically and responsibly within these guidelines, the integrity of the field is strengthened."

Deutsch said Einhorn and Chin "just didn't have the experience to deal with someone questioning their gender identity," according to the Times. "At the bottom of all of this was a lack of collaboration between the two of them, and lack of communication to follow through."