Woman alleges doctors ‘fast-tracked’ her into gender transition as preteen, files lawsuit

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Dec 11, 2024 / 15:35 pm

A 20-year-old California woman is alleging that doctors, a children’s hospital, and a pediatric gender clinic negligently pushed her into a hormonal and surgical gender transition beginning when she was only 12 years old in a lawsuit filed late last week.

The lawsuit, filed by UCLA student Kaya Clementine Breen, claims that “her body has been profoundly damaged in ways that can never be repaired” following the hormone therapy and surgeries she received to make her body appear similar to a boy.

Breen was prescribed puberty blockers at age 12 after one visit to a gender clinic, received testosterone at age 13, and had a double mastectomy at age 14 to remove both breasts, according to the court filing. She suffered mental health problems and irreversible physical changes after the procedures.

The lawsuit alleges the doctors failed to properly assess her mental health problems and provided her parents with false and misleading information to encourage the gender transition she now regrets. She is seeking monetary damages for ongoing physical and mental repercussions.

“This so-called ‘treatment’ of Clementine by her providers represents a despicable, failed medical experiment and a knowing, deliberate, and gross breach of the standard of care that was substantially certain to cause serious harm,” the lawsuit asserts.

Immediately prescribed puberty blockers at age 12

According to the lawsuit, Breen first expressed to a school counselor that she felt “life would be so much easier if she were a boy” when she was 11 years old in the fall of 2016. When the counselor informed her parents, they took her to the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles (CHLA).

Breen was put under the care of Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, the medical director of the center whom she met on Dec. 27, 2016, shortly after Breen turned 12, according to the lawsuit. The suit states that Olson-Kennedy “immediately diagnosed [Breen] with gender dysphoria and told her that she was ‘trans’ … within minutes during her very first visit.”

According to the lawsuit, Olson-Kennedy “immediately” recommended puberty blockers to be surgically implanted into her arm — a procedure Breen received on March 6, 2017.

The lawsuit asserts Olson-Kennedy “performed no mental health assessment” and “did not ask about things like past trauma, abuse, or mental health struggles or diagnoses” before her recommendation. For this reason, Breen’s lawyers allege that Olson-Kennedy did not learn of the “prolonged sexual abuse she suffered around the ages of 6 and 7” or the numerous mental health problems she struggled with, including anxiety, depression, and undiagnosed PTSD. 

Breen, the lawsuit states, was “struggling with the thought of developing into a woman, not surprising given the sexual abuse she had suffered.”

A spokesperson for CHLA told CNA that the hospital does “not comment on pending litigation; and out of respect for patient privacy and in compliance with state and federal laws, we do not comment on specific patients and/or their treatment.”

“The Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has provided high-quality, age-appropriate, medically necessary care for more than 30 years,” the spokesperson said. “Treatment is patient- and family-centered, following guidelines from professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and Endocrine Society.”

Olson-Kennedy has come under scrutiny after the New York Times reported that she concealed the results of a taxpayer-funded study about the mental health effects of providing children transgender drugs because her research could not find any mental health benefits.

Jordan Campbell, one of Breen’s lawyers, told CNA that Breen was “one of the patients in that study.”

Olson-Kennedy did not respond to CNA’s request for comment.

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Both the CHLA and Olson-Kennedy are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

Testosterone at 13, transgender surgery at 14

During Breen’s third visit to the transgender clinic on Sept. 9, 2017, the lawsuit alleges that Olson-Kennedy questioned her about whether boys in her school were going through puberty and recommended that she receive testosterone to “keep you on track.” It adds that Breen “expressed doubt” about testosterone, but Olson-Kennedy told her she “would be more likely to fully ‘pass’ as a ‘cis male.’”

The lawsuit asserts that Breen “hesitantly agreed” to receive testosterone, but her parents “were very much against the suggestion.” It alleges Olson-Kennedy “lied” to the parents and told them Breen was “suicidal” and “if they did not agree to cross-sex hormone therapy, [Breen] would commit suicide.” 

“She bluntly asked them if they would rather have a living son or a dead daughter,” the lawsuit asserts. “In tears, [Breen’s] parents would ‘consent’ to allowing Dr. Olson-Kennedy and her team [to] inject their confused, suffering child with life-altering testosterone.”

The lawsuit alleges Olson-Kennedy failed to discuss the “irreversible effects” and did not discuss alternatives. Breen began receiving testosterone on Jan. 26, 2018, when she was 13.

During her sixth visit to the gender clinic on Sept. 5, 2018, the lawsuit states Olson-Kennedy recommended a double mastectomy to remove both of her breasts. It alleges she “misled them by emphasizing the supposed importance of getting such a radical procedure early.”

Breen received the surgery on May 14, 2019, when she was 14. According to the litigation, Breen “had a brief, 30-minute pre-op meeting” with the doctor, Scott Mosser, and was given a consent form that was “facially deficient, including but not limited to failing to disclose the experimental nature of the procedure, failing to list the known risks, and failing to list all alternative forms of treatment.” 

CNA reached out to the Gender Confirmation Center, where Mosser is employed, to ask him for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication. He is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Following the surgery, the lawsuit states Breen had “thoughts of suicide” and her “mental health had begun to spiral” with depression and intense anger. She also developed psychosis and had “auditory and visual hallucinations,” attempted “suicide by hanging,” and began “cutting her wrists.” 

Campbell told CNA the doctors were “completely ignoring her rapidly decreasing mental health” and acted “negligently” by prescribing “life-altering treatment” to a “deeply troubled, traumatized child.”

The lawsuit states Breen “began to realize that she may not actually be ‘trans’ but rather had been suffering from PTSD and other issues related to her unresolved trauma.” She scaled back the testosterone and her mental health issues began to resolve. She eventually stopped taking testosterone.

“Once she stopped, her mental health issues improved even further,” the lawsuit adds. “Her psychosis and hallucinations went away. Her depression went away. Her attention problems went away. Her anxiety went away. She began to have a healthy view of her body. In short, she began to heal.”

Campbell said Breen is trying to “recapture her femininity” and is now taking estrogen to reverse some of the effects of testosterone and intends to get chest reconstruction surgery, but added that “of course, it’s not the same thing as having her healthy breasts.”

“All the damage from the hormones, the surgery, is pretty much irreversible,” Campbell said. 

The lawsuit adds that Breen is likely infertile, “would not be able to breastfeed” even if she could get pregnant, and is “at risk for bone-related problems later in life.”

Breen is seeking monetary damages for medical expenses, pain, and suffering, and the cost of the lawsuit. Her lawyers are seeking a trial by jury.

In 24 states, lawmakers have banned transgender drugs and surgeries for children, and two states have banned just the surgeries. Both procedures remain legal in 24 states.