A Dallas doctor treating a transgender child takes his employer to court.
Dr. Ximena Lopez said he would like to know why the UT Southwestern Medical Center decided to close the only transgender youth clinic in the Southwest.
Since 2015, the GENECIS Clinic at the Children’s Medical Center in Dallas has helped children and teens with gender identity, which involves people who cannot be gendered at birth.
NBC 5 has profiled the growth of the program two years after it was launched.
After extensive evaluation, future patients may receive gender-verifying care such as puberty suppressants and hormone therapy.
However, seven years after opening, GENECIS may have helped the last new patient.
A petition was submitted in Dallas County on Wednesday on behalf of Dr. Lopez, a pediatric endocrinologist of child health and an associate professor at the UTSW Medical Center.
The petition accuses the UTSW Medical Center of suddenly suspending care for new patients in November.
The petition states that Dr. Lopez, who created the clinic, was told to “reject new requests” for the drug.
The petition states that stopping gender-verifying health care violates the university’s anti-discrimination policy, and she “provides gender-identifying care to specific patients solely because of their gender identity. It states that it prevents the use of “independent medical judgment”.
In the petition, Dr. Lopez asks, “Who is dictating this illegal policy and why?”
Attorney General Ken Paxton and Governor Abbott have also accused gender-affirming care of helping to become a “political rust problem.”
“Someone, an entity, or an office is trying to tort or control Dr. Lopez’s independent medical judgment,” the petition said.
To get the answer, she seeks proofs and documents, including emails and texts from the presidents of the UTSW Medical Center and the Dallas Children’s Medical Center.
The UTSW Medical Center told NBC5 that it had not commented on the proceedings in dispute.
In a statement, the spokesman wrote:
“UT Southwestern is committed to providing equal opportunities for all members of the campus community and maintaining an environment free of illegal discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Board rules and regulations, UT system In accordance with policies and applicable federal and state law, services, programs, and race, skin color, country of origin, religion, gender, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, and citizens of Southwest UT. Activities based on the status of rights, sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual expression. “
In a statement last week, Dallas Morning NewsA spokesperson for the UTSW Medical Center said new patients are still being evaluated, treated and receiving gender-verifying care previously provided by GENECIS, including psychological and counseling care.
“These new patients and their families seeking puberty suppressants and hormone replacement therapy after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria are currently being referred to external practice for this treatment,” the statement said.
It continued:
“The decision to stop providing secondary sexual characteristic suppressants and hormone therapy to new pediatric patients was based on a variety of factors. This is the treatment. The efficacy and safety of these treatments are clarified. As of 2021, there are no drugs indicating FDA indications for use in adolescents with gender discomfort, according to the scientific journal Transgender Health. Media attention and political and scientific. The controversy, as well as UT Southwestern status as a state agency, was examined in the months leading up to these joint decisions. UT Southwestern doctors provide pediatric care at pediatric care facilities through partnership agreements. doing.”
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