A federal judge has ruled that a Maryland Catholic hospital discriminated against a transgender patient by refusing to perform a hysterectomy as part of her gender reassignment surgery.
Officials at St. Joseph Medical Center, owned by the University of Maryland, refused to proceed with a hysterectomy planned for patient Jesse Hammons, 33, a transgender man.
Hammons, who was born to a woman, brought the suit after the hospital said they could not perform the surgery due to guidelines set by the National Catholic Bioethics Center.
US District Court Judge Deborah Khazanov ruled Friday that the hospital’s refusal to grant the patient gender reassignment surgery was “discriminatory.”
Officials at St. Joseph Medical Center, owned by the University of Maryland, refused to proceed with a hysterectomy planned for patient Jesse Hammons, 33, a transgender man
US District Court Judge Deborah Khazanov ruled Friday that the hospital’s refusal to grant the patient gender reassignment surgery was “discriminatory.”
Hammons, representing the ACLU, said the hospital’s refusal, which is receiving federal funding, to perform the surgery in January 2020 was discriminatory
Khazanov agreed, writing in a court opinion: “For legal reasons, the defendants discriminated against the plaintiff on the basis of his sex.”
The judge said in her opinion released on Friday that the hospital does not fall under the injunction of the Religious Sisters of Mercy and therefore would not fall under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Although the hospital was privatized by state legislatures, Khazanov previously ruled that the network’s cooperation with the Maryland government would make it a public entity. The status of a public body therefore does not make the hospital able to claim any freedom of religion.
The surgery was ordered for Hammons after he was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a plight felt by people whose sex assigned at birth does not match their gender identity.
The procedure, in which a person’s uterus is removed, was deemed medically necessary, the lawsuit says.
Hammons went to St. Joseph’s to request a hysterectomy in 2019, and the procedure was eventually scheduled for January of the next year.
The procedure was called off after the man’s doctors discussed the operation with St Joseph’s chief medical officer and found it was inconsistent with the hospital’s beliefs.
This is the hospital that refused to give Hammons his gender-affirming hysterectomy
Hammons went to St. Joseph Medical Center in 2019 for the surgery, which was later canceled after the chief medical officer said it was not consistent with the hospital’s values
After St. Joseph’s officials changed course, the hospital’s parent network offered to move the procedure to another facility that did not adhere to Catholic ethical considerations.
Hammons refused and eventually filed the lawsuit against the hospital.
“In canceling Mr. Hammons medically necessary surgery, the defendants treated Mr. Hammons — as a man who is transgender — differently than non-transgender patients who require medically necessary hysterectomies for other medical conditions,” the 2020 read filed lawsuit.
The transgender man later went to another hospital and had the procedure months later.
In a statement after the judge’s ruling was released, Hammons called the ruling a “major victory” and said he hoped the hospital would do away with the “harmful policy.”
“This is a huge win for me and for all transgender people who are denied equal treatment because of their identity,” Hammons said. “All I wanted was for UMMS to treat my health care like everyone else’s and I’m glad the court recognized how unfair it was to turn me away. I am confident that UMMS can change these harmful policies and help more transgender people access the care they need.”
“We are grateful that the court saw through what was patently discriminatory and harmful action by UMMS,” said Joshua Block, senior counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ and HIV Project.
“The government has nothing to do with running a religious hospital, much less the right to deny transgender patients the care they routinely provide to cisgender patients,” Block continued.
St. Joseph Medical Center is only one hospital of the University of Maryland Medical System, a non-profit healthcare network
St. Joseph Medical Center is only one hospital of the University of Maryland Medical System, a non-profit healthcare network.
Khazanov ruled that the refusal violated the Affordable Care Act’s protections against sex discrimination.
Officials at the UMMS and St. Joseph Medical Center say they are reviewing the verdict.
According to court filings, questions about damages owed by St. Joseph Medical Center to Hammons, if any, are “subject to trial.”
The University of Maryland Medical System acquired St. Joseph’s in 2012, and the hospital said it would retain the center’s Catholic identity.