The gender-transition and detransitioning lawyers at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law represent clients who underwent gender-transitioning surgery who believe that their gender-transitioning care providers mishandled their treatment and care or failed to inform them of the risks and side-effects of gender-affirming treatments. “Detransitioners” are a small group of transgender individuals who underwent gender-transitioning surgery who later wanted to transition back to their birth gender. As more children, teens, and young adults undergo gender-transitioning surgery at younger and younger ages, there is increased concern that the group of individuals who become detransitioners may grow.
In recent months, detransitioners have begun to pursue lawsuits against medical providers who provided gender-transitioning care. There have been instances where patients experienced complications after gender-transition surgery, where doctors, therapists, and psychologists failed to offer robust psychological assessment and support, and where doctors failed to offer proper post-surgical support. Patients have complained that they received radical treatments like surgeries and irreversible hormone therapies too quickly. In many cases, doctors failed to inform their patients of these possible risks and complications, but aggressively pushed them to undergo treatment anyway.
Other patients complained that complex mental health issues regarding gender and mental health weren’t addressed, including concerns about rape, violence against women, and homophobia. In some cases, homophobia in a community or family might be so strong that children, teens, and youth might believe that they can become “straight” by transitioning. In other cases, rape, incest, or other forms of violence could cause a young girl, teen, or young woman to feel disassociated from her body.
The process of transitioning and detransitioning can be incredibly challenging, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. For non-binary individuals or those who identify as male and then identify as female after top surgery, there can be immense trauma with facing the consequences of top surgery. Some of the puberty-blocking drugs have been discovered to have serious long-term side effects. Taking testosterone can also have serious and irreversible long-term effects, including infertility. To make matters worse, the process of detransitioning can come with serious social, mental, and psychological consequences, because many detransitioners face backlash from the trans community.
If you suffered complications during or after gender-transitioning surgery, didn’t receive proper support before, during, or after your gender-transition, or later chose to detransition and have been struggling with the consequences, you may join a growing number of people who are entitled to compensation for such lack of adequate care.
Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law is a gender-transition and detransitioning law firm that may be able to help you and your family receive compensation to cover your ongoing medical care, therapy, pain and suffering, emotional and psychological damage, and other harms and losses associated with poorly handled gender-transition treatments or procedures.
Trans individuals, nonbinary individuals, and gender-fluid individuals already face immense challenges in our society, and then may face the added challenges of being rejected by the trans and nonbinary community when they choose to detransition. Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law are sensitive to the unique issues individuals in the trans community and detransitioning community face, and work closely with clients as they seek the care they need, as well as the psychological support needed to move forward with their lives.
What is the Standard of Care for Gender-Transitioning Surgery?
According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, there are a wide range of therapeutic approaches to treating “gender dysphoric” individuals, or individuals who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Some individuals who experience gender dysphoria are able to “integrate their trans or cross-gender feelings into the gender role they were assigned at birth and do not feel the need to feminize or masculinize their body.” Yet, others feel that surgery and hormone therapy are needed. According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, “Health professionals can assist gender dysphoric individuals with affirming their gender identity, exploring different options for expression of that identity, and find a gender role expression that is comfortable for them.”
Yet despite this standard of care, some patients, particularly young ones, have reported being offered surgery after only speaking to a therapist for a couple of sessions, or in some cases, after one 20-minute consultation! Others note that therapists or psychologists failed to adequately address psychological concerns that may have played a role in their gender dysphoria. Issues like rape, incest, and other forms of violence may also a play a role in a person’s gender expression and identity.
If you are considering detransitioning after receiving gender-transitioning surgery and believe your gender-transition care was mishandled, you may want to speak to the gender-transition and detransitioning claims lawyers at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law. Our detransitioning lawyers are here to help. We can review your case and may be able to help you seek compensation to cover your ongoing medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and therapy needs.
Risks of Gender-Transitioning Surgery
There are many risks associated with gender-transitioning surgery. But in a majority of cases, treating physicians and doctors fail to advise their patients of these risks. The hormones used to stop puberty in young children can have long-term side effects, and some of the earlier discontinued drugs used to stop or delay puberty, like Lupron have been the subject of lawsuits for side-effects including joint pain, fibromyalgia, joint problems, thinning of the bones, and more. Transfeminine bottom surgery also has major risks which can include infection, nerve injury, inadequate vagina depth, urinary tract injury, painful intercourse, and more. Trans male surgery may include removal of the breasts, and construction of a penis and scrotum. Risks can include infection, bleeding, nerve injury, and other issues, especially if a patient comes to regret breast removal.
Those who choose to detransition after undergoing these procedures can face added complications. Some trans researchers have feared speaking to trans individuals who expressed regret about their gender-transition because they feared the backlash it would have on the transgender community. Yet, as more children receive care for gender dysphoria, and as more individuals in general seek care for gender dysphoria, doctors have increasingly seen the need to address concerns of those who choose to detransition.
Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law is a gender-transition and detransitioning law firm that helps individuals struggling with the aftermath of gender-transitioning surgery. If you believe your gender-transitioning care was rushed, or if you feel you didn’t receive adequate information or support before or after your transition, you may want to reach out to the detransitioning lawyers at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law. We are here to help you.
Issues Researchers Have Identified with Children Who Underwent Gender-Transitions Before Age 20
One group of individuals who are of major concern for researchers exploring issues in the detransitioning community are those who underwent treatment for gender dysphoria before they turned 20. Young patients expressed several concerns with their treatment. Their concerns included:
- Their own sense of gender fluidity before they underwent radical gender-transition treatment
- Regret about the decision to transition
- Lack of information about anticipated risks, side-effects, and alternative, more conservative methods of treatment
- Concerns that doctors weren’t properly equipped to help them with the gender-transition process
- Fears about telling their gender-transition doctors about their regrets regarding surgery or treatment
Detransitioners also face added backlash from the trans community. They sometimes suffer online abuse or are told to remain silent about their experiences. Others re lesbian or gay, but feel that they might be more accepted by society if they change genders. Others have histories of sexual abuse and trauma, and believe these experiences made them want to change genders. Others had other mental health conditions that complicated their journey to understanding their gender and identity. Many of the patients expressed concerns that their therapists may not have addressed the full spectrum of competing concerns that can lead a patient, especially a young patient, to want to undergo gender-transitioning surgery.
These concerns have led some doctors to note that parents and patients should be informed that gender identity can change over time and that there may be a risk of detransitioning associated with gender-transition care. Furthermore, researchers have expressed concern that patients, especially young patients, may require ongoing support, especially if they are gender-fluid, gender dysphoric, or questioning. In other countries where gender-transitioning care is offered, young patients receive long-term care before surgery or hormones are offered.
The detransitioning claims lawyers at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law are here to help you if you believe you didn’t receive proper support or care during your gender-transitioning care. If you suffered complications, weren’t informed of the risks, side-effects or alternative treatments, didn’t receive adequate follow-up care, or are struggling because doctors performed surgery without considering your full mental health history, you may be able to join a number of patients pursuing mishandled gender-transition lawsuits.
How Many People Detransition?
There isn’t much research on detransitioning. Within the trans community, detransitioning is highly controversial. The idea of exploring regret after gender-transition can be a difficult subject, especially for the trans community. The subject can feel challenging, and frightening, because members of the community face violence, threats, and can struggle to receive adequate medical care. There are concerns that if detransitioning is discussed that trans people might not be able to receive the medical care they need.
It isn’t fully known how many individuals choose to detransition. There aren’t any robust long-term studies of children and teens who underwent gender-transitioning surgery or who took hormones. Initial studies put the number of people who detransition after gender-transitioning surgery at anywhere from 1% to 25%. Major medical groups consider gender-transitioning care to be safe and life-saving for patients who need it. Yet, patients who later detransition believe that they should have received more support, evaluation, and care, and in some cases, they do not. Long-term studies of patients are difficult to conduct because of patient attrition and because of the relatively small number of people who undergo gender-transitioning in the first place. Reports indicate that the outcomes for adults who transition may be radically different than the outcomes for children who transition.
If you are going through the detransitioning process, you may want to speak us at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law, a detransitioning law firm. Our detransitioning lawyers are here to help you understand your rights and options. You may have the right to sue doctors who failed to provide you with an adequate standard of care.
Gaps Between U.S. Care and Standards of Care Abroad for Trans Children and Youth
One of the issues that might lead to more concerns in the U.S. and to detransitioning is the fact that in other countries where gender-transitioning surgery is performed on children and youth, the children and youth undergo comprehensive assessments and care before any surgeries or hormones are used. Care abroad often involves a year or more of treatment, psychological evaluation, and assessment before radical surgery or the use of irreversible hormones are on the table. In U.S. gender-clinics, treatment is much more rapid. Some trans advocates fear that delaying surgery or hormones might delay crucial and life-saving treatment, but others express concern that rushing to surgery may result in situations where doctors fail to take into account other reasons why children and youth may want to gender-transition.
Currently, the treatment of children with gender dysphoria is fraught with mixed views and a lack of adequate research on outcomes. Clinics that treat children with gender dysphoria face longer and longer waiting lists, while experts hold varying beliefs about how treatment should be conducted. Some professionals believe that patients should be closely evaluated, assessed, and treated before surgery or hormones are used, while others believe that delays in treatment could lead to suicide or self-harm.
Ultimately, there are many concerns about the treatment of trans youth. If you believe you didn’t receive proper care or support and were treated for gender dysphoria as a child, you may be able to join those who are pursuing detransitioning lawsuits. Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law is a detransitioning law firm that may be able to help you if you believe you didn’t receive adequate care for your gender dysphoria.
Consequences of Detransitioning
There are many physical and emotional consequences associated with detransitioning. Individuals may no longer produce hormones that match the gender they were assigned at birth and may need to take hormone replacement therapies to regain these hormones. Some may have to suffer through years of costly and painful procedures to reconstruct their breasts, or detransition after bottom surgery. Others may require ongoing counseling to cope with the consequences of gender-transition and detransition. Individuals who detransition may face violent and vicious backlash from the LGBTQ community, and they may struggle to find a medical provider who can offer them the treatment they need.
The detransitioning lawsuit lawyers at Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law are here to help you if you have chosen to detransition and are facing these consequences. You may be able to join those who are pursuing lawsuits after regretting their gender-transitioning treatment. Contact our law firm today to learn more about your rights and options.
Early Transitioning When There are Other Mental Health Complications
Reports indicate that some of the youth who transitioned while still in their teens or childhoods, later regretted their decision. Some suffered sexual abuse as young girls or teens. Others later identified as lesbian or gay and came to believe that if they transitioned to male or female they would be accepted in their communities and seen as straight. Researchers indicate that when there are other mental health complications, there have been instances where those who underwent gender-transitions have come to regret their decision. Some patients believe that they were offered surgery and hormones too quickly, and that their doctors should have spent more time evaluating them and helping them explore all their options for living a gender-fluid life.
If you were a child or teen when you transitioned and have come to regret the decision or believe that your mental health care was mishandled, you may be able to join those who are pursuing detransitioning lawsuits. Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law is a detransitioning law firm that may be able to help you if you believe your gender-transitioning care was mishandled. You may be able to seek compensation for your surgeries, medical care, and ongoing psychological needs.
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Contact a Detransitioning Law Firm Today
Patients who have sued gender-transitioning care providers have complained that their care providers offered radical treatment like surgery or hormones too quickly and without being informed of alternative, conservative methods of treatment. Others complained that the complexity of their mental health concerns were not addressed. Others experienced complications after gender-transitioning surgery and have struggled with regret about transitioning. Many of these complications were not addressed or mentioned by their doctors prior to administering the treatments and procedures.
If you or someone you love is considering detransitioning or is in the process and you believe your gender-transitioning care providers failed to provide you a standard of care, you may be able to join those pursuing detransitioning lawsuits. Reach out to Scanlon & Wojton: Attorneys at Law a gender transitioning law firm today.