A Westchester County, New York, jury awarded $2 million to Fox Varian, a woman who "no longer thinks of herself as a male" who underwent a double mastectomy six years ago at age 16 in what is believed to be the first U.S. malpractice case of its kind to reach a trial verdict.
The jury found a psychologist and a plastic surgeon liable for medical malpractice in performing and supporting the 2019 breast removal surgery on Varian in order to treat gender dysphoria. The award includes $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering and $400,000 for future medical expenses, according to the Epoch Times.
Varian's lawyers said she no longer thinks of herself as a male and said she sued claiming psychologist Kenneth Einhorn and surgeon Simon Chin failed to meet the standard of care through inadequate psychological evaluation, poor communication between the professionals, and insufficient screening before proceeding with the irreversible procedure.
The case centered on whether the medical team properly assessed her mental health and readiness for "gender-affirming surgery," marking a significant development in the growing number of such lawsuits in the U.S.
Varian's legal team argued that the surgery caused lasting physical and psychological harm, including complications from the procedure and ongoing emotional distress.
According to a statement from her lawyers, "any medical provider who departs from accepted medical standards, regardless of the context of the treatment, should be held accountable in a court of law for the injuries that result."
"This case was not a statement or referendum on the appropriateness of gender-affirming care for adults or minors. Instead, it was about whether physicians adhered to their professional and ethical obligations when providing that care to Fox," the statement continued.
The defendants maintained that the care provided followed accepted medical standards at the time and that Varian had given informed consent. The jury, however, sided with the plaintiff.
Dr. Alfonso Oliva, a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon not involved with the Varian case and a board member at the Catholic Medical Association, told EWTN News that "patients are often not given full information of the risks associated with medical transitions," citing the "very high complication rates" of the surgical transitioning of adolescents and adults.
He said inversion penile vaginoplasty, where male genitalia are transferred to mimic female genitalia, has a 70% complication rate, "a very high number for any procedure, and yet it's tolerated as a norm."
The risk of complications for women who undergo surgery to mimic male genitalia "is 35-40%, which is also very high," Oliva said.
He continued: "There's not full disclosure by medical professionals of what happens to these children after these surgeries. They will likely become sterile, they are highly likely to have sexual dysfunction, especially young boys, many of whom won't have sexual function or the ability to orgasm in the future."
"These are not reversible interventions. Normal brain development, which is not completed until 25, is interrupted through hormone therapy. Problems such as obesity and diabetes, and problems with the skeletal system, which will not develop as it should, are not discussed during medical evaluations. Nor is there a significant psychiatric evaluation of these children, who are suffering, but we don't get to the bottom of the suffering," he said.
Oliva said there is extensive scientific research showing the harms of such interventions on youth, including the 2024 Cass Review, an independent investigation into gender identity services for children and young people commissioned by the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
The review concluded that the evidence base for the medical procedures, including puberty blockers and hormone treatments, is "remarkably weak."
A Swedish study that measured long-term outcomes of people who underwent sex reassignment surgery showed considerably higher risks than the general population for mortality, suicidal behavior, and psychiatric problems.
"Their risk of suicide 10 years after transgender surgery was found to be 19 times that of the general population," Oliva said of the Swedish study. "If we wait for the initial euphoria after surgery subsides, and we evaluate suicide rates, we see that the surgery itself did not improve the psychological well-being of these patients."
The surgeon said parents are coerced into assenting to the medical treatments because they are "fed the idea that their child will commit suicide if they are not allowed to transition," and this is "not the truth."
Statutes of limitations, statutory caps on damages must be increased, lawyer says
Oliva said the statute of limitations for bringing medical malpractice suits must be extended nationwide. He said it is "only three years" in his home state of Washington.
"In many cases, these young adults don't realize that they made a big mistake until years afterward," he explained.
While New York state does not impose a statutory cap on damages in medical malpractice cases, with no limit on either economic damages or noneconomic damages (e.g., pain and suffering), Marcella Burke, a Houston-based attorney, told EWTN News that "existing statutory caps on medical malpractice damages … are insufficient in most states to provide meaningful compensation to children harmed and insufficient deterrence to the medical establishments and practitioners who perform these procedures."
Burke represents Dr. Eithan Haim in a case against Texas Children's Hospital, which was allegedly performing transgender procedures on children despite a state law prohibiting it.
"I have seen firsthand the profound physical, psychological, and emotional injuries these interventions can cause," she said. "In most states, outdated statutory caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases — there is a $250,000 cap in Texas — fail to reflect the gravity of these lifelong consequences for children who were too young to give truly informed consent."
"These caps were designed for typical medical errors, not for cases involving irreversible procedures pushed on vulnerable minors amid ideological pressures rather than rigorous, evidence-based standards of care," she said.
"To ensure real accountability and adequate compensation for what has been done to these children, state legislatures must raise or eliminate these caps in a narrowly tailored way for claims arising specifically from gender transition procedures on minors, allowing juries to award damages commensurate with the devastating, long-term harm inflicted."
The surgeon also said that what is needed are clinics that have plastic surgeons, psychiatrists, endocrinologists, and other medical professionals available to help the "tens of thousands" of patients detransition.
"Once they realize, 'Oh my goodness, maybe I made a big mistake,' there's nobody to take care of them medically right now. They're persona non grata at their clinic; looked down on as a failure by their community. They don't know how to get off the hormones, or what to do about surgical problems. No one is really taking care of them," he said.
Several other such lawsuits are pending across the country, though most remain in early stages or have settled out of court.
