NEW YORK — New York’s top legal official is directing a major Manhattan medical center to restart transgender healthcare services for young patients after the facility discontinued the program following federal funding concerns.
Attorney General Letitia James sent correspondence to NYU Langone stating the medical center’s choice to close its Transgender Youth Health Program breaks state anti-discrimination regulations by “jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers.”
James’s office warned of “further action” should the medical facility fail to immediately restart hormone treatments, puberty blockers and additional care for transgender minors.
NYU Langone representatives chose not to respond to the correspondence.
The major hospital network revealed last month it would discontinue specific gender-affirming treatments for patients younger than 19 due to the “current regulatory environment” and the recent exit of a medical director.
“We are committed to helping patients in our care manage this change,” the hospital stated previously.
This decision followed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announcing plans to eliminate federal Medicaid and Medicare payments to hospitals offering gender-affirming care to children, as part of broader regulatory measures affecting transgender individuals.
However, these proposals did not formally alter federal statutes and did not affect a “medical institutions’ existing duties and obligations under New York law,” stated the February 25 correspondence signed by health care bureau chief Darsana Srinivasan.
“The sudden discontinuation of medically necessary transgender healthcare can have severe, negative health outcomes,” Srinivasan wrote. “Accordingly, the Attorney General is extremely concerned by your institution’s decision to cease the provision of care to this vulnerable, minority population.”
The correspondence establishes March 11 as the deadline for NYU Langone to show compliance.
Attorney general representatives refused to specify what measures would follow if the hospital maintains its current policy.
Multiple hospitals nationwide have already suspended transgender youth treatments after President Donald Trump issued an executive order threatening to eliminate research and education funding from hospitals permitting the “chemical and surgical mutilation of children.”
This action and its accompanying language faced widespread criticism from transgender advocacy organizations and leading medical associations.
“This sets a very dangerous precedent for all areas of health care, if the government can cherry-pick one area of medicine to use to withhold necessary funding from entire groups of people,” said Dr. Scott Leibowitz, a psychiatrist and board member for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.
