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The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trans youth fight for care as California clinics cave to Trump: ‘How can this happen here?'
Eli, a 16-year-old Los Angeles student, is spending his summer juggling an internship at a natural history museum, a research project, a physics class and cheer practice – and getting ready to apply for college. But in recent weeks, he has been forced to handle a more urgent matter: figuring out how he is going to access vital medical treatments targeted by the Trump administration. Last month, Eli was stunned to get an email alerting him that Children's hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) was shutting down its Center for Transyouth Health and Development, which had provided him critical healthcare for three years. The center, which has served transgender youth for three decades, offered Eli counseling and helped him access gender-affirming hormone therapy that he said allowed him to live as himself and flourish in school. CHLA said it was shuttering the center due to the federal government's threats to pull funding, part of the president's efforts to eradicate trans youth healthcare. The move has forced Eli and his mother to scramble for alternatives, taking time out of his busy summer to contact new providers and ensure he doesn't run out of medications. California became the first sanctuary state for trans youth healthcare in 2022 and has long positioned itself as having the strongest protections for LGBTQ+ children. Now, for families like Eli's, it feels like that safety is rapidly disappearing. 'I was always worried for people in conservative states and had a lot of fear for my community as a whole. But I never thought it would directly affect me in California,' Eli said on a recent afternoon, seated with his mom at a Latino LGBTQ+ organization in Boyle Heights. 'I wish people understood they're doing so much more harm than they could possibly imagine – that so many lives will be hurt and lost and so many people torn apart.' Eli is one of nearly 3,000 patients who learned on 12 June they would be abruptly losing their healthcare at CHLA, one of the largest and most prominent centers in the nation to treat trans kids. Then, on 24 June, Stanford Medicine revealed it had also paused gender-affirming surgeries for trans minors and 18-year-olds, with reports that some families had appointments suddenly canceled and leaving other patients fearful it was the beginning of a wider crackdown on their care. Families across California told the Guardian they were exploring options to stockpile hormones, researching how to get care outside the US, growing increasingly fearful that parents could face government investigations or prosecutions, and discussing options to permanently flee the country. CHLA, in a letter to staff, said its decision to close the trans center was 'profoundly difficult', but as California's largest pediatric safety net provider, it could not risk losing federal dollars, which makes up a majority of its funds and would affect hundreds of thousands of patients. Stanford said its disruption in services followed a review of 'directives from the federal government' and was done to 'protect both our providers and patients'. 'This is Los Angeles – how can this be happening here?' said Emily, Eli's mother, who is an educator; the Guardian is identifying them by only their first names to protect their privacy. 'My parents left their Central American countries for a better life – fleeing poverty and civil war, and I cannot believe I'm sitting here thinking: what would be the best country for my family to flee to, as so many immigrant families have done? I never thought I might have to leave the US to protect my son.' Katie, a 16-year-old film student who lives two hours outside Los Angeles, started going to CHLA for gender-affirming care in 2018 when she was nine. For several years, the care involved therapy and check-ins, but no direct medical interventions. Throughout that time, Katie was consistent about her identity as a girl, which CHLA providers supported. 'It was so meaningful and incredible for them to say: 'We see you for who you are, but also you can be who you are,'' recalled Katie, who asked to go by a pseudonym to protect her privacy. 'It was like, I have a future. I'll get to have my life.' In gender-affirming care, young children may first socially transition by using new names, pronouns and clothes. When youth are persistent about their gender, doctors can consider prescribing puberty blockers, which pause puberty, and eventually hormone therapies that allow for medical transition. Trans youth surgeries are rare. The treatment has for years been considered the standard of care in the US, endorsed by major medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, and linked to improved mental health. In recent years, Republicans have passed bans on gender-affirming care in more than 25 states, and Trump has called the treatments 'chemical and surgical mutilation'. There has also been a growing international backlash against the care, including in the UK, which has banned puberty blockers for trans kids. Last month, the US supreme court upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Families and civil rights groups have argued the bans are discriminatory, as cisgender children can still receive the same treatments; cis boys with delayed puberty may be prescribed testosterone, for example, while trans boys cannot. Katie, who was eventually prescribed puberty blockers and hormones, broke down crying recounting how the care saved her. 'Sometimes I think: What would my life be if I never got this?' she said. 'And I just don't see myself here. I can't see myself at 16 if I didn't come out and transition … Losing this now would destroy my life.' Sage Sol Pitchenik, a 16-year-old CHLA patient, who is non-binary, said the care helped them overcome debilitating depression caused by their severe gender dysphoria: 'Every day, I couldn't even get up because I just didn't want to see myself, not even my reflection in the window. I was so terrified to look at my body.' They compared the care to the essential treatment their twin brother had earlier received at the same institution: a liver transplant. 'CHLA saved my life, just like they saved my brother,' they said. Eli, who came out as trans while in middle school during pandemic lockdowns, said it was hard to return to school when he felt so uncomfortable in his body. At the start of high school, he avoided making friends: 'I'm really sociable. I love talking to people and joining clubs, but I felt restricted because of how embarrassed I felt and scared of how people would react to me.' The testosterone therapy helped restore his confidence, he said, recounting 'euphoric moments' of his transition: growing facial hair, his voice deepening, staying in the boys' cabin at camp. His friends celebrated each milestone, and his mom said the positive transformation was obvious to his whole family: 'It was like day and night – we are a traditional Latino Catholic family, but they were all loving and accepting, because he is such a happier kid.' CHLA started treating trans children around 1991, and that legacy was part of its appeal for parents. 'It's not just the best place in LA to get care, it's also one of the most important research centers in the country,' said Jesse Thorn, a radio host who has two trans daughters receiving care there. Critics of gender-affirming care have claimed that vulnerable youth are rushed into transitioning without understanding treatment consequences, and that there is not enough research to justify the care. CHLA, Thorn said, countered those claims; families have appointments and build long-term relationships with doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers. The process is slow and methodical, and the center was engaged in extensive research on the effects of treatments, he said. 'The youth most in danger with the clinic closing are those with parents who aren't sure about this care,' Thorn added. 'That's a lot of parents. They're not hateful bigots. They're overwhelmed and scared, and the institution means a lot.' One LA parent, who requested anonymity to protect her trans son's privacy, said she knew parents who traveled from Idaho to get CHLA's care: 'It really was a beacon of the entire western United States. It is a remarkable loss.' Parents told the Guardian that they were putting their children on waitlists at other clinics and beginning intake processes, but remained worried for families who have public health insurance and fewer resources. Like CHLA, Stanford has long researched and championed trans youth healthcare. The prestigious university's recent pullback on care only affects surgeries, which are much more rare than hormone therapy and puberty blockers. But families whose care has remained intact, for now, say they are on edge. 'There's a constant feeling of not knowing what you need to prepare for,' said one mom of a 17-year-old trans boy, who said her son waited six months to first be seen by Stanford. 'We all understand the pressures the doctors and institutions are under. But ceding the surgeries doesn't mean the pressure will end. It's just showing us our kids are seen as disposable.' Parents and advocates say they fear that other institutions could follow CHLA and Stanford, particularly as the White House significantly escalates attacks in ways that go far beyond funding threats. Trump's focus on California trans youth and gender-affirming care has been relentless. The president has directly attacked a 16-year-old trans track runner, with the US justice department and federal Department of Education fighting, so far unsuccessfully, to force the state's schools to ban trans female athletes and bar trans girls from women's facilities. Trump has threatened to withhold billions of dollars in education funding over a state law meant to prevent schools from forcibly outing LGBTQ+ youth to their parents. Perhaps most troubling for families and providers, the FBI has said it is investigating providers who 'mutilate' children 'under the guise of gender-affirming care', and the DoJ said this week it had issued subpoenas to trans youth clinics and doctors. This has led to growing fears that the US will seek to prosecute and imprison clinicians, similar to efforts by some Republican states to criminally charge abortion providers. Many parents say they worry they could be targeted next. 'There's an outcry of terror,' said another LA mother of a trans child. 'It feels like there is a bloodlust to jail any doctor who has ever helped an LGBTQ+ kid. There's this realization that the world is constricting around us, and that any moment they could be coming for us.' Some families hope that California will fight back, but are wary of how committed the governor, Gavin Newsom, really is. Newsom faced widespread backlash in March when he hosted a podcast with a conservative activist and said he agreed with the suggestion that trans girls participating in sports was 'deeply unfair'. California's department of justice, meanwhile, has repeatedly emphasized that when institutions withhold gender-affirming care for trans youth, they are violating the state's anti-discrimination laws. A spokesperson for Rob Bonta, the state's attorney general, said Trump was 'seeking to scare doctors and hospitals from providing nondiscriminatory healthcare': 'The bottom line is: this care remains legal in California … While we are concerned with the recent decisions by CHLA, right now we are focused on getting to the source of this problem – and that's the Trump administration's unlawful and harmful threats to providers.' A CHLA spokesperson shared a copy of its staff letter, noting that Trump's threats to its funding came from at least five federal departments, and saying it was working with patients to identify alternative care and would 'explore' reassigning affected employees to other roles. A Stanford spokesperson did not answer questions about how many patients were affected by its recent changes, but said in an email it was 'committed to providing high quality, thorough and compassionate medical services for every member of our community'. Kush Desai, a White House spokesperson, said in an email that Trump has a 'resounding mandate' to end 'unproven, irreversible child mutilation procedures', adding: 'The administration is delivering.' Katie's mother said she expected the state's leaders to do more: 'The quiet from the governor and others on trans rights is very unsettling. My husband and I grew up in California, went to public schools here, and always thought we'd be safe here and that the state would hold the line. It's hard to tell right now if that's true.' Izzy Gardon, Newsom's spokesperson, defended the governor, saying in an email that his 'record supporting the trans community is unmatched'. 'Everyone wants to blame Gavin Newsom for everything. But instead of indulging in Newsom-derangement syndrome, maybe folks should look to Washington.' Affected youth are increasingly speaking out. Since the news broke, protesters have organized weekly demonstrations in front of CHLA to call for the healthcare to be restored. At one recent evening rally, organized by the LA LGBT Center, families and supporters marched and chanted outside the busy hospital on Sunset Boulevard, holding signs saying 'Trans joy is resistance' and 'blood on your hands', and at one point shouting: 'Down with erasure, down with hate, shame on CHLA!' 'We can't be quiet any more. We've been polite for too long and taken so much bullshit from people who hate us,' said Sage, who spoke at an earlier rally. 'I didn't stand up just for myself or the people affected by this, but also for the trans people who came before us who still have incorrect names on their graves, who don't have a voice.' Sage, who is now in a creative writing program, said they hoped to become a journalist. Katie, who aspires to be a television writer in LA, said she could not be silent as anti-trans advocates force families to consider fleeing: 'How dare you try to drive me out of the place where I was born, where my best friends are, where the job I want to do is, where I've experienced my whole life? This is my home.' Eli said he didn't feel as if he was being an activist. He was simply asking for the 'bare minimum': to be left alone and able to access basic healthcare. 'Trans services like hormone therapy truly saves lives,' he said. 'We just want people to be able to live their lives. I'm just asking for what is commonsense.'
Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Village GP is struck off after sending barrage of abuse to female colleague in drunken late-night phone calls
A village GP on a remote Scottish island has been struck off after making abusive late-night phone calls to a female doctor at the practice. Paul Scott, 59, was also accused of initimidating another female colleague by kicking the door of a consultation room before shouting at her while inches from her face. Scott, a general practitioner at the health centre in the tiny fishing village of Brae on the Shetland island of Mainland, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and his name was ordered to be erased from the medical register. It was claimed during the probe that an officer declined to call the Scott because 'he doesn't respond well to police contact.' At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service, Scott, who qualified in medicine 36 years ago, was described by patients on Facebook as a 'wonderful empathetic doctor'. However, Scott - nicknamed 'Doc MacMartin' - was struck off following a series of temper-fuelled tirades against female colleagues at his surgery. In the first incident in March 2018, the GP flew into a rage at a female workmate known as 'Colleague A' after a complaint was made against her regarding patient care. The Manchester hearing was told there had been a 'tense clinical situation involving a potentially unwell patient requiring an ECG' and the woman who was with a patient was shocked when Scott began 'hammering' and 'kicking' the door to her room. He eventually gained access before backing the woman against the wall and berating her in such close proximity that she could 'feel his spittle on her face'. In a statement the woman, who had just returned from leave, said: 'He was about a millimetre from my face. All through the day he was telling staff that he was going to report me, on what grounds no-one knew. His actions were so premeditated. 'It appeared to me that he had been thinking about how he could bully me out of the workplace whilst I was on annual leave. 'He approached me the minute I arrived that morning - it was full on aggressive and intimidating behaviour.' Scott was later suspended from the practice in April 2020 by NHS Shetland for undisclosed reasons but reportedly while at home he began drinking heavily and turned on another colleague known as Dr C in August 2021 after discovering she had been working as a locum alongside Colleague A. But he later bombarded a second female colleague with abusive and drunken late night phone calls over a week long period in which he told her repeatedly to 'f*** off'. Both women were said to have been left severe distress and upset by the incidents and Police Scotland were subsequently called in to investigate Scott. The GP had previously worked with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to help local fishermen undergo medical examinations before going to sea. He became a partner at the Brae Health Centre in 1999 after a period working for the Scottish Office, before taking early retirement from the NHS in 2021. Dr C said: 'I was awakened from sleep by a phone call from Dr Paul Scott. He was very agitated when he phoned. Shouting at me, repeating my name over and over. 'He seemed to be very angry because I had worked the Friday and had been in the next room. 'He said: "What did you talk about at coffee?" and "You had coffee with her" and [was] saying "She is a bad person", "Have you ever been referred to the GMC?", "Are you colluding with them?" 'He said he wouldn't put it on FB - yet. He would not let me speak. He was pretty intimidating and I felt extremely upset, ended up putting the phone down and had little sleep that night before going to do a day's locum in the morning.' Concerned by Scott's beahviour, Dr C kept a timeline of events. She recalled how on September 4 Scott started phoning her at about 11pm and then 'phoned roughly every half an hour a further twice into Sunday morning'. She wrote in her timeline: 'He has been on the phone tonight, abusing me, saying he doesn't trust me and saying he had the right to do this. He was drunk. I'm minded to speak to the police to make them aware - he has no right to abuse or frighten me. 'He wouldn't listen to me when I asked him to get off the phone and stop this. He sounded drunk and in a rage. 'One of the phone calls was just "f*** you, f*** you, f*** you" over and over. The calls got progressively worse, in the night at half hour intervals. In the end shouting at me to f*** off and saying he doesn't like me or trust me that I'm a liar, in collusion. 'Anything I said was twisted and thrown back. I couldn't get a word in to respond if. If I tried, he screamed at me. He repeated my name over and over, was intimidating and me saying "You need help Paul" made it worse. 'All of this seems to have been kicked off by me doing that locum work for two days. I spoke with the police and said it's intolerable, I'm on call and have to answer the phone, and eventually spoke to the police in Lerwick. 'But the officer I spoke to was reluctant to phone him as he said, "He doesn't respond well to police contact". 'I said I was concerned after speaking with his relative that he might try and come through my door, if he was in the vicinity. But he said I shouldn't be worried about that and in the end the best I could do was put the phone through to the hospital. 'The policeman said if he abused the person on hospital switchboard then they would act. The hospital agreed to phone me on another line if there were any calls.' She told other colleagues about the calls and they responded: 'He's very unpredictable and its affecting everyone. He is drinking and has been phoning (people) when drunk during the night and sending abusive texts - trying to control and intimidate. 'He seems to be in a terrible rage much of the time. Apparently, he is completely in denial - it started getting worse after his suspension.' When quizzed Scott claimed he did not believe he had acted aggressively towards Colleague A and said he 'may have had one or two glasses of wine' when he contacted Dr C. His lawyer Stephen Brassington said the abusive phone calls arose out of a 'mistrust of colleagues' and added: 'The distress caused to Colleague A and Dr C was not the product of any intent on Dr Scott's part. 'The incident with Colleague A occurred in a tense clinical situation involving a potentially unwell patient requiring an ECG. 'His conduct amounted to an overreaction in a high-pressure setting not an act of misconduct warranting disciplinary sanction. 'Characterising such conduct as misconduct could risk setting an unhelpful precedent for clinical professionals working under pressure. He had a previously unblemished 30-year career in the NHS.' But Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service chairman Mr Douglas Mackay said: 'The Tribunal determined that the doctor's actions in forcefully hitting the door of the consultation room, causing genuine alarm to Colleague A. 'It found this to be an unacceptable and aggressive confrontation with Colleague A in the workplace and Dr Scott's actions caused Colleague A to fear for her personal safety. He added: 'Persistent telephone calls were made by Dr Scott to Dr C. The abusive language involved the repeated use of Dr C's name and some of the calls were made during antisocial hours. 'The nature and number of these calls, as well as their content, were such that they caused Dr C to feel fearful for her personal safety and prompted her to contact the police for advice on that issue. Dr C described feeling terrified.'
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Opinion: Trump-backed town doomed by his healthcare policy
A tiny county that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump has now been doomed by his flagship policy that threatens to wipe healthcare from millions. A staggering 85 percent of Knox County, Kentucky, backed the Republican president in the election in November, with just 14 percent wanting Kamala Harris sworn in. But just eight months later, they may be regretting it, as his Big Beautiful Bill, which passed on Independence Day, looks set to tear apart their everyday lives. The policy is set to strip $1 trillion from Medicaid, leaving an estimated 17 million Americans without insurance by 2027 and it could decimate healthcare systems in rural areas, like Knox. The county, which has a population of 30,000, has 38 percent of its total population on the system, including over 7,000 children. Locals are now feeling betrayed by the Commander-in-Chief, who promoted the bill as a 'win for workers, farmers, and America's future.' Dr. Osama Hashmi, a dermatologist in Atlanta, told the Daily Mail: 'People think of healthcare as a free-market system and it's really not. It affects everybody.' For Knox County resident Teresa McNab (pictured), whose husband fell ill and fatally started seizing on the floor of their home in 2021, Medicaid helped save their family. Now, she and her daughter's coverage is being threatened by Trump's prized bill, which requires workers to work at least 80 hours per month to qualify for it. For the line cook, who also cares for her mother, it's nearly impossible, she told The Telegraph. 'I take care of my daughter, I take care of my 78-year-old mom, I take care of our home, and half the time I don't even have time for myself,' she said. For Lisa Garrison (pictured), she would not have been able to afford her daughter's eye condition that would have cost her $180,000 without Medicaid. 'You will be left without hospitals that can serve you near the hollers, without affordable or state-provided healthcare and SNAP benefits will also be affected.' She added on her Facebook page earlier this month: 'This bill is atrocious and dangerous. This bill will cause people to die.' Hashmi agrees, adding to the Daily Mail that it will '100 percent lead to death.' Kentucky faces the highest number of rural hospital closures in the country due to the bill, which will cut $28million from the Bluegrass State's program in 10 years. Thirty-five hospitals in Kentucky are at risk, Democrat Governor Andy Beshear said, and 200,000 in the state could lose coverage. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform found that the Bluegrass State has 19 hospitals that already have 'losses on services', which will only get worse when hospitals have to eat the cost of Medicaid cuts for patients unable to pay. It also found that 16 are definitely at risk of closing, with four at the immediate risk level, a June 2025 report found. 'This bill risks 200,000 Kentuckians' lives, the jobs of 20,000 healthcare workers, 35 rural hospitals, and our economy,' the governor said in a statement. 'The passage of the 'big, ugly bill' marks a sad day for our country and commonwealth. 'Kentucky deserves better.' The Medicaid cuts don't go into effect until January 1, 2027, but Hashmi said recipients will feel the effects much sooner and possibly within the next 12 months. Hospitals and other healthcare providers in Atlanta, where he works, have already begun discussing whether or not they will continue to accept Medicaid as they 'decrease [their] reliance' on it ahead of the upcoming federal funding losses. 'That planning starts now,' Hashmi (pictured), who volunteers and works at a private practice, said. 'Patients will see the effects in 12 months.' Although those who lose their coverage will feel the effects the fastest, the federal cuts also hurt those using private insurance. As hospitals and doctors' offices close in rural areas, patients will be forced to go to urban areas and even metropolises to receive care, which ups wait times, decreases the quality of care as doctors have to see more patients, and threatens the infrastructure of healthcare. 'We already have an access problem in the US,' Hashmi said. More so: 'We all pay into this,' the dermatologist said. Without federal funding, the states will have to subsidize hospitals to keep them afloat or the facilities risk bankruptcy. This means the 50 states, especially those that heavily rely on Medicaid funding, will have to raise taxes for residents. 'State systems are going to be severely disrupted,' Hashmi said. The debt hospitals take on for low-income patients will also rise, not just because ill person cannot pay them, but they will now take longer to seek care. This means, when they do seek medical attention, they'll be in later stages of diseases and illnesses that will require more advanced care, especially for cancer patients, who might seek help after it's too late. Hashmi said he has many patients where he can cure their skin cancer by simply removing it if it's detected early, but for those who wait longer, it might not be so simple. He fears more Medicaid patients will wait until it's an emergency to seek help. 'I think they should be really worried,' he said of the cuts. Miller Morris, a women's health researcher, said: 'Medicaid isn't just a line item, it's a lifeline.' And the cuts affect organizations like Planned Parenthood , which provides STD testing, prenatal and postpartum services, and birth control to patients. 'Cutting these services means millions of low-income women, especially in rural areas, will lose access to basic, often life-saving care.' Leadership Consultant, Harold Reynolds (pictured), of Chicago, who works with clients in rural areas, called the bill a '$1 trillion mistake.' 'Whether the motive is fiscal conservatism or opposition to the [Affordable Care Act], the result of these cuts is not a more efficient system. It's a more fragile one,' he told Daily Mail. 'We're not just talking about trimming excess, we're pulling funding from hospitals and providers that serve everyone.' Many experts also told the Daily Mail that the miseducation surrounding Medicaid - which is also called Obamacare - very much could have played a role in the support and confusion surrounding this bill. Many people whose healthcare was threatened under the bill had no idea, as they didn't realize their services were Medicaid, which now risks the health and safety of children, adults, and the elderly. 'Supporters justify this by pointing to $56billion in 'improper payments' in 2023. But what they don't explain is that the vast majority of those payments are not fraud,' Reynolds said. 'According to federal data, only about 1-4 percent of those improper payments are suspected fraud. The rest are paperwork errors, billing mismatches, or technical violations. 'What's really being cut is the funding that pays for maternity wards, ambulance services, emergency rooms, and nursing home care. Medicaid isn't just a benefit for the poor. It's a revenue stream for hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities. 'Gutting it weakens the whole system,' Reynolds concluded. And if rural communities are impacted significantly more than urban areas and cities, it could become a legal problem for the Trump Administration, Attorney Ben Michael, of Michael & Associates, told Daily Mail. 'With eligibility requirements becoming stricter, and if rural areas are more negatively impacted as others, that may be grounds for legal action in regard to discrimination,' he said. But for now, Americans brace for the inevitable and pray for a more equitable solution.
