Daily Femail: Pennsylvania Hospital Denies Trans Patient’s Care
Pennsylvania hospital abruptly cancels nonbinary patient's top surgery, argues its because of their religion.
by Mira Lazine
Daily Femail is Assigned Media’s newest column, offering real opinions delivered with a satirical tone to address last week’s biggest news stories. Written by Mira Lazine, the column aims to humorously mock right-wing tabloids while also providing quality reporting every Tuesday.
Back in July, a nonbinary patient of Penn State Health’s St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pennsylvania was scheduled to receive top surgery. This patient, known as Jean, had gotten a phone call the day before the surgery. They were told some bad news. Two hospital employees - and not their surgeon - called last minute to say that their surgery had been canceled.
“Two hospital Administrators called to cancel my surgery, stating it did not align with the hospital regulations, as St. Joseph was a Catholic administrated[sic] hospital. I was left dumbfounded, distressed and sadly, not alone,” writes Jean, also known as “KL E,” in a Change.org petition. “Many in our community face such barriers nationwide.”
This surgery was especially important for Jean as they describe feeling separated from who they want to be. "I've never really been comfortable in my own skin and that's really difficult, and that's why I've pursued this avenue to start to feel more comfortable… Honestly, [the call] felt like grief. It felt like I was mourning the loss of this new person I was supposed to be,” they said to WGAL News 8.
They were barely given any information as to why this happened to them. All they were told was that it was because this conflicted with the hospital’s Catholic beliefs. This sentiment was echoed in a statement St. Joseph’s Medical Center gave to WGAL News 8 last week.
"We are aware that a surgeon affiliated with our Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center has performed some top surgeries on transgender adults. This is not aligned with the principles of the Catholic healing mission that guides St. Joseph Medical Center."
This is especially ironic given that St Joseph’s, one of the alleged best hospitals in the United States, just two years ago proudly advertised that they’ve conducted mastectomies on cisgender women. Additionally, their parent nonprofit, Penn State Health, boasts that hospitals within their system provide all sorts of gender affirming care including hormone replacement therapy, vocal care, and - notably - chest surgeries. Readers are encouraged to look at their pride month declaration from this year and wonder just how deep the hypocrisy goes.
Daily Femail reached out to both Penn State Health and the St. Joseph Medical Center for comment, however neither responded to requests for inquiry and instead left the reporter on an endless hold with ghosted messages on social media. If they do get in touch, this article will be updated accordingly - though readers should not hold their breath.
Whether this act is legal is up in the air. In 2022, a federal appeals court ruled that Catholic hospitals are allowed to deny people healthcare in the event that they believe it conflicts with their religious beliefs, something very definitely moral and just in a secular society. Additionally, last year a group of bishops implemented new guidelines for Catholics explicitly restricting doctors from giving gender affirming care.
However, St Joseph’s was bought by Penn State Health in July of 2015. Penn State Health, as the nonprofit medical system linked to Penn State University, receives federal funding, meaning they’re subject to rules under the Affordable Care Act. This act prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex - drawing from prior legal statutes like Title IX - and is often interpreted to include gender identity. As Attorney Elana Redfield of the Williams Institute at UCLA Law says to WGAL News 8,
"There is still the question of how courts are going to interpret the meaning of sex for the purpose of various nondiscrimination statutes. I think that gets a little bit more of a gray area where there may be an obligation for a way for people to provide such care."
This sentiment is additionally echoed by Jean in the aforementioned Change.org petition - they write, “As a recipient of federal funding, St. Joseph Medical Center has a legal obligation to abide by the Affordable Care Act 1557 law. This law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs or activities. The denial of gender affirming care directly opposes the ACA 1557.”
Jean advocates for people to sign the petition to raise awareness for what happened, to bring about change in the hospital, and to oppose religiously based discrimination. This is especially important for St. Joseph Medical Center as it is the only major hospital servicing Berks County, Pennsylvania. Hundreds of thousands of people are serviced by this chain, and their refusal to provide gender affirming care could mean many are isolated from healthcare.
To some, this outcome might not come as much of a surprise. Kaitlyn Concilio, a Pennsylvanian software developer, outlines in a blog post discussing Jean’s story how she used to have colleagues who worked for Penn State Health during the time of the St. Joseph acquisition. She writes, “When they were first looking to acquire St. Joe's, a number of us (queer folk, women) who shared the demographics of those who might be impacted were worried about exactly this sort of thing.”
She continues, “[Penn State Health] wanted to be in the market, and buying St Joe's was the fastest/cheapest way to accomplish that. St. Joe's refused to be acquired unless they were allowed [to] keep their ‘Catholic tradition’ as the guiding force behind their actions.”
Daily Femail was not able to verify these claims. We reached out to Kaitlyn for comment, however she did not respond before publication of this article. Nevertheless, her claims are not in a vacuum, as many other transgender Americans report being excluded from medical care because of religious beliefs.
Last year, a Christian clinic denied a young trans girl mental health care after finding out that she’s transgender. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico reports that one in seven Americans have to go to religious institutions for medical care and are thus bound by their regulations, and many - including one in their vicinity - routinely deny LGBTQ+ people care.
This problem is likely only going to continue to grow as time goes on, as if any case escalates to the Supreme Court, they’ll likely rule in favor of the religious, given their historical bent towards arguments for religious freedom. The question then becomes - how far is our society willing to go?
Mira Lazine is a freelance journalist covering transgender issues, politics, and science. She can be found on Twitter, Mastodon, and BlueSky, @MiraLazine