The suit states administrators at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center claimed such a procedure would violate Catholic doctrine.
A new lawsuit accuses Penn State Health of violating a Pennsylvanian’s civil rights when a hospital “abruptly” canceled a gender-affirming procedure less than 24 hours before it was scheduled.
Doctors for EJ Stiles, who is nonbinary and has a gender dysphoria diagnosis, recommended a mastectomy “to align their outward presentation with their gender identity,” according to the filing.
The lawsuit states that administrators at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Berks County, Pennsylvania claimed such a procedure would violate Catholic doctrine.
“I did everything right. I followed my doctors’ advice and trusted Penn State Health after they made me feel there was a place for patients like me. But being denied care so suddenly, simply because of who I am, was a devastating eye-opener,” Stiles said in a press release.
“If an institution’s biases can so easily lock transgender and nonbinary patients out of care, then our health-care system is operating with holes that need to be addressed. We all deserve equal access to health care, and to be served by institutions that honor their responsibility to treat us with dignity,” they continued.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP filed the lawsuit on Stiles’ behalf in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County Tuesday afternoon. Defendants include Penn State Health, Penn State Health St. Joseph, and Pennsylvania State University.
Though St. Joseph Medical Center identifies as a Catholic hospital, it is part of Penn State Health, a network of public hospitals. Plaintiffs argue that it violated the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and Equal Amendment Act as well as “religious freedom provisions in the Pennsylvania Constitution by exercising state authority to enforce religious doctrine.”
“EJ Stiles has the right to access the same health-care options as any other patient, and those decisions are between a patient and their doctor,” said Rich Ting, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “EJ’s surgery at a Penn State Health hospital being canceled based on religious beliefs is an outrageous and illegal action that put EJ’s health and well-being in jeopardy for months. If hospitals controlled by a public university can reap the benefits of state funds, then they must be bound by the same constitutional and equal protection mandates as all other state-funded institutions.”
Penn State Health didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Health-care providers across the country have scaled back gender-affirming care, even in Democratic-led states, following the Trump administration’s threats to transgender health care.
Just over half of states ban gender-affirming care for minors, and 29 states restrict sport participation—though such a prohibition hasn’t advanced in Pennsylvania.
This story was originally reported by Whitney Downard for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
