Vanderbilt University suspends gender affirmation surgery for minors

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is suspending all permanent “gender affirmation surgery” for minors until further notice.

The international medical center will forgo performing any transgender surgeries for children that cannot be undone or reverted later in life, pending an internal review.

“On September 6, 2022, WPATH published a new version of its recommendations to health care professionals for treatment of transgender persons, known as SOC-8,” the university wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

The letter continued, “In light of these new recommendations, and as part of completing our internal clinical review of SOC-8 guidance in patients under 18, we will be seeking advice from local and national clinical experts. We are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months.”

The statement comes in relation to calls from Tennessee lawmakers to investigate the clinic following a report from conservative activist Matt Walsh. 

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and others called for an investigation after the September report, which claimed that VUMC “drugs, chemically castrates and performs double mastectomies on minors.”

The VUMC denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Fox News Digital at the time, saying that it conducts all of its care “in compliance with state law and in line with professional practice standards.”

Vanderbilt University denied involvement in the VUMC in a statement to Fox News.

A series of videos from Vanderbilt staff came to light in September, showing the medical center’s discussions surrounding the practices, which have been offered for both children and adults.

Assistant professor Dr. Shayne Taylor can be heard in a 2018 video apparently discussing “top surgery.”

“Some of our VUMC financial folks in October of 2016 put down some costs of how much money we think each patient would bring in. And this is only including top surgery, this isn’t including any bottom surgery, and it’s a lot of money,” Taylor said in the video.