The Anaheim teenage girl who became a male and is now living as a female again is poised to file a lawsuit in state court against a hospital chain that could prevent minors from undergoing gender reassignment surgery and require health providers to provide informed consent.
“It could include precedent that would require them to notify minors that these kinds of therapies and treatments could result in infertility and could result in all sorts of other really serious health effects that were not disclosed to our client among a host of other things,” said attorney Paul Jonna.
Jonna is among the attorneys representing Chloe Cole, who testified publicly against gender-affirming healthcare before the California Assembly in June.
“If they want to perform double mastectomies and all these kinds of surgeries, they should limit that to adults,” Jonna said.
Cole’s breasts were removed when she was 15, she was prescribed puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones that facilitated her transition to male, however today she regrets the decision.
“In many cases, parents probably should exercise more diligence before pursuing these kinds of therapies for their children but in most cases, it seems to us that the parents are just relying on the experts and those experts are the doctors and the psychiatrists,” Jonna told the Southern California Record.
Jonna along with the Dhillon Law Group and the Center for American Liberty delivered a letter of intent to sue the Permanente Medical Group, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals on Nov. 9.
Other healthcare providers named in the letter include Dr. Lisa Kristine Taylor in Oakland, Dr. Hop Nguyen Le in San Rafael, and Susanne E. Watson, Ph.D. of Multidisciplinary Services Psychiatry in Oakland.
“This radical, off-label, and inadequately studied course of chemical and surgical “treatment” for Chloe’s mental condition amounted to medical experimentation on Chloe,” stated the Nov. 9 letter, signed by Jonna’s partner Charles S. LiMandri. “As occurs in most gender dysphoria cases, Chloe’s psychological condition resolved on its own when she was close to reaching adulthood, and she no longer desires to identify as a male.”
Since filing the notice of intent to sue, a number of parents and children have come forward, indicating that Cole’s maladjusted experience is just the tip of the iceberg.
“This case is a medical malpractice case on behalf of this one specific client,” Jonna said. “Our firm as well as Harmeet Dhillon’s firm are both accepting and reviewing potential and similar cases.”
The attorneys are also considering filing a mass tort action against pharmaceuticals.
“You could aggregate cases because across the board there's just no justification for using these off-label drugs in this way for minors,” Jonna added.