(OPINION) A California woman whose breasts were removed when she was 13-years-old because she thought she was transgender is now suing the doctors and hospital that oversaw the procedure — claiming they were in it for the money.
According to the NYP, Kayla Lovdahl, now 18, says she was pushed to “entertain the erroneous belief that she was transgender” at age 11, after being exposed to online influencers, according to the lawsuit she filed in California State Court against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and four doctors.
“…they essentially handed Kayla the prescription pad, and allowed her naïve, emotional, childish, rollercoaster of feelings to dictate the so-called ‘treatment’ that she would receive,” according to the June 14 court papers.
Not knowing what to do when their daughter claimed she was a boy, her parents sought out help from medical professionals who quickly affirmed the girl’s idea that she was transgender, Lovdahl said.
By age 12 she was on hormone blockers and testosterone without a proper psychological evaluation, Lovdahl claims in the legal filing.
” ‘It is better to have a live son than a dead daughter,’ ” the physicians allegedly told the family.
The procedures were “idealogical and profit-driven medical abuse,” Lovdahl now maintains.
She detransitioned at age 17 and now feels the doctors were negligent, calling her earlier belief that she was transgender “mistaken.”
“Kayla was not transgender and was not a person that any reasonable physician could ascertain would permanently maintain a transgender identity,” Lovdahl claims in the suit.
Her mental health issues should have raised red flags for the doctors, Lovdahl said, pointing to medical studies that she said show young girls’ mental health is not often improved by transitioning.
“The vast majority of cross-gender identified children, if medically treated in early adolescence risk regretting the decision after they are old enough to realize their losses,” Lovdahl said.
Lovdahl additionally accused the hospital and doctors of not providing her and her parents proper “informed consent,” which would have included in-depth therapy, something she said never happened.
The procedures were “an insane form of child abuse,” lawyers for Lovdahl, who also uses the pseudonym Layla Jane, said in a statement.
