New York hospital ordered by AG Letitia James to resume transgender treatment for teens

(The Center Square) — One of New York City’s largest hospitals was facing a Wednesday deadline to comply with a state order to resume its transgender care program, which was shut down last month amid funding threats from the Trump administration.

NYU Langone Health announced the closure of its Transgender Youth Health Program in February, citing a "challenging" regulatory environment and the departure of its medical director. The hospital cited federal threats to withdraw funding for gender-affirming care, but promised to help patients find other providers.

But Attorney General Letitia James ordered the hospital to resume gender-affirming care for teens in a letter earlier this month, claiming that NYU Langone’s decision runs afoul of New York’s anti-discrimination law.

“NYU Langone appears to be suddenly and indefinitely cancelling transgender children’s future appointments, thereby jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers," the AG's letter, signed by James’s health care bureau chief, Darsana Srinivasan, stated.

“NYU Langone’s change in policy is self-imposed; there has been no change in federal law to require the cessation of medically necessary transgender healthcare," the letter said.

The attorney general's office gave the hospital until March 11 to resume the treatments or face "further action."

It wasn't clear on Wednesday whether James's office had taken any additional steps.

More than 70 New York Democrats wrote to NYU Langone Health in February, demanding the hospital “immediately reinstate” gender-affirming care for minors. The letter warned of the heightened risk of suicide, self-harm, and depression among transgender youth who now won't be able to access the services.

The hospital was one of several high-profile health care systems to pause its gender-affirming care for teens after President Donald Trump last year threatened to yank federal funding from medical centers treating trans minors.

In December, the Trump administration proposed new rules that would prohibit Medicare or Medicaid funding from flowing to hospitals that provide such gender-affirming care to patients under 18, a move that effectively bans gender-affirming care for transgender young people, even in states like New York where it is still legal.

"So-called gender-affirming care has inflicted lasting physical and psychological damage on vulnerable young people," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in remarks at the time. "This is not medicine. It is malpractice."

The rules have yet to be finalized, and several legal challenges have been filed to block the rules. But hospitals that rely heavily on those programs have said they can't risk losing federal funding.