Letters to the Editor: Pause gender-affirming care? These doctors say Children’s Hospital L.A. is making a mistake

To the editor: This week, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced a pause on the initiation of gender-affirming care for patients under the age of 19 to “fully understand [the] implications” of a recent presidential executive order.

As physicians with specialties in pediatrics, psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology, we urge CHLA to consider the implications of stopping such care.

The research is clear: Transgender and gender-diverse youth suffer disproportionately from depression and report higher rates of suicide than their peers. Access to gender-affirming care decreases preventable deaths. CHLA is a leader in gender-affirming medicine, and the decision to pause this vital care sends the wrong message — that the health of children can be dictated by politicians untrained in medicine rather than the doctors who care for children every day.

We call on CHLA to stand up for the patients and the community it serves by immediately restoring access to this lifesaving care for transgender and gender-diverse youth.

Mahima Iyengar, M.D., Los Angeles

Briah Fischer, M.D., Los Angeles

Andrea Soto López, M.D., Los Angeles

Frances Gill, M.D., Los Angeles

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To the editor: My distress as a physician over CHLA’s decision to stop offering gender-affirming care to patients younger than 19 was compounded by The Times’ reporting that attributes the decision to vague “hospital officials.”

Who made the decision? Hospital administrators, unlike physicians, do not take the Hippocratic oath. We need public accountability. The chief executive should be stepping up to explain this decision. If you’re not going to allow doctors to doctor, then stand up and defend your decision.

Isn’t “leadership” why you command a seven-figure salary?

I understand the fear of federal funding being cut off, but there is no actual federal rule to follow yet. This theoretical risk is being prioritized over the actual, current harm to patients.

Isabella Sledge, M.D., Los Angeles