A San Diego children’s hospital has been ordered to continue providing gender-affirming care to minors —despite a previous effort from the hospital to end the programs to save its federal funding.
Rady Children’s Health must continue providing the care, which includes therapies like puberty-blockers and hormone treatments, to patients under 19 until at least March 10, in a ruling from San Diego Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner Wednesday.
The decision comes amid a heated legal fight between the hospital and the California Attorney General’s Office. The AJ sued Rady after it announced it would stop offering the treatments and procedures. State officials argued that Rady’s move was unlawful and violated conditions tied to its merger with Children’s Hospital of Orange County and affiliated providers.
During the hearing, Braner acknowledged that Rady and other health care providers may feel caught “between a rock and a hard place” as the Trump administration scrutinizes transgender medical care for minors. However, the judge said he was not convinced the hospital faced an immediate threat of losing critical Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Rady announced on Jan. 20 it would stop offering gender-affirming care to patients under 19 beginning Feb. 6.
“Right at this moment, I see kids at risk suffering relative degrees of harm,” Braner said Wednesday. “Whereas at this moment, I see the existential threat to Rady of losing funding that’s going to affect 800,000 patients is just that, a threat. It’s a threat that might become a reality, but it is not yet at that stage.”
Rady’s attorneys warned that the hospital is at “catastrophic risk” of losing federal funding if it continues providing care deemed out of compliance with a Dec. 18 declaration from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The declaration states that gender-affirming care for minors does not “meet professionally recognized standards of health care.”
“Anything perceived as a violation” of the declaration could be grounds for cutting off coverage from Medicare and Medicaid, Rady’s attorney argued.
“Rady Children’s Health has chosen to violate its merger agreement and California law in response to the Trump Administration’s illegal campaign against providers of gender-affirming care,” AG Rob Bonta said in a statement after filing the initial lawsuit against Rady.
“Rady flagrantly disregarded its legal obligations by unilaterally deciding to preemptively comply with the Administration’s demands and cease medically necessary care for roughly 1,450 patients. We will not allow Rady to violate its obligations to its patients and the State. We will fight to uphold the law and ensure Californians can access gender-affirming care without facing unfair roadblocks,” he added.
For now, the judge’s order means Rady Children’s must continue providing non-surgical gender-affirming treatments. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for next month.