UVA Board of Visitors splits the difference on teen trans healthcare EO

The UVA Board of Visitors voted on Friday to direct doctors at UVA Health to refer trans teens patients in the process of receiving gender-affirming care through the health system’s Transgender Youth Health program “as soon as practicable to alternative private providers.”

“The Board of Visitors supports our doctors continuing to treat their current patients at the University in a manner consistent and compliant with existing law and, if appropriate, to refer current patients as soon as practicable to alternative private providers that may be less susceptible to the significant legal and funding uncertainties facing the University and other public providers,” reads the language of a resolution approved by the BOV after a closed meeting held on the matter on Friday.

The new policy seems to split the difference between the initial response of UVA Health to an executive order Sharpied by Donald Trump on Jan. 28.

That order, issued under the Orwellian name “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” directs that federally-run insurance programs exclude coverage for gender-affirming care for trans minors, and calls on the Department of Justice to pursue litigation and for Congress to pass legislation to outlaw the care.

The order also targets hospitals and universities that receive federal money and provide gender-affirming care, which is where the story touches UVA Health.

Virginia’s MAGA attorney general, Jason Miyares, sent letters dated Jan. 30 to UVA Health and VCU Health in response to the Trump EO directing them to stop offering medical care for minors in the midst of gender transition, and both complied, initially.

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ICYMI

• UVA Health resumes gender-affirming care after court ruling; VCU services still paused
• UVA, VCU bullied by Miyares into ending gender-affirming care for trans teens

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UVA Health reversed course last week, releasing a statement on Feb. 14 saying it would “continue to monitor legal developments in this case and provide our patients with the best care possible under Virginia and federal law.”

VCU Health has not resumed gender-affirming medications or surgical procedures for patients under 19 years old.

A read of the new policy approved by the UVA Board of Visitors on Friday is that current trans patients at UVA Health will at least not be pushed aside in favor of political expediency, which is a minor victory.

I say minor, because of the provision in the language about the desire to punt the provision of care to private providers “as soon as practicable,” and because of how the BOV resolution addressed the matter of new patients, who, per the resolution adopted on Friday, “should be referred to alternate private healthcare providers until further notice, provided that nothing herein shall prevent the University’s medical center providing other screening, counseling or other healthcare or mental health services.”

The resolution also tasks the UVA Health System Board to “evaluate the provision of gender-affirming care services by soliciting input from our doctors and other experts in this area in order to further educate the Board of Visitors as it continues to assess the full spectrum of risks facing the University and our patients.”