UW Hospital has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit against the hospital and two doctors who performed gender-altering surgeries on a woman who now claims the procedures were done without proper informed consent, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Both UW Hospital surgeons, Dr. Jay Lick and Dr. Katherine Gast, have denied her claims.
The gender-affirming procedures were performed through UW Health’s Gender Services program. Lick removed the woman’s uterus when she was 19, and Gast removed both of her breasts when she was 21. Both deny negligence, failure to obtain informed consent, and other claims filed recently in court.
The woman, a Chicago resident, claims she diagnosed herself with gender dysphoria — psychological distress resulting from having a gender identity that does not match the sex assigned at birth — at or around the age of 17. She claims no doctors verified her diagnosis before prescribing testosterone and performing the surgeries.
The woman says she realized after post-surgery therapy that childhood trauma had caused her mental distress, not physical features, and she began to “detransition.”Â
The attorneys for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, who represent Lick and Gast as state employees, deny the claims; however, they say they do not have a signed authorization for the disclosure of the woman’s medical chart information to defend the doctors.
