A transgender man last week filed a lawsuit against a Univ. of Maryland hospital for allegedly canceling a hysterectomy he was scheduled for, reported The Washington Post.
Jesse Hammons, 33, said he was scheduled for the procedure at the university’s St. Joseph Medical Center on Jan. 6. However, his surgeon called him the night before to say the procedure had been canceled. The surgeon reportedly said a hospital administrator told him he can’t perform the hysterectomy because it violated the medical center’s Catholic beliefs.
In his suit against St. Joseph Medical Center, Hammons says the cancellation violated the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause as well as the Affordable Care Act’s discrimination protections.
The Univ. of Maryland Medical System said in a statement to the Post that the hospital “does not discriminate nor treat any patient differently on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability or sexual orientation.”
As the Post noted, the statement doesn’t include gender identity.
The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Hammons in the lawsuit. An attorney with the group said Hammons’ case reflects a growing pattern across the country, where Catholic hospitals refuse medical care to transgender patients.