A young woman, Fox Varian, has been awarded $2 million in a medical malpractice case stemming from a double mastectomy performed while Varian was a minor.
The lawsuit argued that the procedure was carried out without adequate psychological evaluation or informed consent, and that underlying mental health issues were not properly addressed before irreversible surgery.
The Case
Varian underwent a double mastectomy in 2019 while identifying as transgender. The jury found that psychologist Kenneth Einhorn and plastic surgeon Dr. Simon Chin ignored procedural guardrails while pushing Varian towards surgery.
Varian was awarded $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering and $400,000 for future medical expenses.
Growing Wave of Lawsuits
Varian’s case is part of a growing wave of litigation. Roughly two dozen similar lawsuits have been filed in the United States over the past four years by detransitioners who say they were rushed into medical transition as teenagers and later experienced regret, medical complications, or lasting harm.
What Experts Are Saying
The verdict carries implications beyond this single case. Expert witness Erica Anderson warned that "this verdict should serve as a warning to reckless providers of gender-affirming care to minors"
Attorney Charles LiMandri, representing other detransitioners including activist Chloe Cole, told media outlets the claims in Varian's case mirror those in other pending lawsuits, suggesting similar outcomes may follow.
The Bigger Picture
This ruling—and the growing wave of similar lawsuits—may signal the beginning of the end of what I see as the “gender care” illusion that has been sold to vulnerable people, families, and especially children who may have needed serious psychological care instead.
In my view, much of the medical industry treated adults as commercial test subjects and minors as true experiments for interventions whose long-term outcomes were never well established.
If these cases keep coming, maybe we’ll finally see some real accountability — and maybe the focus will shift back to treating people’s actual distress with therapy and genuine care, instead of fast-tracking them into irreversible procedures that a lot of them now say ruined their lives.