Woman Who Identifies as Man Sues California Hospital for Canceling Surgery to Remove Uterus

Photo Credit: ACLU of Northern California

EUREKA, Calif. — A woman who identifies as a man has filed suit against a Roman Catholic hospital for declining to allow her surgeon to perform a hysterectomy for a requested “sex change” operation.

“Upon information and belief, it is because defendant as a matter of religious policy is prohibited from providing gender-affirming care that it categorized … Knight’s hysterectomy as a ‘sterilization’ and refused to provide this medically necessary treatment,” the lawsuit reads.

The woman, who goes by the name Oliver Knight, began receiving hormone treatment in 2015 and underwent a double mastectomy the following year. Her doctor then recommended that she obtain a hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for further “treatment,” meaning that her uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries would all be removed.

Knight scheduled the procedure at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, and underwent pro-op protocol. Minutes before the operation was to begin, she was informed by her surgeon that the operation had been canceled.

The lawsuit states that Knight began crying and shaking, and was given medicine for an anxiety attack. She called her roommate to give her a ride home.

Knight underwent the operation at another facility, but contracted an infection following the surgery, and has now filed suit in alleging that St. Joseph Hospital discriminated against her and violated the California Unruh Act.

“Knight’s medical records show that the decision to cancel … Knight’s medically necessary care was initiated by an ‘Ethics Assessment’ completed by David Groe,” the complaint states. “Defendant does not prohibit physicians at its hospitals from performing hysterectomies on cisgender people with diagnoses other than gender dysphoria.”

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“Defendant’s conduct alleged herein is extreme and outrageous and is beyond the bounds of that tolerated in a decent society,” it opines. “The actions alleged herein were done with malice, fraud, oppression, and in reckless disregard of … Knight’s rights.”

Knight is seeking both monetary damages and an order prohibiting the hospital from turning down such procedures in the future.

St. Joseph Health Northern California says that it is reviewing the lawsuit and investigating the allegations.

“At St. Joseph Health, we believe health care is a basic human right and that every individual seeking care should always be treated with compassion and respect,” spokeswoman Elizabeth Brophy said in a statement shared with the Los Angeles Times. “We are committing our full attention to investigating this matter.”

As previously reported, in 2017, another California woman who identifies as a man likewise sued a Catholic hospital for declining to allow her surgeon to perform a hysterectomy at the facility. Dignity Health, which is the parent company for Mercy San Juan Medical Center, prevailed in the legal challenge. The matter is now under appeal.

While some view transgenderism as a medical condition, Christians view the matter as a spiritual issue — one that stems from the same predicament all men face without Christ.

As previously reported, the Bible teaches that all are born with the Adamic sin nature, having various inherent inclinations that are contrary to the law of God, being utterly incapable of changing themselves.

Jesus outlined in John 3:5-7 that men must be regenerated by the second birth, and be transformed from being in Adam to being a new creation in Christ, or they cannot see the kingdom of Heaven.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus saith unto him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ‘Ye must be born again.’”

Ephesians 2:1-3 states, “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience — among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”


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