A transgender teen and his mother have filed a discrimination lawsuit against Duluth-based Essentia Health, alleging the health system illegally cut off his gender-affirming care after years of treatment that the family says kept him alive. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the 16-year-old boy and his mother, claims Essentia's actions violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by depriving him of essential medical care because of his gender identity, sex and disability status.
According to the lawsuit, as reported by the Star Tribune, an Essentia medical provider diagnosed the boy with gender dysphoria in 2020, when he was 11 years old. The health system began providing puberty-delaying medication after that diagnosis and later prescribed hormone therapy when he turned 14. The complaint states that he had attempted suicide twice before starting the medication, and that suicidal ideation decreased significantly once treatment began.
Per the lawsuit, an Essentia provider told the boy's mother that the system would stop his gender-affirming care that month, without directly notifying patients and families of the change. The suit alleges Essentia made the decision to discontinue certain gender health services for minors in response to threats from the Trump administration to cut federal funding to health systems providing such care, the same report notes.
Essentia Declines to Discuss the Case
Essentia Health told WCCO that it cannot comment on pending or active litigation out of respect for patient privacy, according to Bring Me The News. The family is seeking a permanent injunction against the care stoppage along with monetary damages, according to Erin in the Morning. Essentia's own website still describes gender-affirming care it offers, stating that such treatment may mean prescribing hormones, voice training, adult and pediatric endocrinology consultation, and mental health counseling, per Essentia Health's website.
A Pattern of Pullback Under Federal Pressure
This is not the first time Essentia has faced legal action over transgender care. A 2016 lawsuit against Essentia and its insurer over coverage for gender-reassignment treatment was settled out of court, according to the Duluth News Tribune. That settlement required Essentia and HealthPartners to continue providing and covering appropriate gender-confirming health care under World Professional Association for Transgender Health standards. Essentia later changed its plan to make gender-affirming care available to covered employees, while HealthPartners reimbursed Tovar for Androderm.
The current case follows a broader wave of disruption in pediatric gender-affirming care across Minnesota. A Minnesota hospital paused some pediatric gender-affirming care amid federal funding threats from the Trump administration, according to MPR News.
Children's Minnesota Paused, Then Resumed, Similar Care
Children's Minnesota announced in February it would temporarily pause prescribing puberty-suppressing medications and pubertal hormones to patients under 18 in its Gender Health Program. The hospital system resumed those services in April after a federal court ruling blocked the Trump administration from limiting access to such care, MPR News reported in a separate story. Twenty-seven states have now enacted laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for youth, per the same outlet's reporting.
Not every Minnesota provider has pulled back. Multiple Minnesota hospitals confirmed they were still offering gender-affirming care, with no publicly announced cuts or pauses affecting transgender-specific medical services, according to a separate Duluth News Tribune report. Minnesota law also offers specific protections in this area: the Minnesota Human Rights Act bars discrimination based on sex, gender identity or sexual orientation in public services, and a hospital cannot legally provide worse care to transgender patients than to cisgender patients, according to the Minnesota Attorney General's office. State law also requires most health insurance plans sold or renewed in Minnesota since January 1, 2025 to cover medically necessary gender-affirming care, and a 2023 state law is intended to prevent other states from interfering with gender-affirming care provided within Minnesota, the Attorney General's office notes.
