Three individuals who have detransitioned from gender-affirming medical care assert they experienced significant pressure from medical professionals and healthcare facilities during their youth to pursue gender transition. In two of these cases, the individuals received medical treatments while still minors, according to a recent report commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The experiences of Clementine Breen, Soren Aldaco, and Luke Healy are chronicled in the HHS report, titled "Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of 'Gender Medicine'," which was released on Thursday. This report, commissioned by the HHS, suggests that financial incentives may have encouraged hospitals and doctors to provide gender transition treatments and also highlights insurance billing practices that it identifies as potentially improper or warranting further investigation.
Experiences Highlighted in Federal Report
Clementine Breen was only 12 years old, grappling with the changes of an adolescent body and unresolved trauma from past sexual abuse, when she encountered information about gender transition online. According to the HHS report, Breen alleges that doctors at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles informed her parents that their preteen was "100% trans" and faced a high risk of suicide without immediate medical intervention.
As detailed in the report, Breen commenced puberty blockers at age 12, began testosterone at 13, and underwent a double mastectomy at 14.
Breen's mental health subsequently declined. At 18, after therapy led her to connect her gender identity distress to earlier trauma, she stopped taking testosterone. The report indicates that Breen now experiences pain, irregular menstrual cycles, and requires estrogen.
When Breen later sought breast reconstruction, she reportedly faced skepticism regarding her mental stability from doctors, some of whom ceased communication. The report notes, "She did not face this same scrutiny when seeking a mastectomy at 14." Furthermore, HHS stated that Breen discovered letters in her medical records asserting a lifelong history of gender dysphoria.
Currently studying theater at UCLA, Breen stated in the report that the prior treatments and surgery continue to have physical ramifications.
"How can a child consent to losing fertility or the ability to breastfeed if no one checks whether she even understand what that means?" Breen questioned.
Soren Aldaco's Journey Through Medicalization
Soren Aldaco reported that gender-related distress emerged during adolescence, with online communities presenting gender transition as the "appropriate response" to these feelings, according to the report.
After consulting a doctor, Aldaco was prescribed testosterone, with several specialists treating her for gender dysphoria. The report indicates that Aldaco found no evidence that providers considered alternative treatment options beyond what it terms a "sex rejection" model.
Aldaco began taking testosterone before undergoing a double mastectomy to remove breast tissue. Following the surgery, Aldaco experienced severe complications, leading to pain she described as something "I don’t think I’ll ever forget."
The report states, "Despite these negative developments, providers did not initiate a structured reassessment of her treatment plan." It further adds that the support received after these treatments was inadequate compared to the systems that facilitated these life-altering decisions.
"Soren’s experience reflects the imbalance of care for cases like hers," the report reads. "While her pathway into sex rejection medicalization involved coordinated referrals, approvals, and interventions across multiple providers, the pathway out involved no comparable system of support."
Luke Healy's Path to Questioning Interventions
Luke Healy was just 10 years old when he first encountered an online community where adults discussed transgender identities, according to the HHS report.
Within three years, Healy states he identified as a girl. After discussing this with his parents, Healy was taken to a counselor.
The report observes, "The only people who seriously asked what might have caused his distress were his parents." It adds that "institutional figures … treated his new identity as settled and moved quickly to affirm it."
Healy's parents, the report notes, "refused to consent to puberty blockers or hormones while he was still a minor." Healy now describes their refusal as "one of the bravest things they ever did."
At 18, still identifying as a girl, Healy began pursuing transition treatments. He started with estrogen and sought consultations for surgical procedures before gradually realizing that the treatments were not alleviating his psychological stress.
"Each intervention led to pressure for further intervention," the report states. "In his view, the model was built around escalation rather than resolution."
Healy eventually began to scrutinize the procedures recommended by doctors. He recounted that one doctor quoted approximately $200,000 for facial feminization surgery, while another, he says, "spoke to him like a car salesman while encouraging tracheal shave." Healy concluded, "Luke came to realize he was being sold procedures, not psychological help."
Instead of continuing efforts to transition, Healy focused on addressing substance abuse issues that had developed during the process, successfully quitting drinking and drugs.
The report concludes that "He recognized the same obsessive, destructive pattern in gender ideology that he had seen in addiction."
