OMAHA — A Nebraska woman who had her breasts removed at 16 has sued University of Nebraska Medical Center doctors for malpractice, claiming that she and her parents were manipulated into gender-transition medical treatments that “robbed her of her womanhood.”
Luka Hein, 21, underwent a double mastectomy in 2018 after only two counseling sessions as part of a “gender-affirming care” process without being fully informed of the risks, which goes against the Nebraska Consumer Protection Act.
“UNMC doctors manipulated Luka and her parents into believing surgery was the only solution to her complicated mental health, implying that Luka would take her own life if her breasts weren’t removed,” said Harmeet K. Dhillon, CEO of the Center for American Liberty, which filed the lawsuit.
Ms. Hein and her parents consented to the surgery, but it is argued that under the law, “consent to a medical procedure must be both fully informed and freely given.”
The complaint filed in Douglas County District Court in Omaha seeks damages for negligence and lack of informed consent from UNMC Physicians, Nebraska Medical Center, Nebraska Medicine, three doctors, and a therapist.
Nebraska Medicine declined to comment on the pending litigation.
Ms. Hein becomes at least the fourth detransitioner this year to file lawsuits against gender-transition clinics and doctors for medical treatment received as teenagers.
Ms. Hein was struggling with depression and anxiety after her parents divorced and then became uncomfortable with her changing body after starting menstruation. She began counseling and taking antipsychotic medication.
During a counseling session in 2017, she was diagnosed with gender dysphoria after a 55-minute session. A few months later, she was referred to a gender clinic for “top surgery,” or breast removal.
“I was going through the darkest and most chaotic time in my life, and instead of being given the help I needed, these doctors affirmed that chaos into reality,” said Ms. Hein. “I was talked into medical intervention that I could not fully understand the long-term impacts and consequences of.”
On her first visit to the gender clinic, the doctors “put Luka on the fast track for breast removal surgery,” the lawsuit said.
One of the doctors noted after the first visit: “Typically, we would wait until the patient is a little bit older, but this would be influenced by the potential negative impact psychologically on the patient by prolonging the transition,” according to the complaint.
She was placed on testosterone after the surgery, but the lawsuit said that by “rushing Luka to surgery without first placing her on hormone treatments for at least one year, Defendants violated even the pro-transgender World Professional Association for Transgender Health (“WPATH”) standard of care for breast removal surgery.”
Ms. Hein went off testosterone in late 2022 after experiencing “heart irregularities, aching joints, and pelvic pain.” In January, she told the clinic that she no longer identified as a man and thought she had been too young to consent to the gender-transition treatment she received as a minor.
“Rather than offering any type of medical assistance, [the doctor] replied, ‘I guess this is just part of your gender journey,'” said the complaint. “Her only recommendation was for Luka to seek mental health counseling.”
Nebraska malpractice attorney Jeff Downing said that “I don’t think most Nebraskans have any idea what the Med Center is doing to gender confused kids under the banner of our great university.”
At least 20 states have passed laws banning gender-transition surgeries and drugs for minors, while LGBTQ groups argue that such bans put transgender children at heightened risk for suicide.
