JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — With controversy erupting this week over Vanderbilt University Medical Center performing gender-affirming treatments on minors with parental consent, Ballad Health says it does not perform gender confirmation surgeries and has no plans to do so.
With Republican state lawmakers threatening to ban gender-related treatments for minors, News Channel 11 asked Ballad if it performed such procedures.
“Ballad Health does not offer any hospital services related to gender reassignment, does not perform these surgical procedures, and has no plans to do so,” the health system said in a statement. “Individual physicians, practicing independently in accordance with their medical license and the standards of their specialty, treat children with hormone therapy for a variety of medically indicated needs. To the extent any physicians practicing independently are providing hormone replacement services, Ballad Health is investigating this question and evaluating the use of these therapies to ensure their use is consistent with medical indications.”
The Vanderbilt controversy has prompted Gov. Bill Lee to call for an investigation into VUMC’s transgender clinic. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has also asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate the use of puberty blockers.
State lawmakers wanting to ban gender-affirming care for minors will have to wait until the General Assembly reconvenes in early January. In 2021, the legislature passed and the governor signed legislation banning gender-confirming hormone treatment for prepubescent minors, although advocates said no doctors in Tennessee were doing that.
