By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-05 03:26:32 | Updated at 2026-09-05 04:31:13
1 hour ago
The Justice Department announced Friday an agreement with Mount Sinai Health System that ends the New York hospital network’s provision of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgical procedures to minors.
Mount Sinai, one of the largest healthcare providers in New York, will stop those interventions, pay a monetary penalty, and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for people living with harmful consequences of treatments they received as children, the department said.
The deal is another product of a nationwide investigation into hospitals that performed gender transition procedures on children. Similar agreements have already been reached with Texas Children’s Hospital, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and
Connecticut Children’s Hospital.
Officials said Mount Sinai stayed cooperative, proactive, and solution-driven throughout the inquiry, they said, noting the multimillion-dollar commitment to detransition care.
“The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable medical providers that violate federal law and endanger children through so-called gender-affirming care,” Attorney General Todd Blanche
saidin a statement. “This agreement puts an end to these practices at Mount Sinai and provides meaningful relief for individuals who have already suffered harm.”
Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate of the Civil Division said the hospital follows a growing trend.
“A growing number of hospitals, like Mount Sinai, have recognized the medical scandal of sex-rejecting procedures,” Shumate said. “While we are grateful when we secure resolutions to end this discredited practice and protect children, we must not and will not rest in our pursuit of justice for the victims it has left behind.”
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas, whose office worked the case, said his district “remains committed to holding medical providers, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies accountable for unsound medical practices and procedures that put our kids at risk.”
He called the settlement “a step in the right direction.”
The claims resolved in the agreement are allegations only. There has been no determination of liability, and Mount Sinai has denied all allegations.
The investigation stems from a January 2025 presidential order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” which directed the Justice Department to prioritize enforcement involving alleged violations of federal law. In April 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memorandum on “Preventing the Mutilation of American Children.”
The Civil Division then
openeda nationwide probe of the child gender-transition industry. Investigators have examined possible violations of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the False Claims Act, and other federal healthcare laws. Issues include alleged fraudulent billing, such as the use of false diagnosis codes to obtain payment from federal programs and private insurers.
Those schemes, according to the department, compound harm to children by shifting the cost of potentially unlawful interventions onto taxpayers and insurers.
The department’s earlier hospital settlements followed a similar pattern, emphasizing stopping the procedures on minors, imposing penalties, and funding restorative care. Texas Children’s Hospital, under a May 2026 deal, agreed to open what officials described as the nation’s first detransition clinic. Cleveland Clinic’s June agreement barred puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for minors for 20 years and required restorative care. Connecticut Children’s August deal included a $500,000 commitment for patients living with harmful consequences of prior treatment.
An August HHS report titled “Wolves in White Coats” alleged that practitioners of pediatric gender treatments may have committed tens of millions of dollars in insurance fraud over a decade.
The report estimated hospitals billed nearly $120 million for such treatments since 2019 and said the work became “a strategic area of growth” in revenue. Vice President JD Vance called on the Justice Department to investigate the hospitals after the report’s release.
In line with Trump administration policy, the Civil Division said it will continue to pursue cases nationwide, put an end to unlawful conduct, recover funds obtained through fraud, and hold accountable those who profit by violating federal law at children’s expense.
