A jury awarded $2 million in damages to a 22-year-old woman who underwent breast removal surgery as a teenager.
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.—A jury on Jan. 30 found a psychologist and surgeon liable for malpractice after they supported and performed breast removal surgery on a 16-year-old girl who at the time identified as transgender.
Fox Varian, now 22 and no longer identifying as transgender, was awarded $2 million in damages, with $1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, as well as another $400,000 for future medical expenses.
The jury found that in many respects the surgeon and psychologist had skipped important steps when evaluating whether she should go forward with the surgery and had not adequately communicated with each other. These missteps were a “departure from the standard of care,” they decided.
During closing arguments, Varian’s attorney Adam Deutsch had asked the jury for $8 million in damages. To justify that sum, he quoted earlier testimony in which Varian had described her reaction to seeing her post-surgery chest.
“I immediately had a thought that this was wrong, and it couldn’t be true,” Varian said. She also said that the surgery left her with nerve pain, which she described as “searing hot … ripping sensations” across her chest.
“Shame,“ she said. ”I felt shame. It’s hard to face that you are disfigured for life.”
Varian wept and hugged her mother and attorney following the verdict, which concluded a three-week civil trial in the New York Supreme Court in Westchester County.
“A jury of everyday Americans sent a clear message: Justice will be served for vulnerable individuals who were misled into gender-transition procedures without appropriate safeguards,” said Josh Payne of the firm Campbell Miller Payne, who was not involved in the case but was in court observing the Jan. 30 proceedings.
His firm was founded three years ago to represent plaintiffs in cases similar to Varian’s.
The decision came after the young woman regretted the 2019 surgery and sued psychologist Kenneth Einhorn, surgeon Dr. Simon Chin, and their respective employers.
The six-member jury was not asked whether gender-related surgical procedures are appropriate for minors. The question was whether the therapist and doctor took the appropriate steps before the surgery was performed.
Varian’s attorney argued that the health care professionals did not correctly diagnose and treat her for gender dysphoria, which is distress and anguish caused by a mismatch between one’s physical sex and one’s internal perception of one’s gender.
