OMAHA — A Nebraska woman who had her breasts removed at 16 has sued University of Nebraska Medical Center doctors for malpractice, saying she and her parents were manipulated into gender-transition medical treatments that “robbed her of her womanhood.”
Luka Hein, 21, said she underwent a double mastectomy in 2018 after just two counseling sessions as part of a “gender-affirming care” process without being fully informed of the risks in violation of 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 agreed to the surgery, but Ms. Dhillon argued that under the law, “consent to a medical procedure must be both fully informed and freely given.”
The complaint filed Wednesday 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.
A spokesperson for Nebraska Medicine said that it will not comment on pending litigation.
Ms. Hein, who no longer identifies as a man, becomes at least the fourth detransitioner this year to file lawsuits against gender-transition clinics and doctors for medical treatment they received as teens aimed at changing them from female to male.
Ms. Hein was struggling with depression and anxiety after her parents divorced, then was preyed upon and threatened by an older man online. She became uncomfortable with her changing body after starting menstruation. She began counseling and taking antipsychotic medication.
During a 2017 counseling session, a therapist diagnosed her with gender dysphoria after a 55-minute session. A few months later, the therapist referred her to a gender clinic for “top surgery,” or breast removal, according to the complaint.
“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 in a statement. “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.”
He and attorneys from the Center for American Liberty filed the lawsuit along with attorneys from the Thomas More Society.
“Even the most militant transgender activists who are pushing this radical agenda on children, do not presume to go so far as to rush minors into surgery as their first treatment option,” said Charles LiMandri, Thomas More Society special counsel. “In pursuing this legal action against these reckless defendants, Luka Hein is a courageous young woman who is seeking to help other vulnerable minors avoid suffering a similar terrible fate.”
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.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.