The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit last week in Dauphin County court against Penn State Health, Penn State Health St. Joseph, and the Pennsylvania State University on behalf of a 23-year-old resident of Palmyra.
The suit alleges that the health system cancelled a mastectomy for EJ Stiles in violation of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and the equal protection, religious freedom, and Equal Rights Amendment provisions of the state constitution.
According to the suit, Stiles is nonbinary and began chest binding around 15 years old. The suit says that a Penn State Health physician diagnosed Stiles with gender dysphoria around October 2023 and recommended hormone replacement therapy and cognitive and mental health assistance. The physician deemed a mastectomy as medically necessary and referred Stiles to a Penn State Health plastic surgeon, the suit says, and that Stiles’ insurer preauthorized the procedure…