Teen Wins $2M in First Detransitioner Medical Malpractice Trial

Fox Varian was 16 when she underwent a double mastectomy in December 2019 and immediately regretted it.

Six years later, a Westchester County jury awarded her $2 million in the first detransitioner medical malpractice case to reach trial.

The case centered on Dr. Susan Einhorn and surgeon Simon Chin, who approved and performed the breast removal surgery on the teenager. Varian, now 22, received $1.6 million for past and future suffering and $400,000 for future medical expenses.

The legal proceedings revealed critical gaps in Varian's medical evaluation process.

Expressed Doubts Before Surgery

During her second visit in July 2019, Varian told staff she "continued to question" her gender identity and felt "lost at this time". She described feeling pressure from family, peers, and culture to decide between male and female identity.

Despite these documented doubts, she received the surgery five months later.

Both doctors acknowledged that Varian's questioning of her gender identity only four months before surgery failed to meet the standard requiring gender identity stability for at least six months.

Medical Standard Failures

Court testimony exposed multiple procedural breakdowns in Varian's care.

Dr. Einhorn failed to request notes from Varian's LGBTQ center sessions that may have contained her expressed doubts. The referral letter contained only three paragraphs and omitted her anorexia and major depression diagnosis.

Surgeon Simon Chin spent only one hour total with Varian across two appointments during the nine weeks before performing irreversible surgery.

Even Varian's mother opposed the procedure but ultimately consented out of fear her daughter would commit suicide without it.

Growing Legal Movement

Varian's victory represents the first successful detransitioner medical malpractice verdict, but it won't be the last.

At least 28 detransition lawsuits have been filed nationwide, with most still in early litigation stages. Chloe Cole, another prominent detransitioner pursuing her own lawsuit, called Varian's ruling "a huge leap for the detransitioner movement."

Jamie Reed, a former caseworker at Washington University Transgender Center, said the verdict validates years of warnings about doctors pushing minors toward irreversible surgeries.

Varian told reporters she immediately knew something was wrong after waking up from surgery, thinking "this was wrong, and it couldn't be true."