SW News: In the American state of Tennessee, the Vanderbilt University Medical Hospital has suspended irreversible gender affirmation surgeries on minors. This move came after Governor Bill Lee sought an investigation after growing pressure from social media activists after two employees said such procedures were huge money spinners.

The decision was announced in a letter written by the university medical center’s deputy CEO, Wright Pinson. In it, he said that because of the recently updated guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the medical center would be conducting an internal clinical review of the program. “We are pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months,” he mentioned in the letter.

On September 6, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health published its recommendations to healthcare professionals for the treatment of transgender persons known as SOC-8. The hospital wrote in a statement to lawmakers that they will be seeking advice from local and national clinical experts and are “pausing gender affirmation surgeries on patients under age 18 while we complete this review, which may take several months”.

Matt Walsh, the host of The Daily Wire podcast, who first exposed the hospital’s programs in a series of tweets in late September, hailed the development on Twitter.

“Following our report, Vanderbilt has agreed to pause all gender transition surgeries on minors. The fight is far from over but this will save children from mutilation and abuse.”

He added that it is an incredibly important victory. Walsh had shared recordings of the comments in the September 20 edition of his podcast “The Matt Walsh Show.”

The controversial comments were made by two faculty members, including Dr Shayne Taylor, a physician at the clinic as part of the Nashville school’s Medicine Grant Rounds lectures from 2018-2019. Dr Taylor called transgender surgeries huge moneymakers. She said a female-to-male chest reconstruction can bring in $40,000. A female-to-male bottom surgery could cost up to $100,000. According to her, women who undergo bottom surgeries, or phalloplasty, must first have a hysterectomy and the vagina may also be removed. On average, it takes a patient 12 to 18 months to heal from a phalloplasty.

The video also shows other faculty saying that doctors who object to performing such procedures out of their religious beliefs will realize that it is problematic. After the videos went viral, the hospital issued a statement saying the comments misrepresented facts about the care the clinic provides to transgender patients.