The governor of Tennessee has formally called for an investigation into Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) over the clinic’s role in performing “gender-transitioning” surgeries that mutilate the genitals of minors and leave them permanently scarred.
According to the Daily Caller, Casey Sellers, a spokeswoman for Governor Bill Lee (R-Tenn.), said that Lee’s office has “shared concerns with the Attorney General” over the clinic’s conduct. Although the governor has since asked the attorney general to commence an investigation into any possible ethical or legal violations by the VUMC, no official probe has yet been launched.
“The ‘pediatric transgender clinic’ at Vanderbilt University Medical Center raises serious moral, ethical and legal concerns,” said Lee in a statement. “We should not allow permanent, life-altering decisions that hurt children or policies that suppress religious liberties, all for the purpose of financial gain. We have to protect Tennessee children, and this warrants a thorough investigation.”
The spark that first led to backlash against the VUMC came when Matt Walsh, one of the top hosts at The Daily Wire and star of the new documentary “What is a Woman?”, posted a video of VUMC’s Dr. Shayne Taylor admitting that transgender surgeries “make money for the hospital.”
“These surgeries are labor intensive, they require a lot of follow-ups, they require a lot of OR time, and they make money. They make money for the hospital,” Taylor says in the video.
After Walsh’s video went viral, VUMC completely removed the section about transgender issues from its website, and subsequently posted a statement claiming that Walsh’s reporting “misrepresents facts.”
“VUMC requires parental consent to treat a minor patient who is to be seen for issues related to transgender care and never refuses parental involvement in the care of transgender youth who are under age 18,” a spokesman for VUMC claimed.