Jury Awards $2 Million to Young Woman Who Underwent ‘Transgender’ Surgery at 16

by Jeff Johnston | February 4, 2026 | Sexuality

A New York jury awarded Fox Varian $2 million dollars in a malpractice lawsuit against medical professionals who attempted to socially and surgically “transition” her to look like the opposite sex. 

This is the first time a “detransitioner” has won a medical malpractice suit against those who caused irreversible psychological and physical damage to a person struggling with sexual identity confusion. 

Varian underwent a double mastectomy in 2019 when she was only 16 years old, hardly competent to consent to an operation that left her with scarring, ongoing pain, and the inability to ever nurse a child. 

Four years after her surgery, she filed a lawsuit against her psychologist, Kenneth Einhorn, who had written a referral letter to Dr. Simon Chin, the surgeon who performed the double mastectomy on the teenager.    

Writing at The Free Press, Benjamin Ryan explained that the jury decision hinged on “whether the care providers failed to observe standard safeguards and whether any deviations from those standards injured the patient.”

Ryan reported that Varian was 15 when “she began questioning her gender during sessions with her psychologist.” Born Isabella, she first changed her name to Gabriel, identifying as androgynous. 

“Over the next two months,” Ryan explained, “she cut her hair short, began binding her breasts, switched her name again, to Rowan, and started telling people she was transgender.” 

Finally, only “11 months after she started this public social transition, Varian underwent surgery to remove her breasts.” 

Ryan evinced sympathy for Varian’s mother Claire Deacon, who was pressured to approve the surgery, reporting: 

Varian testified that Einhorn served as an enabler, repeatedly assuring her that the mastectomy she desired would greatly improve her well-being. Deacon testified that Einhorn browbeat her into consenting to her daughter’s surgery, threatening that she would otherwise commit suicide.

“Varian’s attorney Adam Deutsch had asked the jury for $8 million in damages,” The Epoch Times reported, adding that the jury award included “$1.6 million for past and future pain and suffering, and another $400,000 for future medical expenses.” 

Ryan attended all three weeks of the jury trial in White Plains and said this verdict “could change gender medicine,” adding, “There are nearly 30 known civil suits filed by detransitioners to date (the first was filed in 2022), almost all of them malpractice cases structured similarly to Varian’s.”

He explained: 

While there are no guarantees in medical malpractice lawsuits, legal experts believe Varian’s victory could inspire a wave of similar cases that would significantly disrupt pediatric gender medicine.

Other young women who were damaged by “transgender” drugs, hormones and surgeries, and who have filed lawsuits against medical institutions and professionals who harmed them, applauded the jury decision. 

Chloe Cole filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, The Permanente Medical Group and three doctors had improperly treated her sexual identity confusion with chemical and surgical interventions, leaving her with “deep physical and emotional wounds, severe regrets, and distrust of the medical system.”

Doctors prescribed powerful puberty blockers and testosterone to Cole when she was only 13, performing a radical double mastectomy on her when she was only 15. 

Cole stated in a post on X, “I couldn’t be more happy for Fox Varian. Detransitioners need justice.” 

Prisha Mosley is another young woman who filed a lawsuit alleging medical fraud against those who used chemical and medical interventions in an attempt to make her look more like a male. Her lawsuit stated: 

Instead of telling Prisha the truth and informing her accurately and fully, Defendants lied to Prisha. They lied when they told Prisha she was actually a boy; they lied when they told her that injecting testosterone into her body would solve her numerous, profound mental and psychological health problems. …  And they lied by omission, withholding critical information from her about the long-term adverse health consequences and permanent damage these “treatments” would cause her, and failing to inform her of alternative courses of treatment for her psychological problems and ensure she had a clear understanding of those alternatives.

Part of her case was dismissed, but Mosley has appealed that decision. 

In an appearance on The Ingraham Angle, Mosley told Laura Ingraham how encouraged she was by the jury’s award to Varian: 

I think this sets an incredible precedent for detransitioners like me, who are trying to hold our doctors accountable. To see a win, an agreement from a jury that this patient was wronged, especially in a blue state like New York, is especially encouraging for detransitioners like me.

As Christians, we must have compassion on children — and adults — wrestling with sexual identity confusion. But true compassion means protecting strugglers from harmful and damaging drugs, hormones and surgeries.

Legal victories can’t undo the irreversible damage caused by these treatments. But, as legal experts told Benjamin Ryan, “Major jury awards could drive up malpractice insurance rates and perhaps even drive providers who fear reputational damage out of the field entirely.”

Related articles and resources: 

DOJ Targets Those Mutilating Children with ‘Transgender’ Drugs and Surgeries

Do Not Fall for the ‘Affirm Them or They Will Die’ Lie

Expert in ‘Transitioning’ Children Admits ‘We Were Wrong’ About Puberty Blockers

Focus on the Family: Counseling Consultation & Referrals

Focus on the Family: Transgender Resources

Four Brave Young Women File Lawsuits Alleging Harm from ‘Transgender’ Interventions

More Hospitals Stop Mutilation of Sexually Confused Children

New Video Equips Parents and Counselors to Help ‘Gender Dysphoric’ Children

ReFOCUS with Jim Daly: Addressing Gender Identity with Honesty and Compassion

ReFOCUS with Jim Daly: Chloe Cole: Gender Reassignment Surgery Regret

Transgenderism and Minors: What Does the Research Really Show?