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VICE Story Warns ‘Life-Saving’ Trans Surgeries Postponed Due To Deadly Coronavirus Could Have Consequences

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• A VICE News story lamented the postponement of transgender surgeries due to the deadly coronavirus, suggesting this could have severe effects on transgender mental health.
• More than 256,879 people are infected and more than 10,000 people have died globally from the deadly virus.
• “Though medical facilities may soon become overtaxed for everyone, the coronavirus pandemic has shed light on how transgender people’s care can be treated as ‘non-essential,'” VICE’s Kaye Loggins wrote.

A VICE News story lamented that transgender surgeries are postponed due to the deadly coronavirus as “nonessential” surgeries, suggesting that delaying these procedures could have severe effects on transgender individuals’ mental health.

Transgender surgeries across the globe have reportedly been postponed as hospitals and health departments order all nonessential surgeries to be delayed, according to VICE reporter Kaye Loggins. VICE has not responded to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Out of an abundance of caution for community spread of #COVID19, @MountSinaiNYC is taking precautions to provide the safest environment possible. We will be reaching out to patients with upcoming surgeries, consultations & routine appointments in the coming weeks with more info. pic.twitter.com/1EjfjRl9bH

— Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery (@TransCareSinai) March 18, 2020

The publication’s Thursday story, “As Hospitals Prepare for COVID-19, Life-Saving Trans Surgeries Are Delayed,” stated that this is a continuation of transgender care being targeted as “nonessential,” and that such surgeries are “lifesaving.”

Loggins, who declined to comment for the DCNF, noted in the story that “research has suggested that gender-affirming surgery, in particular, has a notable and long-term impact on mental health, but far too often, transgender people already wait far longer than is safe or healthy for this care. Further delays can be dangerous and even life-threatening.”

More than 256,879 are infected and more than 10,000 people have died globally from the deadly virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

VICE spoke with several transgender people who face surgery postponement or whose surgeries have already been delayed. None of them mentioned in the article that they considered trans surgeries to be “life-saving.” Several of these people expressed understanding for the postponement of their surgeries, though they also expressed anxiety and sadness over postponement.

Executive Director at Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery Joshua Safer told VICE that “postponing all non-emergent gender-affirming surgeries,” will protect “transgender and non-binary patients from the risk of transmission of COVID-19 while at the hospital, and will allow the hospital the capacity to care for critically ill COVID-19 patients.”

The coronavirus pandemic has shed light on how transgender people’s care can be treated as “non-essential.” https://t.co/JNnHt9gMWT

— VICE (@VICE) March 19, 2020

“This is the third time it’s been postponed,” 23-year-old trans man Riley Cooper told VICE, regarding Cooper’s upcoming top surgery.

Cooper could not be reached for a request for comment from the DCNF.

Cooper added: “It’s getting more and more heartbreaking to keep getting so close to something that will make me feel better and feel like I’m in the right body for once. Every time I feel like I’ve gotten close, something has to come along to take it away.”

“I’ve spent my entire life falling asleep while begging any theoretical omnipotent beings to let me wake up in the body I need to feel comfortable, and, [in May], that was finally going to happen,” 29-year-old trans woman Violet Jones, whose surgery might be postponed, told VICE.

Jones did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.

“To lose that security would really harm my mental health and make it feel like it may never actually happen,” Jones added.

40-year-old trans Wales woman Abigail, who did not give VICE a full name for privacy reasons, is recovering from surgery. Abigail said the surgeon checked to make sure Abigail understood the risks of coming into indirect contact with the coronavirus through staying at the hospital during Abigail’s immediate recovery period. 

Though Loggins wrote that “necessary follow-up care may be in jeopardy because of COVID-19’s effect on hospitals” for those in recovery after recent surgery, Abigail’s quotes do not specify that the patient is not receiving necessary follow up care. In fact, Abigail noted that the ward is “half empty.”

“It’s an odd atmosphere,” Abigail told VICE. “The ward is half-empty. [The nurses] know there won’t be any other patients like me for a while, nor any other recipients of [non-urgent] surgery. They know coronavirus patients will be coming, but they’re not here yet.”

Abigail added: “The waiting times are [extremely long] and nobody knows when things will get back to normal. None of us are angry at medical staff, or even the decisions, but at the system — which is so lacking in resilience, and lets us down so regularly.”