Vanderbilt Medical halts transgender plastic surgeries for adults 

Nashville-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center has stopped performing transgender plastic surgeries on adults, citing staffing and coverage issues.

It had already ended transgender surgeries for patients under 19 in June 2023 after Tennessee enacted a ban on that, a law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in June 2025.

“Due to operational limitations and lack of surgical coverage, Vanderbilt Health will cease providing gender-affirming plastic surgeries for adults,” the institution said in a statement.

Vanderbilt officials notified patients about the adult surgery stoppage Feb. 20. Reports tied the change to the exit of at least one plastic surgeon.

While the hospital will no longer offer sex-change surgeries, it will provide other transgender-related services to adults.

“Vanderbilt Health continues to provide nonsurgical gender-affirming care for adults 19 years and older,” the statement said. “Vanderbilt Health does not provide any gender-affirming care for patients younger than 19. We are in the process of contacting our patients regarding these changes.”

The institution maintains a “Program for LGBTQ Health” webpage addressing what it calls “Key Transgender Health Concerns.”

“LGBTQ patients experience disparities in access to and quality of care, leading to preventable, adverse health outcomes including elevated risk for specific chronic diseases and increased rates of suicide and depression,” the page maintains.

Vanderbilt has drawn national scrutiny in recent years for its transgender program, especially regarding minors. Critics have argued liberals pushed children toward irreversible medical procedures. State lawmakers responded with a ban, which the highest court let stand in a landmark case.

The shift at Vanderbilt comes amid broader policy changes nationwide.

In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to cut federal funds for hospitals that continue offering transgender procedures to minors. Following federal and state actions, several universities adjusted their policies.

The University of Utah announced it would indefinitely suspend so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors as lawmakers considered tighter restrictions. The University of Michigan made a similar move last September, prompting protests from its faculty senate.

Yale Medicine also ended its pediatric gender program last summer after monitoring federal policy changes.

And while Vanderbilt’s latest decision is not a full withdrawal from transgender services, for now one of the South’s most prominent medical institutions has stepped back from radical surgical procedures on the young that many Christian parents and lawmakers have long warned carry lasting consequences.