Woman claims gender-affirming doctors gaslit her into transitioning: Disguising harm as compassion

A 23-year-old Texas woman claims that gender-affirming doctors “gaslit” her into transitioning to male as a teenager — and even coached her on how to scam insurers so she could get “top surgery” to remove her breasts.Soren Aldaco, a detransitioner who is currently embroiled in a legal fight against the medical practitioners involved in her transition, alleged that various doctors and counselors recklessly pressured her to start taking testosterone and estrogen blockers when she was just 17.In an eye-opening op-ed for the Wall Street Journal, Aldaco said she was given the meds after just a 30-minute consultation with a nurse practitioner.Two years later, at 19 years old, she underwent a double breast removal — a serious operation which she alleged the surgeon botched.Aldaco, who started identifying as trans when she was 11 years old and pursued countless medical interventions, claimed that gender-affirming surgeons pushed her to have the elective double mastectomy at the Crane Clinic in Austin.“My surgeon made sure to facilitate my physical transition as much as possible, spoon-feeding me talking points for insurance coverage,” she said.“After this surgery, I suffered major complications.

I had severe bruising all down my rib cage, along my sides and on my chest.My surgeons repeatedly dismissed me when I came to them with these problems.”When Aldaco, whose case went before the Texas Supreme Court this week, eventually took herself to the emergency room, with “kind” doctors who were “used to working with vulnerable women,” that’s when she realized that she had been manipulated.

“The realization that I had been gaslit sunk in as I watched them cut my scars back open, empty out nearly three cups of blood, and sew in Penrose drains,” Aldaco said.“I made the decision to face who I really was — without the medicine, without the hormones or additional surgeries — six months after this experience.”Aldaco, who had a troubled upbrin...