A military family from Prince George’s County, Maryland, is suing Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., after losing custody of their autistic son, who they claim was pressured into a gender transition while under the hospital’s care. The parents allege that the hospital initiated a “campaign” to transition their 16-year-old son, who had never expressed a desire to be female before his hospitalization in 2021.
The lawsuit claims that the boy, who was admitted to the hospital following a self-harm incident triggered by a breakup with his girlfriend, was suddenly told by hospital staff that he identified as female. According to the family, the hospital staff informed them that their son should be referred to using she/her pronouns, a suggestion the parents rejected, citing their son’s impressionability due to his autism.
The parents accuse the hospital of engaging in “mental re-programming,” alleging that staff coerced their son into writing letters to friends disavowing his previous male identity. The family argues that their son was particularly vulnerable to social manipulation because of his condition.
Following the family’s refusal to support the hospital’s recommendations, the lawsuit states that the hospital invoked emergency policies to keep the boy in its care and reported the parents to child protection services. The boy was subsequently placed in foster care, where he has remained for the past two years, estranged from his family.
The Daily Mail spoke to the distraught family, who has chosen to remain anonymous to protect their son.
The boy’s father revealed how they had to sell their thriving business and four-bedroom family home to cover legal costs.
The father said: ‘This has been devastating. It drained so much money, there is no money left.
‘It changed our entire way of life, with the loss of a child and then with the loss of our income.’
Karl von Batten, a committee member for the DC Republican party who is supporting the parents, said the case was personal to him because he also has an autistic son.
Mr von Batten said: ‘To me, this is personal. My son is autistic, and if you tell him you are a penguin he will tell me he is a penguin.
The family is seeking up to $100 million in damages and compensation for their legal costs as they continue their fight to regain custody of their son, who is now 19 years old.
The parents have not been allowed to see him for two years.
Great American Freak Show. I think I will identify as Tom Cruise. Or maybe Elvis.
The hospital MUST be shut down and all people involved fired. This case needs to go to the highest court in the land to have the WOKE nonsense beaten out of the perpetrators.