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Dr. Oz Blasts AG Letitia James, Backs NYU Langone’s Move to End Transgender Care for Minors
By: Andrew Carlson
A fierce and increasingly consequential dispute over the medical treatment of transgender minors has erupted in New York, pitting physician and public figure Dr. Mehmet Oz against New York State Attorney General Letitia James in a confrontation that is rapidly becoming a focal point of the national debate over pediatric gender medicine.
At the center of the controversy is NYU Langone Medical Center’s decision to permanently discontinue its Transgender Youth Health Program, a move that has drawn praise from some medical critics of gender-transition treatments for minors and condemnation from advocates who argue such care is medically necessary for vulnerable young people.
Dr. Oz has now entered the fray with a sharply worded letter to Attorney General James, defending the hospital’s decision and warning against what he describes as political pressure to compel physicians to perform procedures that remain the subject of intense scientific and ethical debate.
“Our children are not guinea pigs,” Oz wrote in the March 10 letter addressed to the state’s chief legal officer, according to documentation obtained by The New York Post, which reported on the exchange on Wednesday.
The statement reflects the intensity of the ongoing conflict—one that has now drawn in major medical institutions, state officials, and federal authorities as the broader national conversation over gender-affirming care for minors continues to deepen.
The controversy began last month when NYU Langone Medical Center, one of New York City’s most prominent academic medical institutions, announced that it would permanently discontinue its program providing gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth.
According to The New York Post report, the decision came after the Trump administration warned the hospital that it risked losing federal funding if it continued offering certain forms of gender-transition care for minors.
Such treatments can include puberty blockers, hormone therapies, and in some cases surgical procedures, although the scope and frequency of these interventions vary widely among medical providers.
NYU Langone’s announcement effectively halted scheduled future appointments for patients enrolled in the program, leaving families and advocacy groups scrambling to understand the implications.
Critics of gender-affirming care for minors welcomed the move, arguing that medical science has not yet reached a consensus about the long-term effects of such treatments.
Supporters, however, condemned the decision as a dangerous rollback of access to care.
The situation escalated further when Attorney General Letitia James intervened. In a letter sent to NYU Langone on February 25, James warned that the sudden termination of the hospital’s transgender youth services could violate state law.
According to the letter cited by The New York Post, the attorney general argued that canceling appointments for transgender youth patients could jeopardize their access to critical medical care.
“NYU Langone appears to be suddenly and indefinitely cancelling transgender children’s future appointments thereby jeopardizing access to medically necessary healthcare for some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” James wrote.
Her office reportedly gave the hospital until March 11 to reinstate the program. The message carried the implicit threat of legal action should the hospital fail to comply.
Neither the attorney general’s office nor NYU Langone representatives publicly responded to requests for comment from The New York Post, leaving observers to speculate about whether the standoff might ultimately result in litigation.
Dr. Mehmet Oz’s intervention added a powerful new voice to the controversy. A heart surgeon and former television personality who has long been active in public health discussions, Oz framed the issue as a matter of medical ethics rather than politics.
In his letter to Attorney General James, Oz strongly criticized what he described as an attempt by the state to force physicians to perform procedures whose risks remain under investigation. “As a doctor, I am appalled that your office would attempt to force a hospital to perform potentially life-altering medical procedures on children that are not solidly grounded in science to make a political point,” Oz wrote, according to The New York Post.
He also expressed unequivocal support for NYU Langone’s decision. “My office stands behind NYU’s decision,” he stated. Oz characterized the hospital’s move not as discrimination but as a prudent response to emerging medical evidence. In his view, the discontinuation of the program represents a necessary reconsideration of medical practices that may carry significant long-term consequences.
Central to Oz’s argument is the claim that the science surrounding gender-transition treatments for minors remains unsettled. In his letter, he argued that it is misleading to present such procedures as universally accepted within the medical community.
“Given that emerging medical evidence continues to demonstrate the harm these procedures inflict on children,” Oz wrote, according to The New York Post, “it is both irresponsible and false to declare the other side of this ongoing scientific debate definitively ‘medically necessary.’”
He went further, arguing that forcing doctors to provide treatments they consider ethically questionable would itself constitute an ethical violation. “It is worse still to compel doctors to perform procedures that remain the subject of substantial dispute,” Oz wrote.
Oz’s letter also referenced developments in Europe, where several countries have begun reevaluating policies on gender-transition treatments for minors. According to reporting highlighted by The New York Post, Oz cited reviews conducted by European health authorities that have led to new restrictions on certain medical interventions. For example, the United Kingdom has placed tighter controls on prescribing puberty-blocking medications to children.
Other countries—including Sweden and Finland—have similarly conducted formal evidence reviews that resulted in more cautious treatment guidelines. Oz emphasized that those decisions were framed as responses to evolving scientific data rather than political pressure.
“Those governments framed their decisions as grounded in formal evidence reviews and evolving assessments of the clinical data,” he wrote, according to The New York Post, “not politics and baseless pressure campaigns.” The confrontation between Oz and Attorney General James reflects a broader national struggle over how to regulate medical treatment for transgender minors.
Medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have argued that gender-affirming care can be beneficial for young people experiencing gender dysphoria. However, critics say the long-term effects of certain treatments remain insufficiently understood, particularly when interventions occur before adulthood.
The issue has become one of the most contentious topics in contemporary health policy.
State legislatures across the United States have introduced a wide range of measures addressing gender-transition treatments for minors, ranging from expanded protections to outright bans. In New York, the dispute over NYU Langone’s program illustrates how these debates increasingly involve not only lawmakers but also hospitals, courts, and federal agencies.
The clash also carries clear political overtones. Attorney General James has been a prominent progressive voice on civil rights issues, including protections for LGBTQ individuals.
Dr. Oz, by contrast, framed his intervention in terms of safeguarding medical integrity and protecting vulnerable children from potentially irreversible procedures. Observers note that the dispute intersects with broader tensions between state policies and federal directives, particularly given the role played by the Trump administration’s funding warning.
As The New York Post reported, the federal government’s threat to withdraw financial support appears to have been a decisive factor in NYU Langone’s decision to terminate the program. With the March 11 deadline looming, the future of the hospital’s transgender youth program—and possibly the broader legal framework governing such treatments in New York—remains uncertain.
If Attorney General James follows through on her warning, the matter could soon move into the courts.
Such litigation would likely involve complex questions about medical autonomy, anti-discrimination law, federal funding rules, and the evolving scientific understanding of gender dysphoria treatment. For now, however, the exchange between Oz and James has already transformed the issue into a high-profile public confrontation.
As The New York Post has emphasized in its reporting, the dispute illustrates the profound divisions that continue to shape the national conversation about pediatric gender medicine.
And with powerful political, medical, and cultural forces now engaged in the debate, the outcome of this clash may reverberate far beyond a single hospital program in Manhattan.
