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Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit against St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson for client Jionni Conforti, after the hospital refused to allow the 33-year-old's surgeon to perform a routine hysterectomy — "because he is transgender," the organization said.
The lawsuit cites the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits discrimination because of sex and gender identity, along with Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex.
A spokesperson from the hospital told NJ.com he hadn't seen the lawsuit, and refused comment.
“No hospital should be allowed to decide who their patients are, particularly when they receive government funds," said Lambda Legal Staff Attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan.
"Denying care to someone at their time of need because of their sex or gender identity is not only dangerous and humiliating, it’s against the law."
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