Dignity Health, Mercy Medical Center (courtesy photo)

A California appellate court has revived a transgender man's lawsuit against Dignity Health for refusing to allow his doctor to perform a hysterectomy on him at one of its Sacramento-area hospitals.

Evan Minton sued Dignity Health in 2017 after Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a Catholic hospital in Sacramento County, refused to allow his doctor to perform the procedure as part of his treatment for gender dysphoria. After Minton's denial of treatment received media coverage, Dignity arranged for his doctor to get emergency admitting privileges at Methodist Hospital, a non-Catholic Dignity Health hospital about 30 minutes from Mercy, and the procedure was performed three days after initially scheduled.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn initially dismissed the case in November 2017. Kahn granted Dignity Health's demurrer, finding that Minton couldn't allege that he was deprived of "full and equal" access to care in violation of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act since he received the procedure he desired from his preferred doctor just three days later than scheduled.

But the First District Court of Appeal on Tuesday reversed Kahn's decision, finding that Minton had sufficiently alleged that Dignity Health had discriminated against him because of his gender identity.

"Denying a procedure as treatment for a condition that affects only transgender persons supports an inference that Dignity Health discriminated against Minton based on his gender identity," wrote Presiding Justice Stuart Pollak for the unanimous court.

In an opinion joined by Justices Alison Tucher and Tracie Brown, Pollak wrote that canceling Minton's procedure for a discriminatory purpose and waiting for his doctor to complain before rescheduling the procedure elsewhere could not "constitute full equality under the Unruh Act."

"'Full and equal' access requires avoiding discrimination, not merely remedying it after it has occurred," Pollak wrote.

Pollak wrote that by lining up alternate facilities within days, Dignity Health had "undoubtedly substantially reduced the impact of the initial denial of access" and mitigated Minton's damages. "However, the steps that were taken to rectify the denial in response to pressure from Minton and from the media did not undo the fact that the initial withholding of facilities was absolute, unqualified by an explanation that equivalent facilities would be provided at an alternative location," he wrote.

Minton is represented in the case by pro bono counsel at Covington & Burling, as well as by lawyers at the ACLU Foundation of Northern California and the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. Christine Haskett and Lindsey Barnhart at Covington didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

Dignity Health is represented in the case by counsel at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Manatt partner Barry Landsberg didn't immediately respond to a message Thursday afternoon.

A spokesman for Dignity Health said that the company has "a legacy of providing care to all people regardless of their background, sexual orientation, or gender identity." The spokesman, however, noted that Catholic hospitals don't perform sterilization procedures such as hysterectomies for any patient unless there is a serious or possibly life-threatening consequence to their health and courts have repeatedly recognized their right not to provide services based on religious principles. "We are sensitive to the specific health needs of transgender patients and specialty care for trans individuals is offered at many of our care sites," the company said.

Covington's Barnhart said the plaintiff's team was pleased with the decision, "which confirms that it is illegal discrimination for a hospital to deny someone care simply because that person is transgender." Barnhart said she and her colleagues look forward to moving forward with the discovery process back at the trial court.

 Read the Opinion:

Updated with comment from the plaintiff's counsel at 11:20 PT on 9/18/19.