Seattle-based Dr. Javad Sajan, who crowed about his race to complete “all my trans surgeries before Trump tries to stop me” in a viral TikTok video last month is getting hit with an ad campaign accusing him of profiting off of the “life-altering surgeries” — including some conducted on children.
Do No Harm, an advocacy group opposed to the performance of transgender surgeries on minors, launched a digital ad campaign largely centered in the Seattle area to spotlight the dozens of sex-reassignment surgeries Sajan has performed and intends to keep performing as President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to take office.
“He brags about performing the best top surgeries for minors and is pushing to do as many of these irreversible surgeries as he possibly can all while reaching millions of viewers on social media with his own damaging propaganda,” the spot said.
“This isn’t care. This is immoral,” the ad continued. “Doctors like this aren’t looking out for our children, they’re profiting off their backs. It’s time to stop the madness.”
Sajan, a plastic surgeon who specializes in breast augmentation and rhinoplasty, maintains an active social media presence laced with humor about his breast enhancement work and frank talk about the operations he performs.
“Dr. Sajan is notorious for bragging about his aggressive approach to transitioning as many children as possible before common sense protections are put in place to protect minors from irreversible and often harmful sex change interventions,” Do No Harm’s chief operating officer Lindsay Killen told The Post.
Shortly after Trump’s election victory, Sajan cut a viral TikTok video depicting him gearing up for operations with the caption, “Doing all my trans surgeries before Trump tries to stop me.”
Do No Harm, which runs a database tracking transgender surgeries on minors, alleged in its ad that Sajan has completed 120 gender-transition surgeries on minors. The group made those accusations based on an assessment of health insurance claims data shared with The Post.
A lawyer for Sajan disputed that statistic, telling The Post that it is “in no way accurate,” but did not provide evidence.
“Because of patient privacy laws (e.g. HIPAA), we are unable to provide you with specifics about individual patients that have received care,” his attorney Erin O’Leary explained.
“However, we will say that the total number of minors that have received gender-affirming care is a small fraction of the number you quoted and no one under the age of 16 has been treated.”
Killen hit back at the denial, underscoring that Do No Harm presented evidence “through insurance claims data, which shows just how prolific he is in the child sex change industry.”
“The public deserves to know the truth, and that’s exactly what we are exposing with this campaign.”
Sajan has actively advertised in states like Arizona, Florida, Texas and Utah, where transgender surgeries on minors have been restricted, encouraging them to come to his practice on the West Coast.
The spot against Sajan highlighted how he has boasted about how he “performs the best top surgery for minors.”
O’Leary defended Sajan’s performance of top surgery on minors, arguing it is “similar to breast reduction or augmentation surgeries offered to patients of all genders for comfort, athletics, or aesthetic reasons.”
Do No Harm also cited a lawsuit from the Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Office against Sajan that alleged he improperly stifled negative reviews.
Earlier this year, a federal judge concluded that he “illegally prevented patients from posting negative reviews about the business,” per a press release.
The judge pointed to “pre-service” non-disclosure agreements between 2017 and 2022, determining that they “violated a federal law that protects consumers’ rights to post truthful reviews about a business.”
In July, the judge determined that his practice must pay $5 million as a result of the alleged manipulation of reviews.
O’Leary acknowledged the judge’s ruling which was based on the Consumer Review Fairness Act, but emphasized that other accusations pertaining to that suit were not proven.
“All other allegations were just that, allegations. Further, they were denied by the practice and resolved through a mutual, no-fault settlement with the Attorney General’s Office in which both sides dismissed their allegations against the other,” she told The Post.
Transgender surgeries on minors have faced growing backlash and litigation.
Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments over a Tennessee law that largely banned those procedures on minors, which limited exceptions.
Do No Harm has estimated that between 2019 and 2023, there were at least 13,994 minors who underwent sex change treatments, including 5,700 who underwent operations.
During that same time period, 8,579 were given hormones and puberty blockers, according to the group.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.