Camille Kiefel, a woman who once believed she was “non-binary,” won a settlement against two therapists who referred her for a double mastectomy as a “gender affirming” medical procedure.
She’s the second young woman to receive compensation after undergoing disfiguring “transgender” medical interventions, as a New York jury recently awarded Fox Varian $2 million dollars in a malpractice lawsuit against medical professionals who attempted to “transition” her to look like the opposite sex.
Investigative journalist Benjamin Ryan was the first to report the confidential settlement, saying it was reached “just days before the trial was slated to begin.” Kiefel had asked for $3.5 million in her malpractice lawsuit.
The Women’s Liberation Front (WoLF), a self-described “radical feminist group” which opposes transgender ideology, supported Kiefel in her legal battle as her financial sponsor. The initial malpractice complaint, filed in December 2022, targeted Licensed Clinical Social Worker Amy Ruff and Licensed Professional Counselor Mara Burmeister, along with the two Oregon health care clinics that employed them.
The lawsuit described some of the difficulties Kiefel struggled with, saying she “experienced severe childhood traumatic events leading to her feeling discomfort and dissociation with her body.”
In addition, Kiefel “had a history of mental health diagnosis,” including attention deficithyperactivity disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. These conditions “proved treatment-resistant despite nearly two decades of psychotherapy and prescribed medications for ADHD, depression, and anxiety with a variety of therapists over many years.”
Kiefel began “identifying” as “non-binary” in 2016, underwent breast removal surgery in 2020 at age 30. In 2022, Kiefel accepted that she was a woman.
But the damage was done.
In a Newsweek article, Kiefel described the ridiculous ideology that supports surgery to become “non-binary”:
And the weird thing, too, about being non-binary, is what do you even transition to? There’s no non-binary sex to transition to.
The suit alleged that “Ruff held one Zoom session with [Kiefel], lasting approximately an hour,” before writing a referral for her to have “chest reduction to relieve gender dysphoria.” The suit said Ruff’s letter had statements she “knew were factually false and/or misleading,” and she did not exercise “reasonable care” in her assessment or even review Kiefel’s medical or mental health records before recommending surgery, the complaint added.
Kiefel learned “a second assessment letter was required in order for Medicaid to pay for breast removal surgery.” Her lawsuit said, “Burmeister failed to conduct an individualized, comprehensive mental health assessment prior to recommending that Plaintiff undergo double mastectomy surgery.”
Ruff and Burmeister, according to an amended lawsuit, did not discuss with Kiefel the risks involved with the proposed surgery, including:
- Surgery might not alleviate her social, health and mental health problems, and it might even exacerbate them.
- Surgery could not mute her feminine features to more closely resemble a ‘non-binary’ gender identity.
- Reproductive dysfunction, through lack of sexual function, and inability to breastfeed.
- Reclaiming her female identity after surgery might lead to greater anxiety, distress and shame.
Camille Kiefel’s struggles with trauma and mental health issues are typical of adolescents and young adults who embrace transgender ideology.
Although many will go on to desist from believing they can become the opposite sex – or someother “gender” altogether, this may only occur after they have been irreparably damaged by transgender medical interventions like drugs, hormones, and surgeries.
True compassion means protecting young men and women and helping them embrace biological reality.
Legal victories can’t undo the irreversible damage caused by these medical interventions, but they may cause mental health and medical professionals to think twice before engaging in such barbarous practices.
Daily Citizen is a news division of Focus on the Family that provides a faith-based perspective to counter the mainstream media’s anti-Christian bias.
