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September 22, 2026- by Steven E, Greer, MD
I moved to New York City in 1997 to train in surgery at NYU. I did research with the plastic surgery department, receiving government grants from the VA to work on a new approach to wound healing. I wrote a textbook, the Handbook of Plastic Surgery, etc. I later left clinical surgery for Wall Street, but I am still proud of that training. It was at the VA, Bellevue, and NYU, which are some of the best institutions in the country.
Around 2022, I saw that pediatric transgender medicine was no longer a fringe practice. It was everywhere. Big hospitals were pushing it as if it were settled science. I was then disgusted to learn that my old NYU was one of the main centers doing it.
Plastic surgeons around the country were cowards. They saw what these programs were doing to children and they stayed quiet. The hospitals were making tens of millions, in some cases more, off the surgeries, the hormones, and the follow-up care. Far-left politicians were pushing the whole thing. People were afraid to stand up to them.
Last year, a surgeon tipped me off that NYU was gaming Medicare. The hospital was using DRG billing codes to treat these kids as if they had ordinary endocrine disease, which they did not. I knew that was a False Claims Act case from prior work with the Department of Justice. I wasn’t able to file an actual lawsuit, but I began helping the DOJ as a consultant and whistleblower. I drafted detailed reports spelling out all of the legal violations. I kept reminding them throughout the year to make sure they did not forget about it.
Then, on September 18, 2026, the Justice Department issued a press release titled “DOJ Secures Agreements with NYU and UPMC to End Pediatric ‘Gender-Affirming Care.’” NYU Langone agreed to stop puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgery for minors and pay $8.5 million in fines. NYU had already closed its Transgender Youth Health Program in February. The settlement locked that shutdown in writing and added the fine.
All of this was a top priority. Vice President Vance, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz were involved. I was communicating with them as well.
It is a bit surreal to think the highest levels of government got involved to shut down the powerful medical program at the hospital where I trained. Back then, I was just a lowly resident. Now, I am shutting the place down.
Rarely can someone see such tremendous evil take place and then actually do something about it. This was only possible because we have leadership at the Health and Human Services that is willing to stand up to the far left communist and do the right thing.