Plastic surgeon apologizes for failing to 'speak up' after witnessing children as young as 13 undergo 'irreversible' gender transition surgeries

Dr. Ira Savetsky.

A New York City plastic surgeon who trained at one of the nation's top hospitals spoke out this week after the hospital system acknowledged it would no longer perform gender transition surgeries on children. Dr. Ira Savetsky appeared Thursday on Fox & Friends and discussed his regret about not speaking up sooner and explained why it was hard for him to do so. 

NYU Langone, one of the largest hospital systems in New York City, said this week that "Given the recent departure of our medical director, coupled with the current regulatory environment, we made the difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program." President Trump just a week into his second term signed an executive order aimed at preventing medical professionals from “sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a child’s sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.” 

And in December, the Health and Human Services Department threatened to withhold federal funds for hospitals that continue to provide gender reassignment procedures for children. As a result, dozens of hospital across the country have wound down transgender surgeries for children, something Savetsky called attention to in his remarks on Fox News. 

"As a father to three young children and as a physician who took an oath to do no harm, I failed to speak up, and I just want to thank President Trump for having moral clarity on this," Savetsky said.

As to why he felt unable to speak up against the practice of performing such "irreversible" surgeries on children, Savetsky cited a repressive culture within the Langone hospital system. "You're at the number one plastic surgery program, you're just grateful to be there. There's no room to speak up. You're a soldier. You work so hard to get there … you don't want to make waves," Savetsky said.

Savetsky went on to say the hospital went so far as to pressure and coerce parents whose children were confused about their gender. 

"I can only imagine what the parents were going through. I mean, they're told that their child is going to kill themselves if they don't have these surgeries," he said. 

Earlier this month, The American Society of Plastic Surgeons became the first major U.S. medical group to formally oppose permanent gender reassignment surgeries performed on children.

Watch the full interview below.