North Carolina woman files lawsuit in wake of gender transition surgery as a teen

Charlotte, N.C., Jul 20, 2023 / 16:10 pm

Prisha (Abigail) Mosley, 25, a detransitioning woman formerly known as Charlie Mosley, filed a lawsuit July 17 in North Carolina’s Gaston County Superior Court naming her therapists, physician, surgeon, and their corresponding medical facilities who facilitated her medicalized gender transition to a man during her late teens as defendants.

In the first lawsuit of its kind in North Carolina, Mosley alleges that medical professionals in charge of her mental and physical well-being during her formative years caused harm on seven counts before, during, and after her gender reassignment surgery — by committing various types of fraud, medical malpractice, inflicting emotional distress, and utilizing unfair and deceptive trade practices over the course of her treatment for mental illness and throughout the gender reassignment process.

Defendants include Eric T. Emerson, M.D.; Piedmont Plastic Surgery and Dermatology, PA; Brie Klein-Fowler; Family Solutions, PLLC; Shana Gordon; Tree of Life Counseling, PLLC; Martha Fairbanks Perry, M.D.; and Moses Cone Medical Services, Inc. 

Mosley, who has struggled with her mental health since childhood, was sexually assaulted at age 14 and suffered a miscarriage. At age 15 she was hospitalized for depression. By age 16, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and an eating disorder. She engaged in self-harm by cutting herself, which resulted in a trip to the emergency room.

“Starting when I was 16 years old and continuing into my teen and young adult years, doctors and counselors set me on a path of medicalized ‘gender transition,’” Mosley said July 20 in an Op Ed published on Fox News.

“They told me that changing my body to look like a boy’s body would cure my mental health problems. They told me that injecting large amounts of testosterone into my female body would be good for me. They also encouraged me to undergo surgery to remove my healthy breasts,” she said. 

“I trusted these health care providers to take care of me. Because of that relationship of trust, and my vulnerable condition, I believed what they said, and I thought they were treating me properly,” Mosely explained.

Mosley said she realizes now that the “gender-affirming care” was anything but.

“Instead of addressing my severe mental health issues and helping me feel comfortable in my feminine body, my doctors and counselors pushed me into the belief that damaging my body was the answer,” Mosley told Fox News.

Her voice is irrevocably changed, she experiences pain where her breasts used to be and has had severe pain in her shoulders, neck, and genital area. 

“Years of taking testosterone prevented my body from developing as it should have,” Mosley said. “It caused significant vaginal atrophy and the inability to have intercourse.” She is uncertain whether she can conceive a child now.

Mosley said she is sharing her story to warn others about what is happening in America. “I have testified before state lawmakers and committees to explain the need to protect vulnerable individuals like me,” she said.

She also wants troubled teenagers who are looking for belonging and acceptance like she was to know that they can be accepted for who they are. “Trying to change your body won’t fix you. It’ll break you. And you don’t have to change your body to please anyone, certainly not health care providers who stand to benefit financially from setting you on a path of lifelong medical care,” Mosley said.

Representing Mosley are attorneys Anthony Biller of Envisage Law in Raleigh, North Carolina, and attorney Joshua Payne of Campbell, Miller, Payne, LLC, in Dallas. 

“There are a lot of vulnerable young people that go through similar circumstances who are subjected to the same type of treatment,” Biller said. “It’s imperative that medical professionals adhere to appropriate standards when treating the youth.”

Payne, whose new law firm specializes in legal services for individuals seeking justice after being harmed by “gender affirming care,” said there are a handful of cases like this in the country right now but anticipates more in the coming years.

“We felt compelled [to create our firm] by the need that is out there, people coming forward who feel they have been harmed through the health care process and they would like to go through the legal system to seek justice to have the health care providers be held accountable for the harm that was caused,” Payne said.

CNA reached out to all of the defendants named in Mosley’s lawsuit. They either declined comment at this time or did not respond by time of publication.