Penn State Health St. Joseph canceled a non-binary patient's scheduled mastectomy citing Catholic doctrine
On July 23, 2024, administrators at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Reading, Pennsylvania contacted EJ Stiles, a 23-year-old non-binary patient, less than 24 hours before a scheduled double mastectomy to cancel the procedure, telling Stiles it was "not in alignment with directives of the Catholic Church." Penn State Health acquired St. Joseph Medical Center in 2015, converting it from a private Catholic facility into part of a public university hospital system, yet the network continued allowing the hospital to enforce Catholic healthcare directives that barred gender-affirming care. Stiles was forced to wait months before obtaining the same surgery at another Penn State Health facility.