LAWSUIT: Los Angeles County Forced Teen to Take Estrogen Injections to Combat Mental Illness

A lawsuit alleges that male 16-year-old was forcibly given the female hormone estrogen to combat a mild behavioral disorder during his time at at a Los Angeles County juvenile hall. It is claimed that hormone ultimately led the male teen to experience hormonal issues and develop breast tissue.

The teenager, who has his identity withheld due to his age, reportedly had up to 30 doses of Estradiol administered to combat a diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder, or ODD, at Eastlake Juvenile Hall in June of 2019, reports the LA Times.

Two milligrams of the female hormone were given without the boy’s consent or his parents’ knowledge two days after his arrest. The teenager began to notice adverse effects from too much production of the female hormone, leading to the medical condition known as “gynecomastia,” or breast enlargement. According to the teenager’s attorney, he will require cosmetic surgery to remove growths from his chest.

Other side effects include skin conditions, acne, and itchiness and soreness of the chest.

The teenager was reportedly bullied by other youths within the facility for the negative side effects suffered by the experimental treatment.

Doctors agreed that the drug should never have been given without the teenager’s knowledge or consent. The boy’s parents were not aware of their son’s ODD diagnosis until the month after his arrest.

The father, who found out about the estrogen a month after the arrest, said, “When I found out they were giving him the pill, I was like, why didn’t they ask me? When I found out what kind of pill was it, I was like, this is terrible, he’s only 16, and they were forcing him to take it.”

The hormone was reportedly administered in an experimental cure for ODD by Doctor Danny Wang; although professor of clinical psychiatry at UCLA, James Gough, stressed that the exogenous introduction of the female hormone was not a known cure for the disorder.

He said, “Estrogen is not a treatment for ODD. I can’t be more emphatic about that. You won’t find a reference anywhere that supports the use of estrogen for ODD.”

la county force fed a male teen in juvenile hall 30 doses of estradiol because he had moderately high tested t levels, and he grew breasts pic.twitter.com/CAGrZ1uQN8

— crypt (@nmgrm) July 15, 2020

The lawsuit against the county and Doctors Danny Wang and David Oh alleges medical battery and negligence.