Ruiz & Smart and ACLU of Washington Sues Swedish Health for Breach of Settlement for Failing to Improve Transgender Health Services

Ruiz & Smart attorney McKean J. Evans recently joined attorneys from the ACLU of Washington in filing a lawsuit against Swedish Health Services for refusing to meet the terms of a settlement agreement designed to end the hospital system’s discriminatory practices and improve health care access for transgender patients.

In 2017, the ACLU-WA filed a lawsuit, Robbins v. Swedish Health Services, on behalf of Ari Robbins, a Seattle man who alleged he was wrongfully turned away from Swedish solely because he is transgender. As part of a settlement the parties agreed to in July 2019, Swedish had six months to implement specific changes to its website to assist transgender patients in accessing healthcare at Swedish. The new lawsuit seeks to enforce that agreement and alleges Swedish has made almost no progress toward providing the critical services outlined in the settlement and has offered no reasonable explanation for its refusal to do so.