Partnering with the ACLU, Patterson Belknap represented Jesse Hammons, a transgender man who sued the University of Maryland Medical Center for denying him surgery based on an unconstitutional and discriminatory application of religious doctrine. Mr. Hammons’ medically necessary hysterectomy was cancelled because hospital administrators believed it would violate Catholic religious teachings. After Mr. Hammons sued the hospital for violations of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act, the District Court of Maryland awarded him summary judgment, holding that the hospital's refusal of the procedure was discriminatory.