Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a $10 million settlement from Texas Children’s Hospital that legally requires the medical institution to create the nation’s first-ever “detransition clinic.”
Paxton announced the news on Friday, about three years after he started investigating the Houston-based pediatric hospital over transgender procedures and treatments for minors.
The detransition clinic will offer medical care to patients who underwent gender transitions, which Paxton’s office says were pushed by “ideologically motivated physicians.” For the clinic’s first five years, the detransition services will be free to patients and paid by the hospital.
The settlement requires the hospital to pay $10 million for billing Texas Medicaid for gender transitions, which the state’s medical insurance program does not allow. TCH faced allegations that its medical providers knowingly falsified diagnosis codes to obtain Medicaid payments for gender transitions.
The legal agreement also compels TCH to fire multiple physicians who performed these procedures, revoke their privileges, and never hire or credential such doctors.
Most importantly, TCH agreed to never provide gender transitions to minors again.
“I applaud Texas Children’s Hospital for changing course and committing to being a part of the solution by agreeing to form a first-of-its kind Detransition Clinic that will help provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology,” Paxton said in a statement. “Under my watch, I will investigate and bring the full force of the law against any Texas hospital that abuses children with harmful medical interventions to ‘transition’ kids.”
The Department of Justice worked with the Texas Republican official’s office to secure the settlement.
TCH maintained it cooperated with the state attorney general and did nothing illegal.
“All reviews and investigations continue to support the facts – we have been compliant with all laws,” the hospital’s statement reads. “Today, we made the difficult decision to settle with the Texas Attorney General and the Department of Justice, closing a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions. To be clear – we are settling to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation. This settlement will allow us to redirect those precious resources to focus on the life-saving care and groundbreaking discoveries of our exceptional clinicians and scientists.”
Dr. Eithan Haim, a surgeon who worked at TCH during his residency, celebrated the culmination of his whistleblowing efforts.
“The impossible was done by [Paxton] and his team at the [Texas attorney general’s] office,” he posted on X. “I cannot believe this happened.”
In May 2023, Haim blew the whistle regarding TCH’s continued transgender-medicine program that violated Paxton’s 2022 legal opinion equating “gender-affirming care” to child abuse. TCH then issued a statement that its providers would no longer perform the surgical and hormonal procedures on children. Haim obtained documents suggesting otherwise that conservative journalist Christopher Rufo published in an article, prompting Paxton to open a second investigation into the pediatric hospital.
The medical whistleblower initially remained anonymous, but he revealed his identity after the Biden-era DOJ targeted him in an investigation of the disclosed medical records. He was later prosecuted, but the case was dismissed shortly after President Donald Trump entered office last year.
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The dismissal came weeks before the defendant was set to go to trial.
After announcing the detransition clinic as part of the settlement, Paxton thanked Haim for his “bravery” in blowing the whistle.