Texas Children’s Hospital has reached a landmark settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Texas Attorney General’s office — agreeing never to perform gender transition procedures on minors again, firing five doctors responsible, and funding the nation’s first detransitioner clinic for five years.
TCH gained notoriety in 2023 when whistleblower Dr. Eithan Haim provided evidence that the hospital continued secretly administering gender transition hormones to minors even after Texas law had banned the practice. A second whistleblower, nurse Vanessa Sivadge, later corroborated his claims and was fired after being denied a religious exemption from dispensing those drugs.
The settlement requires TCH to pay $10 million to cover fraudulent Medicaid billing — the hospital had coded gender transition procedures as entirely different procedures to conceal them. Five physicians who carried out the illegal procedures must be fired and permanently stripped of hospital privileges. TCH must also amend its bylaws so that any doctor performing gender transition procedures on minors automatically loses their privileges.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated: “Today’s resolution protects vulnerable children, holds providers accountable, and ensures those harmed receive the care they need. The Justice Department will use every weapon at its disposal to end the destructive and discredited practice of so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ for children.”
Dr. Haim reflected: “It is not possible to communicate what it is like to be terrorized by your own government. The most powerful federal leviathan in the history of man was weaponized to destroy my life — not because I committed a crime but because I upheld one of our most sacred virtues. I never doubted that sacrifice because I always believed it would one day be worth it. Today is that day.”