The Department of Justice indicted a physician on four counts of criminal violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for giving documents to a reporter regarding Texas Children’s Hospital’s provision of gender-affirming care to those under 18 after its public statement to stop the care.
Texas Children’s Hospital located in Houston, which is the biggest children’s hospital in the U.S., released a statement in March 2022 that it will stop offering hormone-associated prescription therapies for gender-affirming care to kids under 18 because of legal and criminal liability. This came after Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened the hospital with potential legal action.
In May 2023, an article published in The City Journal alleged that the hospital was still offering that care and did not implement its public statement that the procedures would not be provided. Reporter Christopher F. Rulo got documents from a whistleblower that show the continuing medical interventions provided to transgender children, which include implanted puberty blockers for 11-year-old kids who have gender dysphoria. Those treatments were purportedly offered from 2022 to 2023. Rufo disclosed transcripts of the whistleblower’s sharing details of the allegations against physicians who provided gender-affirming care at the hospital.
In 2023, general surgeon Dr. Eithan Haim who took his residency at Texas Children’s Hospital was morally bothered by the treatments and decided to disclose the “barbaric” treatments. He shared documents with Rulo anonymously to expose the hospital’s continuing secret hormone-related prescription therapies to transgender minors.
Government agents investigated the leaked information and paid Dr. Haim a visit in June 2023. It was the last of his residency at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). The agents told him that he was found to be a potential source of the exposure. Dr. Haim did not agree to have an interview with the agents and opted to speak to a lawyer first before doing an interview. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari eventually threatened Dr. Haim with criminal prosecution.
In January 2024, Dr. Haim stated during an interview with Rulo that he was the whistleblower doctor. He owned the responsibility as a doctor to disclose this abuse to the public so that it would not continue.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari, after threatening Dr. Haim had him indicted on four felony counts of HIPAA violations. HIPAA does not allow the disclosure of protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable health information (PII) without authorization. Ansari states that Dr. Haim is not permitted to disclose the documents. The first court hearing of Dr. Haim’s indictment is on June 10, 2024.
According to Dr. Haim, this political investigation is meant to stop the discovery of other hospitals that could be lying about their [gender-affirming care] services. Dr. Haim also mentioned the redaction of sensitive patient data from the documents he gave to Rulo. He said he would fight the allegations in court. Rufo claims that the documents did not include any personal identifying data.
Since the publishing of the article in the City Journal, a law in the state of Texas was approved prohibiting drug and surgical gender-affirming treatment. This law was implemented in September 2023. Texas Children’s Hospital has ceased offering gender-affirming therapies to comply with the law before the effective date.
