The United States Department of Justice, in conjunction with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced a settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital in connection with an investigation into violations of federal law regarding gender-transition procedures for minors.
In 2022, TCH — the largest children’s hospital in the nation — said it would stop using cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers on minors for gender transitions. But Dr. Eithan Haim went to a journalist with information that the hospital in fact was continuing to perform those procedures. He asked to remain anonymous, but a month later, federal agents told him he was being criminally investigated, and the Justice Department under the former administration charged him with violating patient privacy laws.
Alleged threats
A TCH nurse, Vanessa Sivadge, anonymously corroborated Haim’s claims. Soon afterward, FBI agents came to her door and threatened to “make life difficult” for her if she did not help them expose the leaker. Not long after, the hospital fired her. She went on to found Protecting Texas Children, a Biblically based nonprofit dedicated to affirming and celebrating “the good and beautiful design of God as seen in His creation of male and female.”
The charges against Haim, who is now affiliated with a different medical center in Texas, were eventually dropped in January 2025.
Meanwhile, among other agreements, the settlement stipulates that the hospital will establish the nation’s first-ever detransition clinic.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was originally published by Decision Magazine.
