Under pressure from federal and state authorities, Texas Children’s Hospital has agreed to pay a penalty of $10 million, to agree not to perform any more gender transition procedures on children and to establish a first-of-its-kind “detransition clinic” to help children who have already gone through it.
The hospital has also agreed to fire what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called five “deranged child mutilators” who performed procedures, and to amend its rules to allow for automatic termination of any other “woke doctors” who perform transition procedures in violation of state law.
He and acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the settlement Friday.
“Today is a monumental day in the fight to stop the radical transgender movement,” said Mr. Paxton, a Republican who is engaged in a run-off in Texas’s Republican Senate primary. “This historic settlement reflects an institutional and fundamental cultural shift away from radical ’gender’ ideology.”
The feds had accused the hospital of violating federal laws by submitting false billing claims for “pediatric sex-rejecting procedures.”
The $10 million settlement payment resolved those claims, with the Justice Department saying the hospital cooperated in the investigation and negotiated in good faith for the outcome.
Part of that was its willingness to direct some of the money to establish the detransitioning clinic.
“I am grateful that Texas Children’s wants to be part of the solution and no longer the problem,” said Brett A. Shumate, assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s civil division. “Its commitment to providing detransitioner care is emblematic of just that.”
The hospital, in a statement, suggested it was not as excited about the deal, insisting it had been “compliant with all laws” and faced “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,” the hospital said. “We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.”
