Justice Department drops HIPAA charges against doctor who exposed trans child surgeries

CNA Staff, Jan 24, 2025 / 18:30 pm

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has dropped charges against a doctor who was facing criminal prosecution over having exposed child transgender surgeries reportedly taking place at a major Texas hospital.

In May 2023 journalist Christopher Rufo reported at City Journal that Texas Children’s Hospital had “secretly continued to perform transgender medical interventions … on minor children” after announcing that it would cease those surgeries. The hospital had earlier said it was ceasing the procedures after state Attorney General Ken Paxton said some of those medical procedures could be considered child abuse under state law. 

Rufo in his report cited “whistleblower documents” he obtained from inside the institution, which he later said came from Dr. Eithan Haim.

In June the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced that Haim had been “indicted for obtaining protected individual health information for patients that were not under his care and without authorization.”

On Friday afternoon, however, U.S. District Judge David Hittner said in an order obtained by CNA that, after an agreement with the U.S. attorney and Haim’s lawyers, “all open counts” in the case were “dismissed with prejudice.”

Haim shared the news in a post on X. “WE DID IT!!!! WE WON!!!!!!!” the doctor wrote.

Following the 2023 reports, Paxton launched an investigation into the allegations that illegal sex-change procedures were being performed on minors at the children’s hospital.

“I’ve been clear that any ‘gender transitioning’ procedures that hurt our children constitute child abuse under Texas law,” Paxton said at the time.

“I am committed to investigating any entity in our state to ensure that our children are protected,” he said.

If he had been convicted under last year’s charges, Haim was facing “up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum possible fine,” the government said last year.