Texas Children’s Hospital Whistleblower Doctor Indicted on Four Counts of Criminal HIPAA Violations
A doctor who provided documents to a reporter confirming Texas Children’s Hospital was providing gender-affirming care to minors after making public statements that the care would cease has been indicted by the Department of Justice on four counts of criminally violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, the largest children’s hospital in the United States, announced in March 2022 that hormone-related prescription therapies for gender-affirming care would no longer be provided to minors due to potential legal and criminal liability, following Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s threat of legal action against the hospital.
In May 2023, The City Journal published an article alleging the hospital was still providing that care and had not followed through on its public claim that the procedures would no longer be provided. Reporter Christopher F. Rulo had been provided with documents from a whistleblower that confirmed medical interventions continued to be provided to transgender children, including implanted puberty blockers for children as young as 11 who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Those treatments were allegedly provided throughout 2022 and 2023. In a follow-on story, Rufo shared transcripts of the conversation with the whistleblower who made more detailed allegations against doctors at the hospital and the gender-affirming care they were providing.
In 2023, Dr. Eithan Haim, a general surgeon who had a residency at Texas Children’s Hospital, was morally troubled by the procedures and chose to expose what he called the “barbarism” of the treatments. Documents were shared with Rulo anonymously to blow the whistle on the hospital and were proof that hormone-related prescription therapies continued to be provided to transgender minors “in secret.”
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Federal agents launched an investigation into the leak and visited Dr. Haim in June 2023 on the day he was due to complete his residency at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), informing him that he had been identified as a possible source of the leak. Dr. Haim chose not to be interviewed by the agents, instead electing to speak with an attorney before an interview. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari subsequently threatened Dr. Haim with prosecution.
In January 2024, in a further interview with Rulo, Dr. Haim confirmed that he was the whistleblower. “It’s my responsibility as a doctor, as a physician, to expose this to the public,” said Dr. Haim. “If I don’t, then this abuse can continue. I knew that future generations, like my children, would never be able to forgive me if they knew I had the chance to do something and I decided to stay silent.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari has now followed through with her threats and has indicted Dr. Haim on four felony counts of violating HIPAA. HIPAA prohibits the sharing of protected health information – personally identifiable health information – without consent. Ansari claims Dr. Haim had no right to share the documents and the disclosures are criminal HIPAA violations. Dr. Haim’s first court appearance is on June 10, 2024.
Dr. Haim claims, “This is a political investigation in order to prevent this from happening at other hospitals that might be lying to the public about the existence of their [gender-affirming care] programs.” Dr. Haim maintains that the documents provided to Rulo confirmed that gender-affirming care continued to be provided but that sensitive patient information was redacted from the documents. He has vowed to fight the charges in court. Rufo also maintains that the documents were thoroughly redacted and contained no personal identifying information.
Since the initial article was published in the City Journal, the Texas Legislature passed a law banning drug and surgical gender-affirming interventions in the state of Texas, which took effect on September 2023. Texas Children’s Hospital said it modified the gender-affirming care it provides in compliance with the new law ahead of the September 1, 2023, effective date.
June 12, 2024. Correction – The last sentence was changed to make it clear that Texas Children’s Hospital stated that it has modified gender-affirming care in compliance with Texas law.
Update January 2025 – Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas signed an order dismissing all charges, one month before Dr. Haim’s trial was scheduled to commence.
