The Trump administration’s flurry of first-week legal actions included the dismissal of a Biden-era case against a doctor who blew the whistle on Texas Children’s Hospital for performing gender-change procedures on minors.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted Friday a motion by federal prosecutors to drop the case against Dr. Eithan Haim, who was charged with wrongful disclosure for leaking records in 2023 showing that the hospital continued to provide gender-transition drugs for children after saying it had stopped doing so.
The Burke Law Group, which represented the doctor, said the charges were dismissed with prejudice “so that the federal government can never again come after him for blowing the whistle on the secret pediatric transgender program.”
“This fully vindicates Dr. Haim,” the Houston-based law firm said Friday in a statement. “We thank everyone who helped along the way to bring this massive injustice to light, and we are grateful to secure this victory on behalf of our client.”
Texas Children’s Hospital said in a statement: “We defer to and respect the decisions of the Department of Justice regarding this case.”
The Justice Department under President Joseph R. Biden charged Dr. Haim, a surgeon who trained at Texas Children’s Hospital, with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Privacy Act after he disclosed the private medical records to Christopher Rufo, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow.
Mr. Rufo wrote about the disclosures in a May 2023 article for City Journal, an institute publication.
The hospital said in 2022 that it had stopped providing gender-transition drugs and surgeries to children after state Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion finding that such treatment constituted child abuse.
Such procedures were lawful at the time. Dr. Haim asked to reactivate his hospital account and gained “unauthorized access to personal information of pediatric patients under false pretenses,” the Justice Department said in a June statement.
“The four-count indictment alleges Haim obtained personal information including patient names, treatment codes and the attending physician from Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) electronic system without authorization,” the department said. “He allegedly obtained this information under false pretenses and with intent to cause malicious harm to TCH.”
Shortly after the City Journal article appeared, the state legislature passed a law banning so-called “gender-affirming care” for minors that went into effect Sept. 1, 2023.
If convicted, Dr. Haim, who now practices outside Dallas, would have faced up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
“The fight against the evils he exposed continues, but this dismissal represents a repudiation of the weaponization of federal law enforcement and the first step in accountability for the misdeeds we have all witnessed in this case,” said the Burke Law Group, led by Marcella Burke.
Dr. Haim was elated, posting on X: “WE DID IT!!!!! WE WON!!!!!”
His case became a cause celebre for Republicans and others decrying what they saw as the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department against political foes, including pro-life activists and parents battling school boards over left-wing content in classrooms.
“Eithan is a true hero,” Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist and Manhattan Institute fellow, posted on X. “He swore an oath to ‘do no harm.’ So when he saw kids being harmed, he took a stand and risked personal and financial ruin. Thank you for your bravery!”
Andrea Haim, Dr. Haim’s wife, said that victory came at a “great personal cost,” including “hundreds of sleepless nights worried that he would go to federal prison for 10 years.”
“We are completely broke,” she posted on X. “He was forced to leave me and his newborn baby daughter in the hospital an hour after I had an emergency c-section to make a court appearance in Houston. But if you ask either of us, we would do it again in a heartbeat.”
A GiveSendGo crowdfunding account established by Dr. Haim has raised $1.3 million of its $2 million goal.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.