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Gender-affirming care is an umbrella term for the treatment of gender dysphoria, or the discomfort that comes when someone\u2019s gender identity does not align with the sex they were assigned at birth. Gender-affirming care ranges from \u201csocially transitioning\u201d \u2014 using different pronouns or dressing differently \u2014 to puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical interventions.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a monumental day in the fight to stop the radical transgender movement,\u201d Paxton said in a statement issued Friday. \u201cI applaud Texas Children\u2019s Hospital for changing course and committing to being a part of the solution by agreeing to form a first-of-its-kind Detransition Clinic that will help provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the first five years, all services provided through the Detransition Clinic will be funded by Texas Children\u2019s and be free of charge to patients.<\/p>\n
The settlement also requires the hospital to pay $10 million for billing Texas Medicaid for illegal \u2018gender-transition\u2019 interventions, including by using false diagnosis codes, and compels Texas Children\u2019s to terminate and revoke the medical privileges of multiple physicians.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Texas Children\u2019s said in a statement that it made the \u201cdifficult decision\u201d to settle with the attorney general\u2019s office to close a legal chapter that has been, \u201cwrought with falsehoods and distractions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here is their full statement:<\/p>\n
“Texas Children\u2019s mission is to create a healthier future for women and children across Texas and the world. We are committed to serving all women and children, regardless of the ability to pay. We are proud to serve over 1 million patients annually \u2013 it is a privilege we hold in the highest regard.<\/p>\n
“Over the last three years, we have cooperated fully with the Texas Attorney General and Department of Justice, navigating an unconscionable campaign of mistruths and mischaracterizations related to gender affirming care. We produced over 5 million documents and conducted multiple internal and external investigations. These efforts have required significant staff time and financial resources to defend ourselves. All reviews and investigations continue to support the facts \u2013 we have been compliant with all laws.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Today, we made the difficult decision to settle with the Texas Attorney General and the Department of Justice, closing a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions. To be clear \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.<\/p>\n
“We are grateful for and proud of our renowned clinical teams whose clinical excellence makes Texas Children\u2019s the nation\u2019s leading pediatric and women\u2019s health system. We remain a trusted destination for families seeking health, hope and healing, and we look forward to a brighter tomorrow for our children, our families and our state.”<\/p>\n
The hospital said it spent three years producing more than 5 million documents to both the state and the U.S. Department of Justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll reviews and investigations continue to support the facts \u2013 we have been compliant with all laws,\u201d the hospital statement said. \u201cTo be clear \u2013 we are settling to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation \u2026 We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Transgender and LGBTQ advocates, such as Equality Texas, said they are disappointed with Texas Children’s Hospital for agreeing to the settlement. Equality Texas CEO Brad Pritchett told KHOU 11 that funding a “detransition clinic,” instead of gender-affirming care, does not make any sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe type of healthcare that is specific for trans people is continually being reduced and those lanes are being narrowed, and they\u2019re being pushed aside in favor of healthcare that isn\u2019t a priority. There is no huge group of people who is seeking this type of healthcare,\u201d Pritchett said. \u201cFor trans healthcare, the regret rates are incredibly low. We\u2019re talking one percent, sometimes less, depending on the study. Literally, there\u2019s a higher regret rate for people having knee replacement surgery than there is for people getting gender-affirming healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n
KHOU 11 asked Pritchett what his response was to Texas Children’s Hospital statement that they maintain they did not break the law, and they settled to avoid further costly litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know that that\u2019s a really good argument, and if the argument is we know what we did was right, but we\u2019re just going to settle with something that\u2019s not right, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s a valid argument,\u201d Pritchett said.<\/p>\n
In response to KHOU 11’s specific questions about what the “detransition clinic” would look like, Texas Children’s said, “The detransition clinic will formalize the supportive, multidisciplinary services we already deliver to all patients who need our care.”<\/p>\n
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.<\/p>\n
This story comes\u00a0from\u00a0The Texas Tribune<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans – and engages with them – about public policy, politics, government, and statewide issues.<\/p>\n Disclosure: Texas Children\u2019s Hospital has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune\u2019s journalism. Find a complete list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday that Texas Children\u2019s must also pay $10 million to the state…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-296918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}