Texas Children's Hospital to end gender procedures for minors and fund detransition clinic
Under a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced May 15, the Houston hospital will pay more than $10 million and open a clinic for detransitioning patients
Texas Children's Hospital has signed an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that ends sex-change procedures for minors at its facilities. Announced May 15, 2026, the agreement also provides for funding the first clinic in the country dedicated to detransition.
The settlement follows an investigation opened after a whistleblower alleged that the hospital was still performing sex-change procedures on minors despite the prohibition in state law. According to the Justice Department, the Houston hospital will pay more than $10 million in civil penalties and damages tied to alleged fraudulent billing to Medicaid and other insurers for the procedures.
The agreement requires Texas Children's Hospital to stop immediately any "gender transition" intervention, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, in line with Texas law. The hospital also agreed to create a multidisciplinary detransition clinic that will provide restorative medical care to patients who underwent the procedures. Texas Children's will cover the cost of the clinic's services in full, and they will be free for the first five years.
The agreement permanently revokes privileges for five physicians who performed the procedures and bars them from being rehired or credentialed in the future. New compliance measures will amend the hospital's bylaws to automatically revoke the privileges of any physician who violates Texas law on such procedures for minors.
Paxton said that "under my watch, I will investigate and bring the full force of the law against any hospital in Texas that abuses children with harmful medical interventions to 'transition' minors." Texas Children's Hospital announced in 2022 that it intended to stop the treatments, but at least three physicians continued performing procedures during 2022 and 2023, according to whistleblower testimony.
The Justice Department said Texas Children's cooperated in the investigation and took steps that helped resolve the case. The allegations resolved by the agreement are not a determination of liability. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate said he appreciated the hospital's willingness to be part of the solution rather than perpetuate the problem.
