The federals leave the charges against the Texas doctor accused of filtering transgender care data

Federal prosecutors withdrew their charges against a Dallas surgeon accused of filtering the records of care related to the gender transition of patients with minors in what some conservative activists are calling a victory for anti-transgender activism.

The request for dismissal, presented by Jennifer Lowery, the US Prosecutor for the Southern District of Texas, did not specify why the four positions of unfair dissemination of individual identification health information against Dr. Eithan Haim were eliminated.

Haim, a self -described complainant, was accused after providing the conservative activist Christopher Rufo with the records of children who received care related to gender transition at the Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, the largest pediatric hospital in the United States.

Rufo published the material in a May 2023 articleHowever, records have been deleted from the piece. While transgender attention for minors was legal in 2022 when the records were obtained, the hospital had publicly said that it would end up providing attention after the governor. Greg Abbott ordered the parents of children under care related to the transition be investigated For child abuse. The Supreme Court of Texas Then he ruled Abbott had no reason to order the family and protection services to investigate families.

Haim never disputed that he leaked the records, however, maintained throughout the legal procedures that laws were not broken because no information from identifiable patients personally was disclosed.

The case quickly became a lightning rod for anti-transgender activists and politicians who describe Haim as a complainant to expose an alleged “secret transgender program.” Transgender attention in Texas, especially for minors, has been under fire by Republicans in the state. Only a few weeks after Rufo published the records provided by Haim, Texas passed a Direct prohibition on care related to the transition for minors.

Transition -related care may include anything, from mental health advice and social affirmation of gender through pronoun changes or medical interventions such as puberty or surgery blockers, however, cases of physical treatment among young people They are rare.

The dismissal follows a X publication From Haim’s wife, Andrea accused Lowery of “Arm the Department of Justice” against her husband. The alleged weapon of the justice system has also been the highlight of the campaign of President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order on Monday claiming that the Biden administration had a systematic campaign of armed prosecution.

Texas House Rep. Brian HarrisonR-Midlothian, was one of the dozens of people who congratulated Haim for retired charges, and said he spoke with Haim on the phone to congratulate him directly for the update.

“We must still get to the bottom of the potential crimes he presented, so he should have been praised … not processed,” Harrison said in a X publication Friday.

The case was established to start a jury trial on February 10, according to the Court’s website.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune in https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/24/transgender-care-data-leak-texas-childrens-hospital/.

The Texas Tribune is a non -legal writing room backed by members that informs and involves the Texans in state politics and policy. Obtain more information at Texastribune.org.