Surgeon spoke against genderaffirming care He faces federal charges

pWhistleblowers are often courageous people who expose unethical or illegal behavior But what if the government targets a whistleblower for speaking out And is it ever right to break the law to expose wrongdoingppThose questions are relevant to the case of Dr Ethan Haim a surgeon in Texas who has been indicted on four felony counts of violating the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act HIPAAppLast year Haim at the time a surgical resident at Houstonbased Texas Childrens Hospital gave conservative journalist Christopher Rufo records indicating that the hospital had secretly continued transgender medical interventions on minors despite a public pledge that it had stopped such treatmentsppAccording to the nowunsealed indictment the US Attorneys Office in the Southern District of Texas has charged Haim with obtaining protected individual health information for patients who were not under his care and without authorizationppHaim and his supporters say he is being targeted not for violating HIPAA but for speaking out If so the government should not be using its power to silence and punish a whistleblowerppIn March 2022 Texas Childrens Hospital the largest childrens hospital in the nation announced it would no longer prescribe genderaffirming hormone therapies citing potential legal liabilityppA month earlier Gov Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton had announced that sexchange procedures on children and prescribing pubertyblockers to them is child abuse under the Texas Family CodeppThe mission of Texas Childrens Hospital is to create a healthier future for all children including transgender children within the bounds of the law the hospital said in a statement This step was taken to safeguard our healthcare professionals and impacted families from potential legal ramificationsppFauci was wrong about COVID COVID guidelines caused millions to suffer Now Fauci admits there was no science behind itppBut according to Haim the hospital did not stop genderaffirming care for minorsppHaim recorded evidence of the hospitals ongoing care and passed it on to Rufo Haim says he redacted any patient information that would violate HIPAA On May 16 2023 City Journal published Rufos story that included Haims anonymous account of what he witnessed at the hospital The Texas Legislature then officially banned transgender medical interventions on minorsppThey were talking publicly about how they were concealing what they were doing Haim recently told The Free Press You cant take care of your patient without trust For me as a doctor to not do something about this was unconscionableppIn a City Journal story published in January Haim revealed his identity and detailed the genderaffirming care he had seen firsthand including a surgeon who had implanted a hormone device for gender dysphoria in an 11yearold girl Haim said the frequency of procedures like that one had increased and that potentially hundreds more children had received hormone interventions for gender dysphoriappLast June federal agents came to Haims home he said handing him a letter revealing that he was a potential target of an investigation involving alleged violation of federal criminal law related to medical recordsppThe indictment unsealed Monday says In April 2023 Haim allegedly requested to reactivate his login access at TCH to access pediatric patients not under his care The indictment alleges he obtained unauthorized access to personal information of pediatric patients under false pretenses and later disclosed it to a media contactppHaim is not alone in his concerns about doctors participating in the treatment of minors struggling with gender dysphoriappRecently the National Health Service England said it will not prescribe puberty blockers as a routine treatment to children and other young people seeking gender transitions The Cass Review an independent nearly 400page report on transgender care suggested that providers slow down on drug treatments and found that the evidence supporting this kind of gender care is remarkably weak ppExtreme caution Cass Review raises red flags on genderaffirming care for trans kidsppThe American College of Pediatricians a group of about 700 conservative medical providers recently urged other medical professionals to cease intervening in the care of gender dysphoria on minorsppIn recent years Denmark Finland Norway and Sweden have worked on placing new limits on hormone treatments for youth experiencing gender dysphoriappGiven the concerns increasingly expressed by medical professionals its stunning that discussions about lifealtering care of transgender children are still so politically volatile My home state of Texas isnt alone in restricting such care 24 other states have banned medical genderaffirming treatment of minorsppThe indictment accuses Haim of illegally accessing patient records and doing so under false pretenses If that proves to be accurate Haim needs to be held accountableppHowever Haims objective to blow the whistle on Texas Childrens Hospital raises the question of whether his alleged wrongdoing should be taken into account because the hospital continued treatments on transgender minors when it said it would stopppHIPAA violations should be taken seriously But up to 10 years in federal prison and a 250000 maximum possible fine for exposing the hospitals alleged wrongdoing seems excessiveppThe care of transgender minors is fraught with complicated issues Unlike adults children who are still legally minors and who in many cases have yet to reach puberty cannot truly give informed consent and cannot know what they might want when they become adultsppIts vital that ongoing discussions take place among medical providers youth their families and policymakersppWhat must be avoided are efforts to silence dissentppNicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY She lives in Texas with her four kids Sign up for her newsletter The Right Track and get it delivered to 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