The whistleblower who exposed the covert continuation of transgender procedures on minors at Texas Children’s Hospital says the Biden administration is targeting him as part of a politically motivated attack.
Dr. Eithan Haim, a general surgeon in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, was indicted on four felony counts of violating medical record laws by the Department of Justice last week.
“The reason they have to come after me is to make an example out of me so other whistleblowers don’t speak out like I did,” Haim told The Dallas Express. “In this case, the process is the punishment.”
“My ability to work is at risk. I may miss the birth of my first child,” he continued. “This is the punishment they want to impose in order to prevent other people from exposing the truth.”
Haim leaked documents from Texas Children’s Hospital last year to journalist Christopher Rufo that revealed doctors continued their transgender program even after CEO Mark Wallace promised to end it. This included administering hormone inhibitors to children as young as 11 years old.
Haim went public with his story in January after federal agents came to his house to inform him he was under investigation, as previously reported by DX. His legal team will learn the details of his indictment in court next week.
The doctor said his legal costs will likely hit more than $500,000. His ability to pay these costs, he said, will rely heavily on donations to his legal fund. He described his upcoming trial as a continuation of the Biden administration’s abuse of legal power.
“There is no reason to trust the people who have demonstrated they’re willing to target innocent people for political purposes,” Haim told DX.
The lead prosecutor for Haim’s case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Tina Ansari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. Her office did not respond to DX‘s request for comment.
Haim’s legal team wrote a letter to Congress in January that detailed several concerns from communications with Ansari on the case, as previously reported by DX. The lawyers wrote that Ansari claimed Haim leaked patients’ names at Texas Children’s Hospital, but she did not provide evidence.
Ansari also allegedly defended transgender procedures on children and admitted she was unaware of what information is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which defines and regulates personally identifiable medical information.
Haim said he redacted any private information in the leaked documents. Rufo’s initial report does not mention patient names.
The Biden administration, Haim said, should be focused instead on the secret plan at Texas Children’s Hospital to continue its transgender program.
“For the hospital administration, all the people responsible have not even attempted to defend themselves after the story came out, which reveals the nature of the situation,” Haim told DX. “Yet the person telling the truth is charged with four felonies.”
“The story highlights an important principle in medicine: there should be nothing behind closed doors at a hospital that a doctor is not willing to defend publicly, especially when what they’re doing is working with kids,” he continued.
The Dallas Express reached out for comment to each member of the Texas Children’s Hospital leadership team.
This includes Mark Wallace, CEO; Debra F. Sukin, president; Weldon Gage, executive vice president and chief financial officer; Dean Andropoulos, anesthesiologist-in-chief; Michael A. Belfort, obstetrician/gynecologist-in-chief; Larry Hollier Jr., surgeon-in-chief; Thierry Huisman, radiologist-in-chief; Lara Shekerdemian, pediatrician-in-chief; Jeffrey Shilt, community-in-chief; James Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief; Huda Zoghbi, research-in-chief; Linda Aldred, executive vice president and chief human resources officer; Myra Davis, executive vice president and chief information and innovation officer; Dan DiPrisco, executive vice president; Matt Girotto, executive vice president; Keith Nelson, executive vice president and chief investment office; Tabitha Rice, executive vice president; and Russ Williams, senior vice president.
None responded.
Haim said the medical establishment is only able to defend transgender procedures on children because it faces so little opposition from within.
“Doctors and other healthcare professionals need to challenge this ideology at their meetings to demonstrate their opposition to what is happening,” he told DX. “This practice itself is based on something with zero therapeutic rationale. Make it known to your academic societies.”
Haim said his case is crucial because it will determine whether a medical professional has a right to expose this injustice.
“What’s happening under the guise of gender-affirming care is one of the biggest scandals in the history of medicine,” he told DX. “Future generations are going to look back on this and think, ‘Where were all the doctors who knew this was wrong but refused to speak out against it?’ The last thing you want to do is be one of those doctors.”