Texas has quietly withdrawn its lawsuit towards a pediatric endocrinologist accused of violating the state’s ban on gender-affirming look after minors, discovering no proof of wrongdoing practically a 12 months after it sued Dr. Hector Granados in one of many first challenges of its type.
Texas’s Republican lawyer normal, Ken Paxton, sued Granados final October, calling the El Paso doctor a “scofflaw who is harming the health and safety of Texas children.”
The lawsuit, filed in a Texas district courtroom, accused Granados of flouting a 2022 state regulation barring well being care suppliers from administering hormones, puberty blockers and uncommon surgical procedures as therapy for minors’ gender dysphoria — extreme psychological misery that stems from a mismatch between an individual’s gender identification and intercourse at start.
The grievance mentioned Granados had deliberately falsified medical and billing data to mislead Texas pharmacies and insurance coverage suppliers into offering the drugs in violation of the state’s regulation. Granados, certainly one of three Texas physicians dealing with authorized motion from the state for offering gender-affirming care to adolescents, was not contacted by Paxton’s workplace earlier than the lawsuit was filed, based on courtroom papers, out of concern that Granados would destroy or alter related data.
Granados informed the nonprofit newsroom El Paso Issues in January that he ceased look after minors after the Legislature adopted the regulation, Senate Invoice 14, in Could 2023. The measure took impact that September, after a ruling by Texas’s Supreme Courtroom.
In an e-mail on Thursday, a spokesperson for Paxton mentioned “no legal violations” had been discovered following “a thorough review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records—which he provided in full cooperation with the investigation.”
A discover of nonsuit was then filed, the spokesperson mentioned, “ensuring that the Office of the Attorney General is able to focus on other ongoing cases against doctors who illegally provided harmful ‘transition’ treatments and drugs to children.”
That features circumstances towards two different Texas medical doctors, Could Lau and M. Brett Cooper, each of UT Southwestern Medical Middle in Dallas, the spokesperson mentioned. “Attorney General Paxton will continue to bring the full force of the law against the delusional, left-wing medical professionals guilty of forcing ‘gender’ insanity on our children,” they mentioned.
Neither Granados nor spokespeople for UT Southwestern had been instantly reachable for remark.
Legal guidelines adopted by greater than half the nation since 2021 ban gender-affirming look after minors, threatening medical doctors who violate them with the lack of their medical licenses, steep fines and even jail time, in some circumstances. The Supreme Courtroom dominated in June that states can ban therapy for minors, deciding Tennessee’s prohibition doesn’t represent intercourse discrimination.
Main skilled medical teams, together with the American Medical Affiliation, have mentioned gender-affirming look after transgender youth and adults is medically essential and may be lifesaving.
