Texas Children's Hospital must create country's first 'detransition clinic' under settlement with Paxton

Texas Children’s Hospital will create the nation’s first “detransition clinic,” fire five physicians and pay the state $10 million under an unusual settlement announced Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). 

The clinic would focus on providing medical care to patients who had undergone gender-affirming healthcare and work toward reversing its effects, Paxton said. 

For the first five years, all services provided through the clinic will be funded by Texas Children’s and be free of charge to patients. 

The settlement will also require the hospital to fire and permanently cut ties with five physicians who provided gender-affirming care for minors. 

The move follows an investigation that began in 2023 after Texas passed a law banning health providers from facilitating gender-affirming medical care for minors.  

Earlier this year, Paxton sued the hospital system — the largest children’s hospital in the United States — for allegedly violating the ban. The state accused the hospital of illegal “gender-transition” interventions, including using false diagnosis codes to bill Medicaid for illegal procedures. 

“This historic settlement reflects an institutional and fundamental cultural shift away from radical ‘gender’ ideology,” Paxton, who is mounting a primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), said in a statement. “I applaud Texas Children’s Hospital for changing course and committing to being a part of the solution by agreeing to form a first-of-its kind Detransition Clinic that will help provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology.” 

In a statement, representatives from the hospital system insisted they had been compliant with all laws but were settling to “protect our resources from endless and costly litigation.”  

The settlement closes “a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions,” the hospital said.  

Settling “will allow us to redirect those precious resources to focus on the life-saving care and groundbreaking discoveries of our exceptional clinicians and scientists,” the hospital said.  

“We stand proud knowing we will always put our purpose over politics and that we have and will continue to follow the law.”