Texas doc prosecuted by Biden DOJ over opposition to child sex changes faces 10 years if convicted

The Department of Justice announced on Monday that a doctor who spoke out against child sex changes at a Texas Hosptial may face 10 years in prison for "obtaining protected individual health information for patients that were not under his care and without authorization." 

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas announced that it had unsealed a four-count indictment against 34-year-old Eithan Haim. He faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 maximum fine. 

The indictment alleges that Haim "obtained personal information including patient names, treatment codes and the attending physician from Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) electronic system without authorization," and that Haim allegedly obtained this information "under false pretenses and with intent to cause malicious harm to TCH." 

In May 2023, Haim disclosed documents to Christopher Rufo at City Journal that showed the Texas Children's Hospital continued operation of its child gender clinics in violation of state law, despite their claim that the clinics had been closed. Rufo previously emphasized that the clinic's patients' personal information was not included in any of the documents he obtained from Haim. 

Haim was a resident at Baylor College of Medicine and had previously done rotations during his residency at TCH. The DOJ alleges that Haim in April 2023 requested to re-activate his TCH login access to access "pediatric patients not under his care." He is also alleged to have obtained "unauthorized access to personal information of pediatric patients under false pretenses and later disclosed it to a media contact." 

According to the Houston Chronicle, Haim appeared for his arraignment hearing on Monday afternoon, pleading not guilty to the charges. Haim appeared before US Magistrate Yvonne Y. Ho, who issued a $10,000 bond and ordered that Haim not leave the country or keep firearms in his home.  

“I maintained from day one that I had done nothing wrong,” Haim said outside the Houston federal courthouse. “We’re going to fight this tooth and nail to stand up for whistleblowers everywhere. Because if they can come for me, they’re going to come for people like you.”  

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion in February 2022 in which he indicated that gender-affirming care for children could be considered a form of child abuse under state law. Texas Children’s Hospital issued a statement announcing that it would cease these treatments, though, in May 2023, Haim exposed a surgeon who was still operating. 

A GiveSendGo fundraiser was started for Haim’s legal defenses, which has so far raised over $629,000 as of Monday evening.