Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation on Friday into Austin-based Dell Children’s Medical Center after an undercover video released last month allegedly showed staff at the facility saying that they had patients transitioning as young as 8 years old.
Paxton issued a Request to Examine (“RTE”) to Dell Children’s Medical Center, demanding that they turn over information and answer questions about the alleged activities at the hospital.
“It is now alarmingly common for fringe activists to use their positions in medicine and health care to force experimental, life-altering procedures onto children,” Paxton said in a statement. “Across the country, there are doctors and health care professionals who appear willing to sacrifice the long-term health of American children, all in service to the increasingly dangerous fad of ‘transgender’ extremism.”
“It is deeply disturbing, and there is no place for it in Texas,” Paxton added. “Along these lines, there have been a number of recent reports about potentially illegal activity at Dell Children’s Medical Center, and this investigation aims to uncover the truth.”
Paxton’s investigation comes after investigative group Project Veritas published an undercover video on April 19 that appears to show medical officials at the hospital admitting to treating children as young as 8 for gender confusion they claim is transgenderism, recommending life-altering puberty blockers for a 10-year-old, and cross-sex hormones for minors as young as 14.
“We do have patients who are starting [transition] as young as 8, 9 [years old],” says Nora Scott, a licensed social worker at Austin-based Dell Children’s Medical Center, according to Project Veritas.
Dell Children’s Medical Center responded to Paxton’s investigation by claiming in-part:
Our organization prohibits surgery and prescribing hormone therapy, including puberty blockers, for the treatment of gender dysphoria in children and adolescents. If any employee or contracted provider acts in a manner that is inconsistent with our organizational position regarding gender dysphoria care of minors, we take appropriate action.
“Dell Children’s responded to my investigation and said they don’t engage in these abusive practices,” Paxton said. “Their cooperation is welcomed. I look forward to reviewing all requested documents. This is a win for Texas kids, but I won’t back down. As Reagan said, ‘Trust, but Verify.'”
Dell Children’s responded to my investigation and said they don’t engage in these abusive practices. Their cooperation is welcomed. I look forward to reviewing all requested documents. This is a win for Texas kids, but I won’t back down. As Reagan said, “Trust, but Verify.” pic.twitter.com/2GK7NB4Mxh
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) May 6, 2023
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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) also slammed the hospital during an interview late last month on Newsmax, saying what the undercover video showed was “horrific.”
“I think a child that is eight years old, does not have the maturity to make permanent life-altering decisions,” he said. “We see institutions across the country performing genital mutilation, performing surgeries where they remove perfectly healthy genitals from children, little boys or little girls, making them no longer able to have children for the rest of their lives. That is horrific. I think that’s child abuse.”
Cruz partnered with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) to launch an investigation into the practices at Dell Children’s Medical Center.