AUSTIN — Much like how spring can come in like and go out like a lamb, so did the state of Texas’ first suit targeting a physician for allegedly providing transgender care after a law was passed banning such treatments.
Last October, Attorney General Ken Paxton made waves after suing Dr. Hector Granados, a pediatric endocrinologist in El Paso, for illegally providing “gender transition” treatments to Texas children, alleging that in some of the cases the patients were as young as twelve.
Court records show that the case has been dismissed and that a notice of non-suit was filed on Sept. 4.
According to an AP article, Paxton said in a statement that no legal violations were found following a “review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records.
The suit alleged Granados violated the law by knowingly providing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children for the purpose of “transitioning” their biological sex.
Senate Bill 14, a Texas law that took effect in September 2023, prohibits “gender transition” medical interventions such as surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones for minors.
Paxton maintains that growing scientific evidence strongly suggests that “gender transition” interventions prescribed to or performed on children in an attempt to anatomically or hormonally alter their biological sex characteristics have damaging, long-term consequences. Additionally, the prohibited treatments are experimental, and no scientific evidence supports their supposed benefits.
SB 14 was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in June 2024 and states that medical providers who violate the law are liable for penalties.
The law also directs that the Texas Medical Board “shall revoke the medical license or other authorization to practice medicine of a physician who violates” the statute.
Paxton has also sued May Lau and M. Brett Cooper, medical doctors who allegedly prescribed gender transition drugs to dozens of Texas children in violation of the law. Those suits are ongoing.
Kaufman County District Court case No. 118832-422.
