Ending Lawfare Against Whistleblowers Who Protect Children

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We welcome everybody to today's hearing on ending lawfare against whistleblowers. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. The rule of law demands equal application without fear or favor. That's why we find ourselves here again today: to continue our work to hold the Biden-Harris administration accountable for their weaponization and political prosecution against their perceived adversaries. Over the past four years, we witnessed the Department of Justice be weaponized against parents, traditionalist Catholics, and peaceful pro-life protesters and grandmothers. Take, for example, two of our witnesses here today: Dr. Eithan Haim and Vanessa Sivadge, whistleblowers who revealed that their employer, the Texas Children's Hospital in my home state, was performing transgender medical interventions on minors. Here, the largest children's hospital in the country was shamefully involved in manipulating, mutilating, and sterilizing young, confused adolescent children with life-altering procedures in the name of gender transition. This was despite its public statements declaring they paused these harmful procedures in light of the Texas attorney general's opinion deeming these experiments to be child abuse. Yet, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice subsequently charged Dr. Haim with HIPAA violations for protecting patients by releasing documents detailing this abuse despite all personally identifiable information having been carefully redacted. Dr. Haim faced penalties of up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Here, the HIPAA statute merely became one more tool that the Biden-Harris Department of Justice engineered in its years-long crusade against political dissenters instead of equally enforcing the law. Key to all of this was DOJ's lead prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Tina Ansari. Serious ethical questions stem related to Ms. Ansari's prosecution of Dr. Haim, including: allegedly presenting knowingly false information to a grand jury in order to secure an initial indictment; threatening employment retaliation against Dr. Haim wife as a form of intimidation; failing to disclose her substantial financial ties to Texas Children's Hospital through her family's commercial coffee company; not divulging having family members previously on the hospital's board of directors; attending a VIP reception at a hospital fundraiser while the case was pending; practicing law despite her law license having been suspended by the Texas Bar for failure to pay bar dues. Though Ansari was eventually removed from the case, serious questions remain about the DOJ's commitment to providing American citizens with a fair trial. The Department of Justice, the FBI, and the Health and Human Services Division abused their enforcement authority to advance left-wing policy goals and coerce whistleblowers to keep their mouths shut, where agencies serve to protect the financial incentives of American hospitals by prosecuting healthcare workers who dare expose the barbaric performance of transgender medical care on minors. When the left captures institutions, those who dissent can face legal expenses, reputational damage, and harassment, all of which deter future whistleblowers from coming forward. Here, prosecution itself becomes the punishment. And Dr. Haim prosecution raises questions about the DOJ's propriety and the use of federal resources to wage culture wars, highlighting the emboldened behavior of the judicial branch. And I find this particularly disturbing to me personally, having served as an assistant United States attorney. This is not what the Department of Justice is supposed to do, where rogue prosecutors and judges knowingly sponsor falsities and hide conflicts of interest in order to harass an individual for holding a disfavored view. These individuals wielding political power continue to be a primary threat to our institutions and personal freedoms. Therefore, this hearing touches upon two tragedies: weaponization of government against innocent civilians who did the right thing, and harmful, life-altering medical procedures against innocent children and parents, all so that hospitals and medical providers can profit. While the Trump administration rightfully ended the prosecution of Dr. Haim, that's not enough. The American people deserve to know that they will not face prosecution on the basis of their political views or which administration is in power. It is long past time for Congress to address this weaponization, investigating the extent of such DOJ partisanship, publicly exposing how it came to be brought, and ensuring hospitals are not secretly inflicting irreversible damage on children. We must identify rogue prosecutors, permanently removing them from their positions. Our agencies must no longer be seen as a safe harbor to weaponize authority. The message from this Congress and the Trump administration must be clear: abuse of authority will not be tolerated. You will be held accountable. While we must act to reverse these wrongful prosecutions, it is not merely enough to end the Biden-era discrimination. We must ensure that the left is never again able to capture our institutions for future weaponization, ensuring Americans will not find themselves as collateral damage. I thank our witnesses, who know these abuses all too well, for being here today to address the need for fundamental and permanent reforms of the Department of Justice. And I would only add one final concluding remark. We had a witness last year, Chloe Cole, who gave passionate testimony in this room about the impact on her life, her personal ability to bear children in the future and be a mom, all because of the pressures being brought to bear by this politicization of this personal issues that have been taken away from parents and families, and then thrust upon our youth through social media and technology and the people who want to profit from this politicization. And it's shameful, and it's harmful. And thank God for people like Chloe Cole, and thank God for the witnesses here who have stood up to speak the truth so the American people can know what's happening and parents can protect their children. And with that, I will yield to the ranking member for her opening statement.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses. Since this is the Subcommittee of Judiciary on the Constitution, I just wanted to take a couple minutes to take stock of our constitutional order today. The president and his allies are attacking the pillars of our civil society, including the courts, universities, and the free press, trampling on the Constitution and the rule of law through executive orders, threatening the very foundations of our democratic republic and the rights and freedoms of our people. In an unconstitutional power grab, the administration, aided and enabled by Mr. Musk, is dismantling federal agencies and freezing federal funding for critical services. They're indiscriminately firing hardworking public servants, jeopardizing not only their livelihoods, but the health, safety, and well-being of the American people whom they serve. Seniors are scared that Elon Musk's DOGE is coming for their Social Security and Medicare, too. This administration is branding all immigrants as criminals, and it's embarked on a lawless campaign of terror, including wrongfully arresting US citizens and deporting innocent people with legal status. Doctors are terrified that this administration's funding cuts and anti-vaccine rhetoric will worsen the highly contagious measles outbreak that's already killed two children, the first measles deaths in this country in more than a decade. And to top it off, the president launched an irresponsible and costly tariff war, bringing chaos and volatility to markets across the globe, and handcuffing working families and American businesses to his sinking economy. Congress has a constitutional duty to act as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive, to fight for the people we represent and stand up to the madness coming from the White House. But so far, our Republican colleagues don't seem up to the job. Instead, they're wasting the time and resources of the Constitution Subcommittee to give a platform to right-wing extremists seeking to sow more chaos and division in order to distract Americans from Republicans' utter failure to engage with the most pressing issues facing our country. So, let's start by getting a few facts straight. The subject of today's hearing, Dr. Eithan Haim, was not criminally charged for his political views. Instead, he was indicted by a grand jury for stealing the personal medical records of children and giving them to a right-wing activist. These were criminal violations of HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. According to the indictment, Dr. Haim obtained unauthorized individually identifiable health information of pediatric patients who were receiving gender-affirming care at Texas Children's Hospital and who were not his patients. At the time Dr. Haim accessed the records, gender-affirming care was legal under Texas law, and he knew that. Dr. Haim also knew that the children were not his patients, and therefore he had no legal right to access their medical records. Even if Dr. Haim believed his allegation, however erroneously, that this care amounted to child abuse, he didn't follow any of the official procedures to report that concern to supervisors as he'd been trained to do. Instead, he shared the stolen records not with child welfare authorities, but with a conservative activist, Christopher Rufo. He knew that the law was designed to protect patient privacy, and he chose to break it. This is an open-and-shut case, and that's why the grand jury determined that there was enough evidence to charge him with criminal HIPAA violations. So, it wasn't the Department of Justice that politicized Dr. Haim case when it charged him with a blatant violation of HIPAA privacy laws. It was Dr. Haim himself who came up with a political excuse for his illegal actions. And it was the Trump administration that dropped the charges against an ideological ally in a way that serves its own political agenda. That should give us all pause. The Department of Justice's creed has always been to operate free from fear or favor—in other words, independent of political bias. But we're already seeing that's not true under the Trump administration. Earlier this week, we heard testimony from a DOJ attorney who was fired because she refused to recommend that the gun rights of one of the president's celebrity buddies be restored because of deep concerns about his history of domestic violence. Over the weekend, we heard of a DOJ lawyer who was placed on leave when he refused to manufacture law or facts to support the government's case, which would be a violation of ethics and the rule of law. And among other egregious examples these past few months, the DOJ dismissed this case and others despite clear and grotesque invasions of patient privacy because the White House wants to attack gender-affirming care. And Americans have to wonder then: What other invasions of your medical privacy will this administration encourage? Given the administration's embrace of Project 2025, is reproductive healthcare next? So, why are we having this hearing? For one thing, it's yet another chance for our Republican colleagues to spread misinformation about transgender individuals and their medical care, because they think they'll score political points by bullying the young people receiving that care and their families, regardless of the fact that every major medical and mental health institution in the US, representing more than 1.3 million doctors, supports age-appropriate, age-appropriate gender-affirming care for transgender people. And that includes the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Endocrine Society, among other organizations. But this is part of a pattern and practice for our colleagues, who are too willing to disregard Americans' fundamental rights and freedoms in order to meddle in people's personal medical decisions for political gain, injecting their own religious or political beliefs into choices that rightly should be left between individuals, their families, and their doctors. It's abundantly clear that our Republican majority only cares about some rights and freedoms for some people, rather than those that all Americans should enjoy. In addition to spreading misinformation, this hearing is meant to distract Americans while our Republican colleagues continue to ignore the real problems. And we don't have to look far to find out why our colleagues chose to have this hearing this week. Believe me, bullying transgender kids and families is not the number-one concern for any of our constituents. I know because I've been holding town halls in my district and in some of theirs, too. No, our constituents' number-one concern is how they're going to pay for housing, healthcare, food, clothes, college, and retirement, with the global economy and stock markets tanking, and predictions of a recession rising by the hour, and Elon Musk and DOGE gutting Social Security, the VA, food support, and freezing funding that our communities rely upon. At the same time, in the midst of all this chaos and economic disruption, House Republicans are trying to pass an unpopular budget plan that would be devastating for American children and families. They're proposing at least $880 billion in cuts that will decimate Medicaid. Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, provides health coverage for over 37 million kids and covers 41% of all births. Their plan will rip healthcare coverage away from millions of Americans, with children and working families bearing the brunt. Kids will be left without routine medical care, leading to greater infant mortality and tragic consequences from preventable illnesses. It doesn't stop there either. Republicans are also targeting programs that help working families keep food on the table. Their budget blueprint calls for billions of dollars of cuts that threaten SNAP, a program that provides food support to over 42 million families. They'll jeopardize a parent's ability to buy the groceries they need to feed their kids healthy meals. Cuts to SNAP also endanger other nutrition assistance programs, like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, because they use Medicaid data to automatically enroll children. If fewer families can access SNAP and Medicaid, fewer will be able to access WIC as well. The budget will also cut over $300 billion from Department of Education programs, threatening, among other things, kids' access to nutritious school meals that they need to learn and grow. At the same time, Elon Musk and his DOGE-bros are trying to dismantle the entire Department of Education outright, destroying an agency that helps ensure that children, no matter their parents' jobs, zip codes, or special learning needs, can access a high-quality education. They say that our budgets reflect our values, and it's clear that instead of using their power in Congress to actually protect children, our Republican colleagues would rather pull the rug out from under them, ripping away resources that set them up for success. And why? So they can give tax breaks to big business and their billionaire buddies like Elon Musk. American children should never be used as pawns or props in MAGA's culture war. They're our country's future, and we should always be working to ensure that the future is a better and brighter one for them. The Republican majority's plan and this hearing shamefully miss that mark. I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Now I recognize the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Jordan.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The left has a template: The left will tell a lie, big media will report the lie, big tech will amplify the lie, and then if you tell the truth, they call you names. Time and time We saw it all during COVID. Almost everything they told us turned out to be COVID they said, Oh, no. The virus didn't come from a lab. It was a bat to a pangolin to a hippopotamus to Joe Rogan, and then we all got it. Right? They said, Oh, no. The vaccinated can't get it. The vaccinated can't transmit it. And if you said anything against that, there's a They told us this is the first virus in history where there's no such thing as natural immunity. If you said anything against that, they came after you. Science denier, crazy right-wing Republican idiot. They called us all kinds of names. And now in today's context, the same playbook, the same template is being used. The left says, Oh, these surgeries are fine. Really? Some people have some concerns about that. Texas took a position on it, but they tell us it's fine. And if you say anything against that, you're a you're a no-good whatever name they're going to call you. And then when it comes to whistleblowers, oh my goodness. If you speak out, they not only call you names, they bring the government against you. We saw it with every single whistleblower who came forward last year in the government. Dr. Haim not in the government, but he had the he had the Department of Justice come after him saying he violated HIPAA, which he did not. That's why this hearing is so darn important, why it is so darn important. Every single We saw what they did to Mr. Shapley. We saw what they did to Mr. Ziegler. Every FBI whistleblower who came forward to this committee last Congress had their security clearance taken away from them, which put them in a no-man's-land. They couldn't get employment, couldn't leave. They were You talk about retaliation against whistleblowers in the government. So I want to thank you, Doctor, for coming forward. I want to thank our chairman. He has been the leading leading person in the Congress on this committee on this issue. We want to thank you, and we look forward to your testimony. Thank you, Mr. Lytle, because you defended a lot of these whistleblowers who had the courage to come forward and stand up against what the left does every stinking time. I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I thank the chairman. I will now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Raskin, for his opening statement.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

And thank you, Chairman Roy and Ms. Scanlon, for convening us today. I was psyched to learn that we were having a hearing about, quote, legislative reforms aimed at protecting minors. I thought we were going to get together to oppose Donald Trump's threat to healthcare for 37 million children who rely on Medicaid and the CHIP program. After all, they want to cut $885 billion from it. Alas, that's not on the agenda. I thought maybe we'd come together to stop Trump from cutting benefits for 15 million children who rely on SNAP benefits to get the nutrition they need in America, or perhaps we could be opposing the gutting of the Department of Education, which ensures 26 million low-income students and 7.5 million students with disabilities get access to real educational opportunities. We could stand together really for children, but no such luck. Instead, we're here to talk about Dr. Eithan Haim, a man who, according to a May 2024 criminal indictment returned by a unanimous grand jury of citizens in Texas, unlawfully obtained and disclosed the medical records of children in violation of HIPAA, a law Congress passed in 1996 to establish standards protecting health information from disclosure without the consent of the patient. According to this criminal indictment, Dr. Haim, quote, obtained personal information, including patient names, treatment codes, dates of service, and attending physicians, from Texas Children's Hospital's electronic system without authorization, and under the false pretenses that he needed the access for the provision of medical services to patients under his care. He lied. They were not under his care. He lied to get access to the medical records of four adolescents who were not his patients. And what did he do with those patient medical records? Did he go to the Department of Social Services as instructed by law? Did he go to the police? He thought they were in danger of child abuse. No, he went to Christopher Rufo, a right-wing, conservative activist and provocateur, to put them out into the media. Now, Dr. Haim claims he did this, and my colleagues alas are celebrating him for this, because he believes that the gender-affirming care these patients were receiving from licensed physicians was, quote, child abuse under Texas law. Now, if he truly believed he had evidence of child abuse, Dr. Haim knew he had many avenues to report it by going to a public health authority or the Department of Social Services or the police. As his criminal indictment states, as a Baylor University medical resident, he received, quote, extensive HIPAA training, that he attended numerous trainings where he was provided information related to anonymous reporting of any instances of child abuse, misconduct, or ethics violations. The HIPAA implementing regulations specifically authorizes disclosure to, quote, a public health authority or other appropriate government authority authorized by law to receive reports of child abuse or child neglect. Yet after obtaining unauthorized, individually personally identifiable health information from young people who were not his patients, Dr. Haim made no attempt to report any concerns through any of the authorized government channels: to his supervisors, or to his employer's anonymous hotline, to the police, or to Child Protective Services, as directed by his training and mandated by Texas law. Instead, he went to a right-wing culture warrior whose recent articles have been titled "There's a Trans Cult Inside the NSA" and The NSA's Secret Sex Chats. Now, let's be clear that the gender-affirming care that Texas Children's Hospital was providing was not child abuse. All major medical associations agree that evidence-based gender-affirming care is necessary and, in some instances, it's lifesaving for transgender youth. That care was also legal at the time the hospital provided it to adolescent patients whose medical privacy Dr. Haim violated. Only later did the legislature pass its ban on these practices. But with all due respect, Dr. Haim makes a very strange whistleblower. He's a doctor who fraudulently obtained the medical records of youth who were not his patients, not under his care, and then he used them for blatantly political and ideological purposes to make a splash and a name for himself as an anti-trans crusader. And he's got every right to do it, but he doesn't have a right to violate other people's privacy and violate HIPAA. Now, I know what my colleagues think of people who leak sensitive personal information. Take the case of the former IRS contractor who exposed the tax avoidance practices of billionaires, including Donald Trump, by disclosing thousands of returns to news groups. That contractor was prosecuted and he received a five-year prison sentence. He had no pardon. Yet Chairman Jordan has opened an investigation because he thinks that five-year sentence was not enough. He thought it was far too lenient. But now he wants to lionize and valorize Dr. Haim. Why? My colleagues want to uphold Dr. Haim as some kind of moral role model and exemplar. So let's take his example to its logical conclusion. If it's going to be fine now to steal other children's private healthcare information and turn it over to the media if they believe the child's being harmed, and despite the fact that the law provides an authorized way to do it. So say I'm a doctor in Texas, and I know that the law requires you to get a vaccine for measles, the kids have got to be vaccinated. And I overhear a colleague of mine saying that multiple patients whose parents don't believe in vaccinating their children are not being vaccinated. And so I try to talk to that doctor. That doctor says, Everything is fine. Leave it alone. Now I suspect child abuse. But I don't go to the Department of Social Services. I don't go to the police. No, I break into the computer system or I I convince someone I really have authority to get in the computer system, and I take their records. And then I go to show not the Department of Social Services, not the police, not a health authority, but I go to a media outlet. I go to pro-vaccine organizations, and I say, Release this information on that family. Those parents are not letting their kids get vaccinated. And I'm going to be a hero. I'm going to be a whistleblower even though I'm not following the law. Are my colleagues okay with that? I'm I'm fascinated to know. I know I've got some libertarian colleagues there. The distinguished gentleman from Kentucky, would he be fine? Would he be lionizing somebody who breaks into a computer system to get other parents' children's vaccination information to release it because I think it's child abuse not to vaccinate kids for measles? And by the way, I do think it's child abuse in Texas today with an outbreak of measles where children are dying not to have your children vaccinated. But I would never break the law and violate that family's HIPAA rights and those patients' HIPAA rights by stealing it and turning it over to a public interest group and to the media. And this is where we are today. So please act like the Judiciary Committee. Follow through on the logic of what it is you're saying. This is not a whistleblower we're dealing with. It is a law violator. We should be here talking about what we can really do to help children instead of plunging everybody into this exercise in absolute moral hypocrisy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Thank the ranking member. Without objection, all of the opening statements will be included in the record. We will now introduce today's witnesses. Dr. Eithan Haim. Dr. Haim is a surgeon at Hunt Regional Medical Center in Greenville, Texas. During his residency, Dr. Haim blew the whistle on the pediatric transgender medicine program at Texas Children's Hospital and assisted with the Texas Attorney General's investigation into violations of state and federal law. Dr. Haim was indicted by the Biden Department of Justice for allegedly disclosing protected information, information as described in my opening statement. Mr. Mark Lytle. Mr. Lytle is a partner at Nixon Peabody and an attorney for Dr. Haim. He previously served as a staff attorney in the Enforcement Division of the SEC, as a prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, in the Department of Justice, and in the White House Counsel's Office. Ms. Vanessa Sivadge. Ms. Sivadge is the founder of Protecting Texas Children, an advocacy organization that is focused on safeguarding children from sexualization and exploitation. She is a registered nurse who also blew the whistle on the pediatric transgender medicine program at Texas Children's Hospital, which fired her in retaliation for her disclosure. Mr. Bruce Lesley. Mr. Lesley is the president of First Focus on Children, an advocacy organization focused on making children a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. He previously served as a House and Senate staffer. We thank our witnesses for appearing today, and we'll begin by swearing you in. Would you please rise and raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God? Let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you, and please be seated. Please know that your written testimony will be entered into the record in its entirety. Accordingly, we ask you to summarize your testimony in 5 minutes. There's a clock that should be running in front of you. I'll just remind you to turn your microphones on before you speak. And with that, Dr. Haim, you'll be our first witness, and you may begin.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Thank you all for taking the time to listen to our testimony. My name is Eithan Haim. I'm a general and trauma surgeon. I was the anonymous whistleblower who exposed Texas Children's Hospital, the largest children's hospital in the world, for lying about the existence of their transgender program, a program that would manipulate, mutilate, and sterilize healthy young children. There's a reason I'm here today. It's because, for exposing this truth, my own government manufactured a case to send me to prison for 10 years. The story starts in February 2022, when the Texas attorney general issued an opinion that transgender interventions could constitute child abuse. A few weeks later, TCH released a statement to the media. They were shutting down their program because of, quote, potential criminal ramifications. Not long after, I discovered this was a blatant lie. The reason I knew this is because I worked there. Between 2018 and 2023, I was a surgery resident at Baylor College of Medicine, which is primarily affiliated with TCH. They not only continued their program, they expanded it. All this was happening behind closed doors. On May 16th, investigative journalist Christopher Rufo published a story exposing this. I was the anonymous whistleblower in that story. One day later, the conduct we exposed was made illegal in the state of Texas with bipartisan support, partially because our story came out the day before. On May 19th, the Texas attorney general initiated an investigation into the hospital. On May 23rd, another whistleblower spoke out. That was Vanessa Sivadge. She's here today. Despite crossing the highest possible threshold for a whistleblower, on June 23rd, a month after the story's release, two armed agents with HHS showed up to my home on the day of my graduation, a few hours before the ceremony, one of the most important days of my life. This was the moment I learned I was under federal investigation, federal criminal investigation by the United States Department of Justice. The target letter was signed by an assistant U.S. attorney, Tina Ansari. From the very beginning, I knew this was nothing more than a charade. I knew this because I never violated HIPAA. I never accessed the records of transgender patients or released any identifiable information. All of it was fully redacted, de-identified hospital data, which is used every single day to report infectious disease outbreaks like measles or conduct retrospective research studies. Over the next few months, though, Ansari confirmed our worst suspicions. This was a political witch hunt. For example, Ansari admitted to my attorneys she never reviewed the evidence before sending agents to my home. She didn't even know what statute she was investigating. Ansari threatened my wife, who had just been hired as an assistant U.S. attorney in Dallas. She told my lawyers she would take me to a jury trial even on a technicality and without concern for losing. And she meant what she said. In May 2024, I was indicted on four HIPAA-based felonies and faced up to a decade in prison. This indictment portrayed me as a liar who used deception to hack into TCH's EMR system, like was said before, but all of this was pure fiction. The DOJ's own evidence, their own evidence that they gave us in discovery disproved every single one of the claims against us. This is worth restating. Ansari and her team either never reviewed this evidence or they ignored it. This led to the collapse of their first indictment, but they pursued another. The big difference this time is that they dropped any pretense this was about HIPAA. They legally castrated the indictment by removing key statutory language. The most important change were the victims. TCH and its patients was changed to TCH and its physicians. It was the first time in American history that HIPAA was being used not to protect patient privacy, but multibillion-dollar hospital systems, TCH and Baylor, who were caught lying to the public. It was too ironic when we discovered that Ansari and her family have quite the special relationship with TCH and Baylor. The best way to put it is this: you couldn't throw a tennis ball at Tina Ansari's Thanksgiving dinner without hitting a major fundraiser for TCH or Baylor, or a former board member for TCH and Baylor, or a CEO who's contracted with hospitals in the Baylor-TCH academic consortium. Ansari ended up withdrawing from the case shortly after we made this public. The case was eventually dismissed with prejudice after the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney left his office. He was running the case solely with Tina Ansari, bypassing the entire chain of command in the Southern District. But this can't be the end of it. There has to be accountability when the unlimited resources of the federal government are used to destroy the lives of ordinary American citizens.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Thank you, Dr. Haim, for your testimony. Mr. Lytle, I apologize. Please proceed.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

Good afternoon, Chairman, Chairman Roy, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Scanlon, Ranking Member Raskin. My name is Mark Lytle. I'm in private practice now, but for the majority of my legal career, I've been honored to serve as a federal prosecutor, working at Main Justice and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. I have also served as the Chief of the Financial Crimes and Public Corruption Unit and as the district-wide coordinator for public corruption matters in the Eastern District of Virginia. During my tenure, I was the lead prosecutor on high-profile matters such as the bribery prosecution of Congressman William Jefferson from Louisiana and Credit Suisse, the second-largest bank in Switzerland. I've also worked on hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller cases that never really drew the attention of the public or the media. I've been honored to receive numerous awards, including the Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award and other decorations for my work. Throughout my career, I've been trained, mentored, and worked alongside prosecutors and staff who were dedicated to the fair administration of justice in an even-handed way. Our goal was always to preserve the public safety for our citizens and to deter criminals from committing crime. We never took politics into consideration. It's with this background and training that I quickly learned there was something desperately wrong with the way Dr. Haim case was being investigated and later prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Houston, Texas. In May 2023, Dr. Haim worked with a journalist to blow the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital and publicly revealed that TCH was performing transgender medical procedures on minors contrary to what TCH was telling the public and following a Texas Attorney General opinion advising that those interventions could constitute child abuse under Texas law. Shortly after the story had been published, the Texas Legislature voted to make such procedures illegal. Dr. Haim made his disclosure carefully, thoughtfully, and legally without disclosing any patient names in the process. He also went to law enforcement, the Texas Attorney General's Office, as well as the media. These are procedures that have been endorsed by Congress in ways for which whistleblowers can come forward with information related to fraud, misuse, and abuse. I was first retained to represent Dr. Haim during the summer of 2023. He had been served a target letter signed by the lead Assistant U.S. Attorney in the case. Once retained, I reached out to this AUSA, but surprisingly, she wasn't familiar with the facts of the case. But she confidently proclaimed Dr. Haim had violated the HIPAA rules through a disclosure of patient records to the media. I know that that did not happen, as Dr. Haim disclosure redacted patient names. It concerned me that the AUSA had it out for Dr. Haim. It was clear there was a bias towards Dr. Haim. The AUSA's statements to me were concerning, to say the least. The prosecutor claimed, first, that Dr. Haim wife had obstructed justice. That was a shock when I heard that the basis for the claim of obstruction was that Dr. Haim wife said, You should probably have an attorney before you speak to law enforcement agents. Second, the AUSA surprised me when she said that she wouldn't do anything about reporting Mrs. Haim behavior to background investigators who were investigating her background for her new job as an Assistant U.S. Attorney unless she became difficult. To me, that was code for retaliation, and it raised grave concerns on the defense team for the— and for the Haims. The AUSA proceeded to tell me that if Dr. Haim comes in and expresses remorse, she will offer him a misdemeanor. But if he did not, she would charge him with a felony and take him to trial, even if they were on a technicality or there's no basis for conviction. The AUSA was clearly too close to these families to have any credibility as a neutral prosecutor. The AUSA claimed that he had no right to blow the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital even though the regulations permit it and support it. And just because he didn't report it to the hospital, the hospital, the very hospital that he believed was breaking the law, is inconceivable. And he did the right thing by going to the media and to the Texas Attorney General's Office. And there's congressional support for this. Then came the indictment of Dr. Haim in May 2024. It was heavy-handed. Out of all the charging decisions that were possible, the AUSA chose the maximum, a 10-year statutory maximum for malicious harm. But to whom? Patients? No, he didn't name any patients. To doctors? They're not protected by HIPAA. The hospital? No. Dr. Haim wanted to protect these childrens, not go after them. There were numerous factual errors in the indictment. Dr. Haim It stated that Dr. Haim was not treating patients at TCH during the time that it was alleged, but he was, and their own discovery pointed that out. Then they had to redo the indictment because of that. Dr. Haim was not They said Dr. Haim was not authorized to access patient records, but he was. And a law firm conducting an internal investigation of the hospital concluded just that, and that was reported in discovery. When I go to the AUSA and tell her that, she says, Well, we disagree with them. This is going to be their witness for this case. He was authorized. Legal insufficiencies: without authorization was rejected by the Supreme Court in a decision by the Van Buren court

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I'd ask you to wrap up your, your opening statement.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

Thank you. On on January 24th, so this was a runaway train with the AUSA in Houston, Texas as its conductor. On January 24th, the U.S. Attorney's Office dismissed the charges against Dr. Haim with prejudice. The misconduct throughout the investigation and prosecution was truly exceptional. The conflicts of interest and bias displayed against Dr. Haim should never have played a role in the prosecutor's mind, but it did. But I'm happy to answer your questions.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I appreciate it, Mr. Lytle. Ms. Sivadge, the time is yours.

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Good afternoon, Chairman Roy, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Scanlon, and members of the subcommittee. My name is Vanessa Sivadge. I'm a pediatric nurse with 10 years of experience caring for the health and well-being of children. I would like to thank the committee for inviting me to testify today. My story is about shining a light on how children are being irreversibly harmed, the egregious overreach and weaponization of the federal government, and what it means to stand for truth, no matter the cost. My employment at Texas Children's Hospital began in 2018. In 2021, I accepted a position within the hospital system in an outpatient multispecialty clinic. I accepted this job not knowing that children confused about their biological sex were being prescribed cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers at my workplace. Over the next 3 years, disturbing trends and concerning practices emerged. I observed the harmful effects of sex change hormones and puberty blockers for children who were convinced this would be, quote-unquote, lifesaving treatment. I witnessed how doctors emotionally blackmailed parents by telling them that if they did not affirm their child's delusion, their child would harm themselves. In particular, I was saddened to see young girls suffering from profound mental health struggles like depression or anxiety, many of whom had also suffered sexual abuse or trauma, persuaded by doctors at TCH that hormones would resolve their gender confusion. History books will one day record this emotional blackmail as the greatest lie ever sold by the medical industrial complex to vulnerable parents and confused children. In May of 2023, I read an article about a whistleblower within the hospital who had come forward to expose the existence of their secret transgender program. To affirm this testimony, I became the second anonymous whistleblower in Christopher Rufo's subsequent article, where I provided my experience as a nurse working in the endocrine clinic. 2 months later, on July 24th, 2023, my husband and I were hosting friends in our home for dinner when there was a knock on the front door. Two agents from the Biden-Harris Justice Department flashed their badges, said they were from the FBI, and asked specifically to speak with me about issues at my work. I was stunned, and time seemed to stand still. These agents informed me that they had come to my home because they knew what I believed. What did I believe? In 2022, I had written an op-ed for The Washington Stand at the Family Research Council, in which I was publicly critical of so-called gender-affirming care, and I condemned the medical profession for abandoning biological realities and putting profits over patients. These two FBI agents apprised me that they were seeking to uncover the identity of the first whistleblower. Instead of referring to him as such, they used the term leaker, who, in their words, had violated HIPAA. And I knew this was a lie because I had read the article and its contents, in which all personally identifiable patient information had been carefully redacted. We now know that this whistleblower was Dr. Eithan Haim, but at the time, I had no knowledge of who he was. One agent effectively asked me to compromise my Christian convictions and made veiled threats against my career and safety if I didn't comply with their demands. He said that someone at my work had given him my name, and they could make life difficult for me if I did not collaborate with their efforts. Their visit was designed to intimidate me into believing that I had no other choice but to cooperate with their witch hunt. Our doorbell camera captured part of this exchange, now viewed over 6 million times, in which the overreach of the government was on full display. I was disgusted how the FBI was mobilized against me because I had a politically incorrect belief. My faith in Jesus Christ informs my belief that men and women are made in the image of God and, therefore, unique in their biology, anatomy, and function. These distinct identities and roles cannot ever be socially redefined or medically reassigned. In the months that followed, I noticed discrepancies in the paperwork. My job consisted of refilling medications and obtaining insurance approval for those medications. I discovered how Medicaid was being billed for transgender interventions in direct violation of Texas law. I came forward publicly in June of 2024 to expose this. I also observed how TCH had misdiagnosed patients for the purpose of justifying those treatments. Additionally, the hospital had changed medical records by listing the preferred gender identity on the medical record instead of the birth sex, making fraudulent billing difficult to detect. In August of 2024, TCH fired me in retaliation for blowing the whistle. I am testifying today because I firmly believe that the weaponization of the government to silence political enemies must end. Whistleblowers display courage in a culture of cowardice when speaking the truth, safeguarding the well-being of children.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Ms. Sivadge, thank you for your testimony. Mr. Lesley, the time is yours.

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Roy, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Scanlon, and Ranking Member Raskin, thank you so much for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of First Focus on Children. I'm grateful for the opportunity today to testify about the plight of our nation's children. I come before you today not as a doctor or a lawyer, but as a child advocate. I grew up in what was, at the time, one of the poorest cities in the country, El Paso, Texas. My parents were raised in the Texas Panhandle in difficult circumstances and sought out education in pursuit of a better life. They both became teachers, and I would hear them talk about the many factors of importance to the education of children, including their health, their development, their economic status, nutrition, housing, and safety. When I was a child growing up in El Paso many, many moons ago, 40% of the children in our community did not have health insurance. I had a classmate who died because he did not have access to healthcare. It felt then, and it still feels, so wrong. Even today, Texas leads the nation in the percentage of uninsured children. We must do better. In my capacity at First Focus on Children, which Colin and Alma Powell initially founded as part of America's Promise, our operating premise has been that children's issues are and should remain bipartisan, and that we must listen to and lift up the voices of children in these discussions. I would assert that almost every issue is either a children's issue or has a children's angle that is often ignored or missed. I would like to refer you to some examples of our work. It's things that we've sent to your offices, but one is our Children's Agenda, and one is our— and another is our Children's Budget. I include those in my testimony as well and in my written testimony. Unfortunately, on many measures of child well-being, children are not faring well. The list of issues threatening today's children is staggering and growing. Infant mortality is on the rise. Child mortality is on the rise. Child poverty is rising. Uninsured rates for children are growing. The children's mental health crisis is soaring. Measles and other preventable diseases, including pertussis, are back. Homelessness is up. Hunger is surging. Childcare is in crisis. Child abuse deaths are increasing. These are not niche or isolated problems. They are the foundational issues of childhood and human development going unmet, and worse, symptoms of how we are neglecting and failing our youngest children. Although many of these trends and issues are not directly under the jurisdiction of this committee, they are all important because the children who come to the attention of this committee, such as those either in the juvenile justice system or whose constitutional rights are threatened, have often been repeatedly failed elsewhere. When we underfund mental healthcare, ignore child poverty, fail to provide inclusive education, and politicize children's issues, we create crises that spill over into our legal and judicial systems. In my written testimony, I provided examples of that. Budgets, as the ranking member noted, reflect our values, whether a family's budget or that of the federal government, and they can tell us about what we think about kids and whether we are making wise investments in their future. When it comes to children, study after study demonstrates that money matters and return on investment in them is among the highest that society can make toward its future. Investing early in our children leads to better outcomes. Despite pronouncements from administration officials such as Vice President JD Vance and DOGE's Elon Musk about the needs to promote more births in the United States and support for families to ensure our long-term economic prosperity, the actions and policy proposals coming out of the administration indicate that children are likely to be targeted for significant program and funding cuts. Even today, the House is scheduled to vote on a budget resolution that could potentially result in $880 billion in cuts to the Energy and Commerce Committee, which the Congressional Budget Office recently confirmed that 96% of the available cuts in that committee would be to Medicaid and CHIP. For the over 37 million children who rely upon Medicaid for their health coverage, these programs are a lifeline. Consequently, well over 300 organizations at the federal, state, and local levels have co-signed a letter in opposition to these cuts. Children are being negatively impacted by the actions of DOGE, OMB, and OPM in other ways. Many of them are noted in my testimony, including the potential demolition of the Department of Education, which is the one committee—I mean, the one seat at the table at the president's cabinet that is predominantly focused on kids. I earlier talked about the crisis of measles in the chairman's state of Texas, but I would also note that pertussis and whooping cough are now 50 times the level of what they were at this time in 2023. And there's also been two deaths of children in the state of Louisiana. I also pointed out in my testimony about the public supports investing in children. And last, I just want to note that Ranking Member Raskin reminds us in his outstanding book, We the Students, that the Constitution does not begin at adulthood. Students have exercised their rights

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I'll ask you to wrap up like I did Mr. Lytle. I've given you a little extra time because I gave him some, but if you could wrap up, I'd appreciate

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

it. I appreciate that. This, this is a difficult balancing act when it comes to children's rights. Rights, which we must weigh either affirming or conflicting roles of parents and government. I would urge that it is apparent— imperative that when a child cries out for help, whether it's sick, abused, hungry, homeless, or a victim of gun violence, that we listen to them. Thank you.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Thank you, Mr. Lesley, for your testimony. We will now proceed under the five-minute rule with questions. Without objection, Mr. Cline, a member of the full committee, will be permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of questioning the witness if a member yields him time for that purpose. Without objection. With that, I will recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Harris.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for this hearing today, and thank all of you as panelists for being a part of this. Dr. Haim, can you just share, why did you decide to speak out against gender reassignment practices at Texas Children's Hospital?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah, so the reason—and that's a really important question because, you know, what would animate a person to risk his entire career to blow the whistle about something like this? And it was because all of my experience working with children at Texas Children's Hospital, which is an amazing hospital, by the way. They have some problems in their leadership, but what the doctors do, what the nurses do on a daily basis is amazing. The reason is because I understand and I've seen the effects of what these blockers do, what these hormones do, and what these surgeries do. They are destroying the lives of these children. They are putting them down a road where they become a chronic medical patient that they can never come back from. And especially the surgical complications, I see these things all the time. We're talking about urethral stenosis, where you can't go out to a coffee shop and go to the bathroom because the urethra is narrowed so that fluid builds up in the bladder, right? We're talking about fistulas where stool from the rectum can pour into the wound that they call the neovagina. A lot of them don't see these problems in the first couple of months, even the first couple of years, but this is what happens, right? And understanding that, when I was at TCH, we would take children to the operating room, right, and we would make them better. But in the same operating room, they were taking them there and making them sick. They were putting them down a road that they could never come back from. So could I call myself a doctor if I didn't speak up against it, right? I couldn't blow the whistle to TCH; they were the ones who were responsible for the misconduct. I couldn't blow the whistle to CPS. You know how many children I saw at TCH who were being abused? I saw one kid who had his fingers amputated by his parents, right? I was taking care of him. The next day I was in that room, who was in the room with the patient? The parents. Who'd the kid go home to? The parents. CPS, what were they going to do? So what was I to do in that situation? I had to blow the whistle. It was my responsibility as a doctor. If they're going to mutilate and sterilize these children, someone has to speak up for those kids.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

Well, while some on the other side may argue that pursuing so-called gender-affirming care is up to a child and his or her parents. I do believe it's the role of the government to protect children from child abuse. So let me ask you this, Dr. Haim. Do you think the government has a responsibility to protect children from these practices?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I do, especially when doctors and medical associations are deceiving parents and children about what exactly they're doing. They say this is evidence-based. That's a That's a bogus statement. All the evidence they had— they have is completely fraudulent. The way the studies are designed are meant to provide them a certain result. This is what we call fraudulent science. These are fraudulent studies. When the doctors who are informing these parents are misinformed about the pathology that they're treating, that's not informed consent.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

And what do you think it says about the Biden administration that they chose to villainize you rather than shut down the chemical castration of children?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I mean, that was the standard operating procedure, wasn't it? Right. Because they were trying to send me to prison. And how many other people were they trying to send to prison for doing the right thing, for, for fulfilling the oath of my profession to do no harm? Right. Part of that is to make sure that the other people in my profession are not harming people.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

Exactly. Well, Mrs. Sivadge, I want to talk for just a moment in the last minute or so that we have left about the underlying ideology that motivates the mutilation of children, which is gender ideology. Gender ideology posits that sex and gender are separate concepts and that one can change their gender. Now, this belief is an affront to reality itself, and it's no surprise that gender ideology, in practice, leads to the mutilation and castration of these innocent children. So, Mrs. Sivadge, I want to pose this question to you because you have a background as a pediatric nurse. Can a child be born in the wrong body?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Thank you so much for that question. Uh, children are made in the image of God, and there is— they have a distinct purpose. And they can, you know, this statement that this, the statement that we're all here to defend today, that boys can't become girls and girls can't become boys, was not controversial up until very recently. And so we're here just to amplify some very basic truths and realities.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

And at Texas Children's Hospital, you watched kids get diagnosed with gender dysphoria and then get treated through chemical and surgical intervention. Just in the closing seconds, can a child meaningfully consent to these life-altering practices?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

They have absolutely no concept of what it means to be irreversibly harmed at the age that they are at. That's why we need doctors and medical professionals who are going to advocate on their behalf with the truth.

Rep. Mark Harris (R-NC)SPEAKER_16

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm out of time.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Thank you. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Raskin.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Haim obviously is a man of strong ideological convictions about this issue, and I assume they're sincerely held. But he's one doctor who thought his convictions were more important than state law in Texas at the time, the medical privacy of the parents, their ability to make decisions for their own children, and the wishes of the parents and of the patients in the case. Now, Mr. Lesley, Mr. Lytle says that there could have been no violation of HIPAA because the children's names were removed before the rest of the information was released to Christopher Rufo in the media. But it seems to me that that some credence should be given to the families, which thought that there was sufficient personally identifiable information that people would figure out exactly who they were. But in any event, it seems to me that it's off point because HIPAA says this: a person who knowingly and in violation of this part uses or causes to be—1, uses or causes to be used a unique health identifier; 2, obtains individually identifiable health information relating to an individual; or 3, discloses individually identifiable health information to another person. So let's say even if you grant Mr. Lytle his point, which I don't, because, you know, and a jury is obviously not going to figure it out at this point, but the families thought that it was readily identifiable, but even if it's the case that they were to win on that issue, isn't it the case that he obtained individually identifiable health information relating to an individual? Isn't HIPAA all about other people not getting into your medical records? Isn't that what it's about?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Mr. Raskin, I am not an expert on HIPAA, but I did work in the Senate when we passed HIPAA. And I would say that it does, based on the testimony today, I don't have—

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Okay, well, let me— Mr. Lytle, let me come to you. Let's talk about measles for a second. I don't know if you followed my original analogy. I'm just trying to figure this out. All of this is new to me. But it seems to me that under the example of Dr. Haim, if I'm in Texas and it's a law that the children have to get measles vaccine, and I hear that some of my colleagues' patients, not my patients, but their patients, have not been vaccinated, now, under this precedent, should I be authorized to break into the computer system or get access to the computer system, access their records, and then release to the media or some ideological organization this data in order to pursue the political mission I have, which say is completely sincerely motivated because I don't want kids to get measles?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

Well, thanks, Ranking Member Raskin. I don't know the exact example, the measles situation you're dealing with, but—

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

No, but I'm hypothesizing it because I had not heard of a doctor getting access to other doctors' patients' material against their will or without their knowledge before, and then releasing it on the media.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

But a couple of important points here. Dr. Haim didn't break into any systems. He was authorized to see these records that he reported on by the hospital, by Texas Children's Hospital. And the prosecutor knew that. And I talked about that in my

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

released their information with them

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

authorized to see this information,

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

to see the information? Yes. Yes. Well, was he authorized to release the information?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

He was, because he was a whistleblower and he was reporting wrongdoing.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

So you're saying the hospital authorized him to take this information to the media?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

The hospital doesn't have to authorize it. He's a whistleblower, and he can go to law enforcement. And Congress authorizes whistleblowers.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Okay Well, can you explain why Dr. Haim did not follow Texas state law and go to the Department of Social Services or another medical authority or law enforcement authority? Why he went to an ideological organization and the media?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

He went to a law enforcement agency, the Texas Attorney General's Office, and he went to the media. And this body, Congress, favors going to the media for whistleblowers. And he also went to an attorney general. He went to the attorney general. One thing I wanted to comment about,

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

You don't think he should have followed state law when— look, every, every state in the country has a report, a mandatory reporting regime for people who are dealing with children. And you're supposed to go to proper medical authorities or to the police if you think someone is being subjected to child abuse.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

That is exactly what he did. He went to the Texas Attorney General's office and he reported child abuse, which was defined by the Texas attorney general at that time as child abuse. Okay. Now one thing you mentioned about whether he disclosed— I understand

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

that he

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

went to

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Mr. Rufo, and that he

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

to the media, patient information. He redacted the patient records. And I'd like to point out that the government, in their indictment, put initials of patients in their indictment that revealed more about the patients than Dr. Haim ever did.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

All

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

right. I think that's a

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

problem. Reclaiming my time.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

They never charged disclosure. That too. They never charged me with disclosure.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Reclaiming my time. If I could have those 10 seconds back just so I can conclude, Mr. Chairman. We're going down a very dangerous road here where every citizen can appoint himself or herself a medical vigilante. If I don't like the way some other family is raising their kids with their doctor, I can go get their information and release it in the public. I yield back. The

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

gentleman's time has expired. I'll now recognize— oh, I'm sorry. I recognize the gentlelady from Vermont for unanimous consent request.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

Yes, I have a unanimous consent request. This is a letter that I received that I believe both Mr. Jordan and the chair received from Texas Children's Hospital, saying that TCH physicians have never performed sex change operations on minors. I believe it's a letter that you have received and you have in your possession. So what was said earlier is actually not, in fact, true. Thank you.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Is that a request to put it in the record?

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

Yes, I ask unanimous

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

consent. Without objection. Without objection, I'll now recognize the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. Massie.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Dr. Haim, did you want to respond to something Mr. Raskin said?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah. So, and I can understand how if whatever you read, why why you would be upset or have this idea that all these awful things, right? But the fact is that none of that is true. They never charged disclosure. They tried in their first indictment, but that wasn't true. That's why they had to change it, right? And who were the patients, right, in the indictment? You think they were transgender patients, right? Like the the first count? No, it was transplant patients, surgical transplant patients. Why would a general surgery resident at Baylor College of Medicine, with the largest transplant program in the world, right, for for kids, be accessing surgical transplant patients?

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

You didn't get a response from the Attorney General.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Excuse me.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

It's my time.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

No, no, no. It's the gentleman's

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

time. And that's— That's a good point. That's— no, that's legitimate. Yeah, because no, you're right. It's like you have to— there's certain, like, a certain pathway to blow the whistle. Yeah. And that's the thing is we tried. My, you know, we reached out to the Attorney General's office and we left them messages, but they didn't get back to us.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This is my time. Thank you, Dr. Haim. I now yield my time to Mr. Cline from Virginia.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)SPEAKER_06

Well, thank you for yielding, and I want to thank the witnesses for being here. Dr. Haim, you followed the whistleblower statutes. You heard that letter being introduced. Do you want to respond to that letter?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I have no idea with that, because what they were doing is inserting puberty blockers into children for gender dysphoria. That was the ICD code, right? What these blockers do is change the cellular chemistry of the entire body, the bones, the brain, the heart, the blood vessels, everything. That is the second step on the pathway: social affirmation first; blockers, Tanner stage 2, before the onset of puberty; hormones, and then surgery. That's sex change procedures. And trust me, I've done these procedures before on children with precocious puberty. Yeah, it's not that difficult to insert it, but removing it, that's a real pain in the butt because you have to dig out those implants from the kid's arms.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)SPEAKER_06

So that letter is misleading at best, false, if worse.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I have no idea.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)SPEAKER_06

But it's clear you followed the whistleblower statutes. You did not reveal any individually identifiable information about these patients. But in response to that, you faced baseless criminal charges from the Biden-Harris DOJ for alleged HIPAA violations. And thankfully, the cases were dismissed. But you've spoken out about being targeted by the Biden-Harris administration for exposing these practices. From your perspective, was this a case of the administration using, weaponizing law enforcement to intimidate you and other dissenters?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah, of course. And, you know, the other thing to say is, you know, they— there was a lecture at the hospital where they were talking about doing it. That's why I released. I have no idea where— what that statement will come from. But of course, yeah, this is one of those situations where, you know, of course they see someone like me who has everything to lose at the beginning of my career, right? Like, I didn't know anyone. You know, we're very private people. I didn't even have social media. They thought they were going to destroy us. But like, we're going to bring kids into this world, you know? And I wouldn't want this to be done to anyone, not even liberals, even if they're the craziest communists ever. There's nothing that should be done that, that there's someone who's being accused of crimes they never committed. And that's the important thing, is that there's no one in this country who should be falsely accused And the entire power of the federal government should, should be brought down on them. And it's like, I can't even imagine. You know, my biggest fear is like for something like this to happen to anyone, even someone on the other side.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)SPEAKER_06

It has a chilling effect, doesn't

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

it? It's terrifying. You know, I would never want this done to any of the people who came after me. Right. Even though they were trying to send me to prison for a decade, I would never want this to happen to them ever. Right. Ever. Because it's— and if it's happening to me, how many other people is it happening to? And it's not even political, right? It's just there has to be a certain standard with our justice system where people can't just bring these charges and, and, you know, power through the courts and send these people to prison, because that's what was going to happen to me.

Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA)SPEAKER_06

Mr. Lytle, do you believe there's a double standard in how the federal government treats whistleblowers depending on whether their disclosures help or hurt the administration in power?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

This case is an example of that. You've heard the testimony about references to a political debate, red state, blue state, however that might have been, but Dr. Haim never should have been charged with a crime for expressing his views and being a whistleblower. He came forward. It's extremely rare for anyone to be charged with criminal HIPAA violations, let alone the maximum 10-year charge. It's really outrageous. And the fact that he was charged in this way shows that the prosecutor was out to get him. He was biased.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Thank you. I yield back. My question is, are these prosecutors and FBI officials still employed by the federal government? Mr. Lytle, do you know?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

I believe so. I don't know for

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Mrs. Sivadge, do you know if those FBI officials—

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

I'm not sure.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)SPEAKER_07

Okay. Thank you. I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Thank you, gentlemen from Kentucky. And I'll recognize the gentlelady from Vermont.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to say at the top, the chair said earlier that We should really look at these as personal issues, family issues. I agree. I don't know why we continue to have hearings in here about the lives of transgender Americans and their families. So I agree with you, Mr. Chair. So I question what we're doing here. I've spent a lot of time in Congress working to demystify gender-affirming care. I never thought that's what I would be doing in Congress. I ran on issues related to housing and mental health care. I was an educator. I never thought I would have to do this all the time in these committee hearings. So I just want to get down to some basics. Let's get it out of the way here. Transgender people exist. They exist, period. They always have. And gender-affirming care is health care, and it is evidence-based, and it has saved lives. And reputable medical associations agree. And decisions made for children by their families should be done in consultation with their doctors. And it should not be members of Congress trotting people out here to talk about people's personal, private medical

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN

Information,

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

decisions for everybody to see. And in my very first session, we had another hearing in which transgender Americans and their families were demonized. And where you're sitting, Mr. Lesley, there was a parent sitting right there, and she identified herself as a Christian Republican mom of a transgender young person. And she sat right where you're sitting, imploring my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to let it go because she was one of them. I am a Republican, she said. I care about my family. Why do you continue to demonize me and my family? It's our personal business, and I'm trying to do what's right for my kids. And that's what all families are trying to do. I got two kids myself. So again, I ask, what are we doing here? Now, my Republican colleagues can continue to scapegoat and fearmonger this very tiny group of individuals in this country, at the same time saying they care about families, that they care about helping kids and families, when we look at the budget that they are trying to pass, which my colleague has said, it cuts $880 billion from Medicaid, which is going to impact children's hospitals across this country. It's going to impact food assistance programs. It's going to impact WIC. So why don't we have a hearing on what we actually can do in Congress to help children across that country? Why aren't we doing that? Mr. Lesley, I am so grateful that you are here. And I was looking before this hearing about all the work that you have done on behalf of kids. Just really quickly, is infant mortality rising in this country?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Thank you for your question, Congresswoman Balint. Yes, the answer is yes. And for the first time in decades that—

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

yeah. Is child mortality rising?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Child mortality is absolutely rising. And our nation's child mortality rate is well above all other wealthy nations.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

Is child poverty rising, Mr. Lesley?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Child poverty is growing. It has more than doubled since the low in 2021 with the expiration of the child tax credit.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

Is the mental health crisis among kids and teens rising?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

The entire children's advocacy community sees that and argues that we are in the midst of an enormous children's mental health crisis.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Will the gentlelady yield for a quick—

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I will.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Additional question. What is the leading cause of death for children under the age of 18 in America?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

The biggest reason— the biggest reasons for child mortality are suicide and homicide.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Gun violence.

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Yes, gun violence.

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Yield back to you.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT)SPEAKER_17

And Mr. Lesley, given that the number of trans Americans in this country is hovering at about 1%, do you think we would be better served by really focusing on policies that would help all children and all teens? And what are some of those programs, just briefly, that we should be focused on?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Absolutely. We believe strongly that medical decisions should be made by doctors, parents, and children in this country. And we believe that we must improve Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, not cut it by $800 billion, $880 billion. We believe that we should be making sure that children don't go to bed hungry. And so we should not be cutting SNAP and WIC. We believe that education programs are fundamentally important. And I know that in the tax debate that's coming up, there will be a debate around the child tax credit. And one of this— one of the crazy things we should

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I'm going to ask you to wrap up your time because we're over the time.

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

One of the crazy policies we have in this country is that when you have a baby and your income drops, you're susceptible to losing your child tax credit. That makes no sense.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah,

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I thank I thank the gentlelady for her questions. I'll now recognize the chairman of the committee, Mr. Jordan.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Haim, on June 23rd, 2023, you get a letter from the United States Department of Justice, Southern District of Texas. Probably a day you, a letter that probably ruined your whole day, right?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Uh, well, so the agents came. This was a few hours before I was graduating from surgical residency. The ceremony was was later that evening. I was meeting with my parents, you know, my sister. I was going with my wife. And, um, so when the agents came, you know, I, I refused to speak with them. My wife had advised me to, you know, not speak with them without an attorney present. But, um, you know, we knew that it was so corrupt what they were doing that there was a certain sense of defiance. So, um, you know, we kind of celebrated this new part of our life. It was It was kind of a hard thing to describe, but something kind of came over us.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

First, first two sentences: This office is involved in investigations dealing with federal law violations. You are a potential target in this criminal investigation. So, you didn't want to talk to these guys. You listened to your wife, which was good counsel and good advice, and good good that you did that. But you did did go get an attorney, and you got the guy sitting beside you. Is that right? Yes, sir. And Mr. Lytle, when you understood what was going on here, you contacted, just like you would as an attorney, you contacted the Southern District of Texas. You contacted the lady who signed this, Ms.—I'm sorry, the US Assistant US Attorney. Is that right?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

Yes, I did.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Tell me about that conversation.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

Well, I reached out to her, uh, as a defense attorney would always do when there's a target letter out there, because that could mean that they're going to charge the person right away. That's under department policies, that that means they believe he's a putative defendant.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Yeah, normally that means they think they got a slam dunk case on this guy, right?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

That's right.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and they're going to, they're going to negotiate some guilty plea. And you reach out to her, what'd she say? Did she know anything about the case?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

She didn't know anything about the case. She had to talk to the agents and she'd get back to me when she knew more about it.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

She signed the target letter and she didn't know what the target was about.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

That's my understanding.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

That was great. So then you had subsequent conversations, and I understand in one of these conversations that, that happened after you learned she didn't know what the heck was going on, even though she signed the letter that ruined his day, the day he's graduating from medical school, you have subsequent conversations and she says, well, maybe he isn't a target, and maybe if he'd come apologize and say pretty, pretty please, we'd downgrade it to a misdemeanor. Is that right?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

That's true. She sort of was a wink and a nod, like maybe we can pretend he's not a target. And I said that the train's kind of left the station, and there's been emails with her calling him a target to me. And I said I just can't do that, but why why can't we talk about the case? And she still didn't know the facts of the case. She wanted, dead set, to be interviewing Dr. Haim, which I didn't want to do that as a lawyer because I didn't want to reveal any— I didn't want— I didn't know what she was getting at.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

And so they wind up charging him with the maximum, like 10 years, I think you said, the maximum they could charge. And they were so determined to get Dr. Haim, she was so determined to get Dr. Haim, even though he didn't violate HIPAA, didn't do anything wrong, that she not only threatened him, come talk to me, apologize, say pretty, pretty please, we'll make it a misdemeanor, she also went after your wife. She also went after Dr. Haim wife. Is that right, Mr. Lytle?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

That's right. She alluded that she would not make any comments, or her agents make any comments about the background investigators for Dr. Haim wife, as she's a new AUSA being hired, unless she became difficult. And I didn't really know what that meant, but I took it to being a retaliatory phrase that if she's going to be involved in this, then there's going to be something that's going to come for her, too.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Well, what's, what's she supposed to do? She's a lawyer. She's married to the, to the, to married to Dr. Haim. She's not supposed to give him advice or counsel or talk to him.

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

This whole thing, any kind of HIPAA as a criminal case is so rare in this country. It's rarely ever prosecuted. But then in this context of this political debate going on, to come forward and charge Dr. Haim, it seemed just really out of control. It really was surprising to me to see this kind of a charge.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

It sort of, I think, begs the question, why did they do it? Why did they do it? Why was she— why was— I mean, this seems so ridiculous. Why this behavior? Why do you think they did it, Dr. Lytle? Or maybe Dr. Haim, or maybe even Ms. Sivadge?

Mr. Mark LytleSPEAKER_04

I, I can say that we found a lot of bias, a lot of conflicts of interest, a lot of connections to the hospital, and a closeness to these families. But at the end of the day, if there was any kind of issue, it shouldn't be handled in the criminal courts. It should be handled in the public arena, in the public debate. Yeah,

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

doctor,

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

you know, I, I think that they went after me so hard in order to send a message to everyone else.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

Of course they

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Because I saw it in my residency. Right. You know, the other people who thought this was awful, we actually had to meet in dark corners. We, we knew that we couldn't say anything publicly.

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

And that's the point. It's to, it's to chill anyone else from stepping forward. It's why they went and raided Mark Houck's house with all these agents, why they'd send multiple agents to, the ATF goes into Bryan Malinowski's house and he ends up getting shot. They thought he had like six gun violations. It's why they do it. It's to chill anyone else from coming forward. We will make life miserable for you, miserable for Ms. Sivadge. We will do that because we don't want anyone else threatening the left's position. And that is the frightening thing.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

And I'll say one

Full Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH)SPEAKER_05

And I'll just say this and I'll let you finish. God bless you for doing it. God bless you for doing it. And Mr. Lytle for defending you. Thanks for stepping forward, having the courage to do so.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I'll say one more thing, right? They came after me in order to make my life miserable. In order to send a message. But they came after me, right, to make my life miserable. We're going to make their life miserable. All right? That's what we're going to do.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I thank the gentleman for his questions. I'll now recognize the gentlelady from Washington, Ms. Jayapal.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The right to privacy is enshrined in our Constitution, and in the past, this has been a bipartisan issue. In fact, I've worked closely with my friend across the aisle, the chairman of the of the committee, Mr. Jordan, on protecting the privacy of all Americans. We've both stood up to our own party sometimes on this issue, and so I'm disappointed that it doesn't seem to be a bipartisan mandate anymore and that privacy is pushed to the background, because I think that all Americans would be horrified, absolutely horrified to know that when it comes to healthcare, Republicans are suddenly abandoning the need for privacy, that Americans' private medical information could be released if someone just doesn't agree with their personal treatment plan or their private medical conditions. Well, I refuse to give up the fight for privacy for all Americans' medical information. A doctor's relationship with their patients is predicated on trust and privacy. Patients trust their doctors to keep their discussions private, and everybody else who can access the medical system to keep that information private so that patients can freely provide information that the doctor can use to best provide care. So, Dr. Haim, please answer yes or no. Are you a general and trauma surgeon?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes, ma'am.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

And when you graduated from medical school, like every other doctor, did you take the Hippocratic Oath?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes, ma'am.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

And does that oath include a promise to, quote, "respect the privacy of patients"?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah, uh, probably

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

it does. I can provide it to you if you need a refresher. And if you or your colleagues had a patient who decided not to undergo surgery because of its side effects, would you keep that decision confidential in compliance with your oath?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

And if there was a late-stage cancer patient who didn't want to undergo aggressive chemotherapy, should any doctor keep that decision confidential in compliance with the

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Absolutely.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

And yet, despite your oath to protect patient privacy, you have admitted in your testimony today that you released the medical records of children who were patients at Texas Children's Hospital, correct?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Incorrect.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

You didn't release that information?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

DOJ never charged it.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Did you or did you not release the information of children?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

No, not any identifiable patient information.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Actually, are you aware that the HIPAA violations do not just say you can redact a name, you actually have to redact multiple—

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

No, everything I released was HIPAA-compliant, as confirmed by the DOJ's charges.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

The removal of a patient's name alone is not enough to satisfy HIPAA's Privacy Rule requirements. The Privacy Rule requires de-identified health information to be stripped of 18 specific identifiers. Whether the DOJ is choosing to charge, I need to look at exactly what you're alleging. But let me just ask you, did the children and their parents give you consent to release those records?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I was— no.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

No. And all of your patients now have to worry that if you don't agree with somebody's choices of medical you know, whatever they're deciding to do, that you're just going to be the sole arbiter of when something should be released. And the, and the basic claim is, if you don't agree with whatever they're doing, then you have the right to access that information under false pretenses, under false pretenses, access that medical information and release it. So we're now depending on you as the arbiter of when

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

those children are being mutilated and sterilized.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

So the answer is yes. You decide when somebody's medical records should be released. Any American out there is going to look at you and say, Oh, I see. Dr. Haim is the arbiter of whether or not my medical records should be released and whether or not I should actually pay attention to HIPAA. Is that correct?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah, so first of all, it was never under false pretenses, right? That entire allegation was incorrect. The DOJ's own evidence confirmed that.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Let me just stop you. Children

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

are being mutilated. Mr.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

time. I'm just going to reclaim my time. I actually have the time, so I'm going to reclaim my time because I have something very important to say. Look, I think privacy is critically important. It is also true that transgender children are literally 1.4% of all adolescents and teens, and they are facing a massive torrent of bullying and cruelty from Republicans, members of this committee. And when you heard Mr. Lesley say that suicide is the number one cause of death amongst young people, what you have done and what these Republicans have done is absolutely shameful, in my view, that you are continuing to go after and bully transgender children and their families, who literally are doing what their doctors have told them, what they know medical research to be safe. And you want to be the arbiter of when medical information is going to be released? The

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

gentlelady's time has expired.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

I understand. I don't believe that any American would want their medical records to be released. And I hope that my colleagues who have been with me on privacy would understand that this is a grave violation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Do you have any response?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Nothing could be more untrue. Right? You have people who are undergoing the mental anguish of believing that they've been born in the wrong body. What these people need are not the most powerful chemicals humans have ever discovered. What they do not need— the most radical surgeries ever invented by humans. They need people to listen. Point

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

of order.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

What these doctors are doing

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Time is— are harming these people. Submit an answer.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Mr. Chairman, I have a unanimous consent request.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Jelley is recognized.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA)SPEAKER_10

Thank you. I would like to enter into the record the second superseding indictment, not the one that was brought by the first prosecutor, but the second one, where on page 3, it specifically says that Dr. Haim un- was under false pretenses accessed the the information that he needed and released.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

The Department of

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Justice— without objection, and you'll have a chance to respond to that in the next set of questions. We're going to have to recess because votes have been called. So we're going to recess subject to the call of the chair. I will tell you that based on the vote estimates, I'm going to guess it's going to be just slightly after 4 o'clock, uh, so the witnesses will be able to go back to the back. And, uh, if everybody want to come back, let's come back immediately following votes. We'll start pretty quickly. Let's try to Rush back after votes, and that we're in recess. how

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN

are you? He's

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

doing really well.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN

Is it 4 months old now?

Full Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD)SPEAKER_14

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00

I got it all. Thank you. You know what, should I— should I—

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

At this time, we will call the committee back to order. And I believe it is the Republican side, and I will now recognize the gentlelady from Wyoming for 5 minutes.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Thank you. Mr. Lesley, what is the success rate of sex change procedures for children?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

There's, if you look at the testimony from medical societies, they indicate

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

It's zero. You can't change your sex, so it's zero. So I want the record to be clear that the Biden administration targeted and prosecuted Dr. Haim and Ms. Sivadge for exposing medical procedure, surgery, and pharmaceutical intervention that has a 100% failure rate. Am I correct, Dr. Haim?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

That is exactly correct.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Okay dr. Haim, you have exposed the fact that medical providers were providing dangerous and illegal treatments to minors, and both the Biden White House and the activists who are actually running the show behind the scenes didn't like what you were exposing. Isn't that also correct?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

That's correct.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

And do you think that their subsequent federal pressure was brought to bear on you Merely— was that merely a coincidence, or was it to try to stop you from exposing what they were doing?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

It was in order to prevent me from exposing what they were doing and to silence other whistleblowers. Okay.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Ms. Sivadge, what is gender dysphoria? And I ask that question because I'm a pretty well-educated person, a pretty well-read person. This is something that we didn't even really know about or talk about 3 or 4 years ago. What is this?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Gender dysphoria is when a child is confused about their birth identity, and that the key there is the confusion, because the problem is not in the physical body of the child. The problem is in their mind. And so why are we pushing as a society a solution that will irreversibly harm and sterilize children's bodies when truly the problem is that they're confused about their birth identity in their mind. And so part of what I've done here and part of what— why we're here today is to affirm and to celebrate God's— ultimately God's design for our gender and sexuality. And that is something that should be defended.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Well, are there industries that stand to benefit financially from these procedures, these industries?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I refer to them as the unholy trinity, which is the healthcare insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and the hospital system. And all 3 of these institutions have much to gain because this is a highly lucrative industry that exploits the vulnerabilities of children.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Why don't you explain that a little bit further?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Well, in my case, I came forward to expose Medicaid fraud, and I saw firsthand how Texas Children's Hospital was illegally utilizing Texas Medicaid to fund, quote, unquote, "gender-affirming care," which is really gender-denying care. And the taxpayers were billed for this, and that is illegal in the state of Texas. And so this benefited the pharmaceutical industry because the child is put down a path of medicalization, making them a medical patient for life. So the pharmaceutical industry has a vested interest in making sure that a child is initiated down this irreversible path.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Dr. Haim, sex change hormones and puberty blockers are presented to patients and their parents as lifesaving treatment. What is the reality and effects these treatments actually have on children?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

The reality is, is that what they're telling them is the opposite of the truth. These hormones, the blockers, the surgeries will put them down a path that they can never come back from. You know, they always say that it's reversible, but once you start changing your physiology from the inside out, right, because that's what these hormones do, they change the cellular architecture of every single cell in your body in a way that you can't take back. And, you know, it takes a while for the physical changes to develop, but once they happen, there's no going back.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

Okay, and so again, you've got lifelong patients as a result of these interventions.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

And, you know, they were saying that suicide rates have gone up. Is it any wonder that the suicide rates have gone up, but also the society convincing people that they're born in the wrong body, that the way they were created was a mistake, that the name their parents gave them is their dead name? Of course the suicide rates are going up, and it's exactly because of what these people call, quote unquote, gender-affirming care. But what it really is is the destruction of the self.

Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-WY)SPEAKER_12

It's a, it's a pretty cruel industry, as far as I can tell. I have a lot more questions I'd love to engage in with all of you. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for your bravery. And thank you for being here. That I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I thank the gentlelady from Wyoming, and I appreciate her, uh, sticking to the clock and for her questions. And I'll recognize the ranking member.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Thank you. I have a couple of articles for unanimous consent. The first is a news article entitled "Texas Children's Hospital Halts Hormone-Related Prescription Therapies for Transgender Children," dated March 4th, 2022, where the report notes Texas Children's Hospital said they're pausing specific treatments after state leaders decided to ask Child Protective Services to investigate.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Without objection.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

And a second one, Houston Pediatric Chief's Abrupt Exit Triggers Fear and Disappointment Within Transgender Community. It's a May 3rd, 2022 Houston Chronicle article where the report notes that the hospital has continued to care for transgender patients in light of a recent statewide injunction.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Without objection.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Thank you.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I'll now recognize the gentleman from New York, Mr. Goldman, for 5 minutes.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to follow up on your last answer, Dr.— is it Haim?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Haim? Yes, sir.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

You believe that the suicide rate for people who identify as transgender is going up because they are being told by other people that they are in the wrong body? Is that what your testimony is?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

So the suicide rate is not going up because there are people like you who are telling them that they must be mistaken if they feel something different than what you think they should.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

That question was a little wordy. Can you clarify it?

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Sure, because it relates, I think, to Mrs. Sivadge as well. It's pretty remarkable to hear that the reason why the suicide rate in the transgender community is so much higher than other communities is somehow because these innocent kids who don't want any of this gender-affirming care, who don't go to their parents and talk at length about how they're feeling, and instead are through their parents controlled by some transgender industrial complex to convince transgender people that no, even though unquestionably your life would be so much simpler if you just carry on as you are, because you wouldn't be the subject of a hearing in a subcommittee based on one case. It's pretty shocking to me that that actually is the rationale, but it does clarify a lot for me, because I wonder, you talk about the actual care and the impact that it has on these children. Is it your testimony here today that the doctors who provide that care to the children don't know what the impact that it has on the kids?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah, I would say, first of all, it's not care because what they're doing is harming the patients. And that's exactly what I would say. The doctors who are doing this are misinformed about what they're doing. They don't understand the pathology they're treating because gender dysphoria is a problem of the mind, but they're using solutions of the body. That is where you're wrong.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

And so it's a a dysphoria of the mind. So psychiatric care is what they need,

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I believe. Yeah, maybe

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

conversion therapy.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Excuse me?

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Conversion therapy,

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

maybe. What do you mean by conversion therapy?

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Well, I would say you seem to know everything about the medical field. I'm sure you understand. Well,

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I would say conversion therapy is using hormones.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

It was a rhetorical question, sir, and I'll reclaim my time.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Let

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Me ask you a little bit about the process. I'm sorry, I only have five minutes. Let me ask you a little about the process. Now, I heard your testimony earlier to be that you saw this happening, and I'm not going to get into the details as to what Texas Children's Hospital represented it was doing or not doing. They clearly say they never had anything secretive. They were following the law. But you felt like you had come upon something that was very damaging to child patients. And obviously you're aware of HIPAA, and I assume you're aware of, as a medical doctor, what your obligations are to report anything you see as child abuse or something similar through a particular chain. Is that correct?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes, sir.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

And I know you testified, and you said that you saw one example or a couple examples of parents who had abused children be allowed in their hospital rooms. And so therefore, even though you knew that you should go to Child Protective Services, you decided unilaterally that it would be worthless. So you weren't going to follow the proper procedures. Is that right?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes CPS has had proven ineffective to protect

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

Proven, proven, proven to who?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

To me. Because

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

I see. So you get to you get to put your own judgment in instead of the parents, instead of Child Protective Services, instead of the government. Whatever you think, you get to do, Well, they're not going to be good, so I'm going to go to a journalist. And now you're trying to call yourself a whistleblower. But let me ask you, you said something else that I found interesting, or maybe it was Mr. Lytle, before you went to Mr. Rufo with this information, did you try to reach out to the Texas attorney general?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yes, sir.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

That's Ken Paxton, right? Who has been leading the charge against gender-affirming care, correct? Yeah I have an article here that you wrote in January of 2024 to defend yourself. You don't say anywhere in here that you tried to reach out to the Texas Attorney General.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

So where, where, where, which is true, the article or what you're testifying to here today?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I'm testifying here today that we reached out to Ken Paxton's office before the story was released in May of 2023.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

And you didn't hear back?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

No.

Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY)SPEAKER_08

I have a unanimous consent request. I'd like to introduce this article written by Eithan Haim here, Not on My Watch, in the—it's Eye on the News, The Social Order: Healthcare, dated January 12th, 2024.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Without objection, I'll now recognize myself for 5 minutes. We had, as I mentioned earlier, a witness last year named Chloe Cole, who I've become friends with and come to know, who testified here. She's one example of many of people that I've met and come to know through her and through others. And in testimony—this is similar testimony; it wasn't the exact testimony she gave here—she mentioned that she's a detransitioned 18-year-old woman—now, this is older, this was I think last year—from California, who went through the process of medical transition between the ages of 12 and 16.

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN

And

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Then she goes through and describes how it happened, how she was pushed by social media and how she was pushed by medical personnel to go down that road. And then she goes through and explains, because this this is relevant, I'm going to ask a question about what Children's Hospital was up to in Texas, she said, quote, "I've suffered a multitude of complications from the blockers, from the cross-sex hormones, and the surgery." She had a double mastectomy. My quality of life is still being impacted to this day. I had my puberty blocked when I was already about 4 years in, so I started experiencing some menopause-like symptoms, severe hot flashes and itching all over my body. This went away after I stopped taking them, but I still have joint pains and shooting pains in my spine. During a consultation for testosterone, I was told by my endocrinologist that I would experience vaginal atrophy. I was not informed that this atrophy actually affects the rest of the organs in the pelvic region. She want to goes to explain more, that she would be unable to breastfeed. It's horrific. It's absolutely horrific. What I want to point out is, is I heard one of my colleagues said on the other side of the aisle, I think he was asking you, Dr. Haim, about whether or not Children's Hospital was engaging in surgery. And I want to just stick real quick to your allegation that Children's Hospital was continuing to engage in puberty blockers even after what was happening on with Texas with respect to the law in Texas.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Oh, yeah. I mean, they were absolutely doing the surgeries after they said They were not doing—

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

they were doing puberty blockers and surgeries.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

The puberty blockers are surgeries, right? To implant the devices right into the child.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

And that was absolutely happening. That's your testimony?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Absolutely. There's evidence of that.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

And Mrs. Sivadge, can you explain a little bit more detail about why that is so horrific?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Absolutely. I think. There are so many harmful effects from implanting puberty-blocking devices and administering some form of testosterone or estrogen therapies to children. Some of those effects include ovarian atrophy, where prolonged testosterone, you know, taking prolonged testosterone for a female will result in ovarian atrophy, which ultimately results in menstrual irregularities and then the cessation of the menses. Ultimately culminating in infertility, the inability to conceive and to have children.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Mr. Lesley, a quick question. In your work— and I'm going to try to ask some quick questions, got limited time— do you believe the government should intervene when parents refuse to provide their minor children with access to gender dysphoria treatment?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

At First Focus, we believe that medical decisions should be made by doctors, parents, and children,

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

right? Yes or no? If the parents don't want to do it, should doctors be able to intervene?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Doctors, parents, and children should make medical decisions based upon the best

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

practice. Without the parents and the parental consent, should they be able to do it?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Parents should be— parents and children should be involved in all medical decisions.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Involved? Should the parents be making the decision with the child?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Yeah, the, the, the— in conjunction with doctors, though. Like, not— all

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

right. If the, if the parents don't agree to do it, is that— does that constitute child abuse?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

There are cases where there's medical neglect, and, and, but that's not my expertise. What I'm talking—

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

well, uh, is it true that you published a column stating the following, that, quote, on the other hand, children are less powerful than adults and are particularly vulnerable, uh, for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, but also abuse of power by parents? In one article. In another article, April 25th, 2021, you published an article stating there is no doubt that children need the support and protection of parents, but children also sometimes need protection from actions by parents and government that threaten their health, education, safety, and well-being. In other words, do you think it's abusive if parents choose not to pursue this path? Yes or no?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

The path of gender dysphoria, or generally? Okay Because what I was talking about in those columns were things like abuse and neglect that have to do with what Dr. Haim talked about, was things like, he testified that there's intentional starvation, cigarette burns, those kinds of things that then he sees that the parents are still in the room. So I agree with him that in those sorts of cases, we should actually have protections for

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

kids. I would like to insert into the record an article by Mr. Lesley, How Parental Rights Bill Threatens the Health, Education, and Safety of Children; another article by Mr. Lesley, Governor DeSantis Should Veto Florida's Tragically Flawed So-Called Parents' Bill of Rights; a number of tweet threads by Mr. Lesley on the same topic; and then a First Focus Campaign for Children letter that I believe that Mr. Lesley authored, dated January 12th, 2024, to Tim Scott and Virginia Foxx on similar topics. Without objection. I'll now recognize the ranking member.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ms. Sivadge, you've issued some opinions here about the propriety of care for gender dysphoria. Now, you're a pediatric nurse, is that correct?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Yes.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

And you have a bachelor's in nursing?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I do.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Okay. And you received that when? '21-ish?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Uh, when did I graduate? Yes, in 2015.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

2015. Okay. And as you described your job, you were working as a clinic nurse where your duties were refilling prescriptions, acting as a liaison between doctors and parents, and obtaining insurance authorization. Is that correct?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Yes.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Okay. You don't have a medical degree, is that right?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I have a nursing degree.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Right. But you don't have a medical degree, correct? No. And you don't have a psych— psychological degree?

SPEAKER_UNKNOWN

Uh,

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I have common sense.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Okay. But you don't have a license to practice as a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a doctor. And

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I know the difference between right and wrong. Yes, ma'am.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

So you do not have those things. Okay. Moving right along. Mr. Lesley, you testified earlier that child poverty is rising, and we know that's happened since the elimination of the expanded tax credit. Will Republican budget cuts make that problem worse?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Depending on, on what things we see after, after the, in the aftermath of the budget resolution? Absolutely, depending on what kinds of cuts. And we're very concerned that they tend— they— what we're seeing is that they may just be disproportionate to kids.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

And that's the kinds of cuts you talked about earlier with respect to SNAP and WIC and Medicaid, which is funding CHIP for children's health insurance?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Absolutely. CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program, was a bipartisan piece of legislation that is universally supported by Democrat, Republican governors all across this nation. And the polling in America shows that it is the most popular, and people strongly oppose cutting CHIP.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Um, I've had a longtime concern about children's hunger.

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Yes.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

And SNAP has been proven over decades to be a really effective way of alleviating hunger, as have school lunches, school breakfasts. We've already seen cuts from this administration eliminating millions and millions of dollars that go towards school lunches. And now we're faced with a budget proposal that is, by necessity in order to meet its parameters, going to end up cutting SNAP and WIC. Can you talk about the impact of that on children?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Absolutely. SNAP beneficiaries are disproportionately children, and SNAP basically prevents children from going to bed at night hungry. And some of the summer meals programs, those things are also being targeted. It is enormously important to reducing child poverty as well. It has huge ramifications for families. And we know, I testified earlier, my parents were educators and they would speak often about kids coming to school hungry, and they had a food drawer, both of them, and they would give kids food because kids would come to school hungry, and you can't learn when you're not— when you're hungry.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Yeah, um, I think that the image of a kid going to bed hungry is— is— it tugs at the heartstrings. But having spent a significant amount of time in the public schools, kids who come to school hungry absolutely don't learn. Are we seeing child hunger on the rise right now?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

We are seeing child hunger on the rise. It's— it's more than doubled since 2021.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Another longtime concern that I've had has to do with our streets, and you testified earlier that it is— that gun violence is now the number one killer of children under 19, both through suicide and through homicide. We've already seen this administration cut community violence prevention and gun safety grants to our cities and communities, which actually had seen a reduction in gun violence since a peak in 2021. Can you talk about what budget cuts would mean with respect to reducing gun violence and child mortality?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Yes, I would hope that we would all agree that we should do all we can to do prevention, and those grants are prevention grants. They're not gun control grants. They're grants to try to reduce, you know, to improve prevention services. And so that's something that Hopefully, this is a very bipartisan thing.

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

Another thing that hit the news over the last week was the fact that DOGE and the administration fired everyone at the federal government, all 15 people who administer the LIHEAP program. And LIHEAP provides emergency funding to heat homes in the winter or cool them when it gets so hot in the summer. So with no one there to administer the program, the remaining $400 million for this year, and whatever isn't cut from the budget last year can't go out. What does a cut to LIHEAP do to kids?

Mr. Bruce LesleySPEAKER_02

Oh, it's huge. I grew up, as I said earlier, in El Paso, Texas. It's in the middle of the desert. It gets to be over 110 degrees. My wife is from the state of Maine. It gets freezing up there. Same thing. Her family's in the home heating oil business. LIHEAP is huge for no matter what end of the country you live in,

Ranking Member Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA)SPEAKER_01

and life-saving, I would argue. Yes. Um, really want to thank you for your testimony, and I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I would ask for a unanimous consent request to enter into the record a copy of the superseding indictment that was referenced earlier to recognize that there are a number of changes in that superseding indictment, that it dropped the mistaken claim that they published HIPAA-protected information obtained by Dr. Haim, counts 2 through 4 no longer contain the false charge that Dr. Haim did obtain or wrongfully disclose HIPAA-protected information, no longer alleges that Dr. Haim requested remote access so he could discreetly covertly access pediatric patient files, and a number of other changes in the superseding indictment acknowledging the extent to which the original indictment was flawed and based on false claims. And with that, I will now recognize my good friend, Mr. Onder. And in doing so, without getting too personal, we're all humans and we all have a lot of things going on, and we're all praying for you and wishing you very well.

Rep. Robert Onder (R-MO)SPEAKER_03

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Chairman. 5 minutes.

Rep. Robert Onder (R-MO)SPEAKER_03

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the chairman for holding this important hearing. As a physician, I want to personally thank you, Dr. Haim, and Ms. Sivadge, for having the courage to come forward. While many doctors push these experimental procedures on children, you and I both know that many others have been pressured to comply or resign due to their refusal to knowingly harm children in the way that we're talking about here today. I personally know someone who was a chair of endocrinology at a major medical center who had to resign from his position because he wouldn't go along with the transgender madness that we're seeing today. Whistleblowers like you should be applauded as heroes, not the subject of federal investigations. One whistleblower who I believe we're all familiar with in Missouri, Jamie Reed, came forward about the blatant disregard for children. And she was a true believer. She was a true believer. She thought she was doing good by these so-called transgender children. She was working at the Washington University Transgender Clinic at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Washington University happens to be my alma mater, and I've I've been aware of this clinic and advocated for its closure for years. And that's why one of the first bills I introduced when I came to Congress was H.R. 2387, the Do No Harm Act, because we as doctors take an oath to do no harm. I wanted to Ms.— is it— you pronounce it Sivadge? Sivadge, yep. Ms. Sivadge, it's ironic, some of my Democrat colleagues today are talking a lot about hypothetical reforms to Medicaid and so on, but as long as we're on the subject of Medicaid, let's talk about it. I'm a physician. I've I've, uh taken Medicaid patients for over 30 years. I appreciate your courage in exposing Medicaid fraud, because we know these transition medications and procedures are expensive. So, I think it's you're doing a great service. You did a great service both to the taxpayers in Texas and, of course, the children and the family and to all of us by exposing prohibited Medicaid coverage of transition procedures, diagnosing children with hormone deficiencies instead of gender dysphoria. I think another game they play is with regarding puberty blockers, diagnosing precocious puberty, when, in fact, in fact, these drugs were being used as chemical castration drugs to block puberty. I have to say I treated children for 30 years, and my practice not endocrinology, but in a in a field where I saw lots of kids. I don't think I ever saw a kid with precocious puberty on his or her chart. And yet, in some places— tell me a little bit about what was going on. They were downright putting the wrong ICD-10 code in these patients' charts?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

Yes, thank you for that question. Yes, Texas Children's Hospital through two particular doctors were intentionally misdiagnosing patients, and I saw this with my own eyes. They were, for example, labeling a male with a testosterone deficiency in order to administer testosterone, and they would do this because on the medical chart they would put the preferred gender identity of the patient and not the biological sex. And so this makes it very difficult to detect fraud for any insurance company who gets the billing code. It's very difficult to distinguish what is what is actually happening,

Rep. Robert Onder (R-MO)SPEAKER_03

right? So what I have here behind me are charts, hormone therapy and puberty blockers, where the gender— the diagnosis gender dysphoria was actually the reason for treatment. So these are cases where the correct diagnosis code, the correct ICD-10 code, was used in children aged 6 to 17. But if we take into account fraud where hormone deficiency or precocious puberty is used, these bar graphs would be far greater. So quite a few children are being treated inappropriately with these drugs. Dr. Haim, I've been reading your story, following you. I'm running short on time, but I just want to say I cannot imagine the courage that you and your wife— and, and by the way, thank goodness your wife was an attorney and counseled you, because you know what would have happened? You would have made some misstatement that they would have taken out of context, and you would be in prison today for, quote, lying to a federal agent. So you illustrated great courage. You did not violate HIPAA, and there are HIPAA violations all the time that are never prosecuted. They came down on you because you were standing up for kids. So God bless you, and I'm proud to have you as a fellow member of my profession.

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

Rep. Robert Onder (R-MO)SPEAKER_03

Thank you.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Uh, gentleman's time is—

Rep. Robert Onder (R-MO)SPEAKER_03

I yield back.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I appreciate that. I'll now recognize, once I give him a little second here to get seated, my friend from Texas, Mr. Gill.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

Thank thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for holding this hearing today. And in foreign countries, we refer to gender reassignment surgeries as child genital mutilation. In the US, we have a much more medicalized and sterile terminology that we use of of gender reassignment surgery. It's utterly barbaric, and thankfully, we have a president who's serious about ending it. Dr. Haim, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate all the work that you have done and your bravery throughout this process. I'd like to ask you a few questions. There's a far-left organization, and it's known as the Campaign for Southern Equality, and it publicly posts a fact fact sheet, excuse me, with commonly used insurance codes. The group claims that, quote, "this information can help provide guide providers about insurance codes for trans health care that are commonly accepted and rejected," end quote. Are you aware of this fact sheet?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

I am aware.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

You are? Could you explain maybe a little bit about the sheet and what it's commonly used for?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

So this is really important because when you type in gender-affirming care diagnosis codes on Google, this is one of the top search results. What this document does is inform inform doctors at these clinics how to get insurance companies, rather private or government, to cover interventions without revealing that it's being used for gender dysphoria. So how do you get— how do you do a mastectomy but then bill an insurance company and not raise any red flags? For example, like if it's happening in a red state. You bill it as breast reduction instead of a mastectomy. If you have a girl, like a 14-year-old girl who you want to prescribe testosterone for, quote unquote, gender-affirming care, you put a male sex in the medical chart, and then you prescribe testosterone for testosterone deficiency. The only thing the insurance company sees is male testosterone deficiency. No red flags are raised. They don't know that they're getting defrauded. But what this guide is, is essentially a template for how to commit medical fraud. And we should all remember, you know, this is something that people go to prison for. This is a major deal. You know, they have entire departments at hospitals for

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

this. That's right. So this is a way of guiding doctors of how to defraud insurance companies. Is that correct? How to lie to them?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

That— I mean, that's what it says in that, I mean, in, in a, you know, you know, other language, right? They try to dress it up and make it sound nice, but that's what they're saying.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

And this is something that could and likely is being used to subvert the president's executive order. Is that right?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Oh, yeah. I mean, it's my suspicion this is happening all over the country, especially in red states.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

And in your time in the medical field, have you seen this tactic being used to defraud insurance companies or to misrepresent surgeries that are, that are being done?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

In my personal practice, no, no, because it's such a big deal. Right. Everything you do has to be by the books. Everything you write on a medical chart has to be true. It has to support a certain diagnosis. That diagnosis has to be related to a treatment. If there's any break in that link, that's a big problem. People go to prison for that.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

Have you ever heard of a healthcare provider using some of these tactics or using a wrong insurance code. Uh,

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

yeah, I've heard about it, and those people are in prison.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

And do you— and you suspect, to be clear, that this is currently a recurring practice?

Dr. Eithan HaimSPEAKER_13

Yeah. There's a few cases in Texas where the Attorney General of Texas has—and of course, this is before litigation. We have to remember that people are innocent until proven guilty—that he brought three doctors in Texas up for violating SB 14, right, for this, a similar scheme which has been outlined in his suits against them, where they're using false diagnoses and then misrepresented sexes in order to bill insurance companies to conceal, quote, unquote, "gender-affirming care" in Texas after the passage of SB 14.

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX)SPEAKER_09

Yep. Thank you, Dr. Haim. I'd like to yield the remainder of my time to the chair.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

I appreciate it from my friend, my friend from Texas. I appreciate the witnesses. Ms. Sivadge, earlier, your credentials as a nurse were challenged, I think, with respect to your ability to make the observations you came here to testify. Would you like to respond to that?

Mrs. Vanessa SivadgeSPEAKER_11

I would, yes. The sterilization and the medicalization of children is not life-saving in the way— in the same way that the dismemberment of the unborn in the womb is not health care. And that does not take a person with credentials to recognize that.

Chairman Chip Roy (R-TX)SPEAKER_15

Thank you, Miss Sivadge. I appreciate the witnesses. That concludes today's hearing. We thank the witnesses for appearing before the subcommittee. Without objection, all members will have 5 legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses or additional materials for the record. Without objection, this hearing is adjourned.