'Targeted Because I'm a Whistle-Blower': DOJ Investigates Doctor Who Opposes Trans Surgeries

A Texas surgeon faces a federal investigation after exposing transgender procedures being done on children after the hospital said they stopped doing them. 

Dr. Eithan Haim told CBN News no medical professional should engage in what he calls "barbaric" transgender procedures.

"These doctors believe they can become gods and create something new," he said. "It's not a doctor's job to harm people even if the person wants it." 

It's harm, he said, that the patient can not reverse.

"They have to give up something that they have no concept of understanding, which is the potential loss of having a family in the future," he explained.

Dr. Haim said he was relieved when Texas Children's Hospital, where he worked, announced they were stopping their transgender procedures.  However, he said he later discovered the procedures were still taking place. 

"There were a few residents who I knew who said that they had just finished implanting a puberty-blocking device in an 11, 12, 13-year-old kid who believed they were transgender, who had all these psychiatric issues which were being unaddressed," Dr. Haim said. 

He gave documents, possibly redacted patient records, to the Manhattan Institute's Christopher Rufo in an effort to provide proof the treatments were still going on. 

"The largest children's hospital in the world was lying about a program that was manipulating, mutilating, and sterilizing young, confused, adolescent children," said Dr. Haim.

Not long after coming forward, Dr. Haim said he was informed he was the subject of a federal investigation, possibly for violating patient privacy, which he denies. 

"I'm being targeted because I was a whistle-blower," he said.

Dr. Haim's attorney, Marcella Burke told CBN News the investigation is politically motivated. 

"We have no indication of what he's being investigated for," she said. "Our understanding is that the DOJ would be interested in charging him on a technicality if they could."

Burke calls the investigation a scare tactic. 

"The Department of Justice, the FBI, Health and Human Services division, there are numerous agencies within the Department of Justice that are abusing their power to coerce whistle-blowers to keep their mouths shut," she said. 

Burke sent a letter to U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and U.S. Congressman Chip Roy (R-Texas), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government.  In the letter, Burke calls for an investigation of what she calls the "weaponization of the federal government."

Both the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services told CBN News they cannot comment on the existence or lack thereof of any potential investigation.

Dr. Haim isn't the only healthcare provider opposed to transgender procedures.  That's why the Religious Freedom Institute helped launch the Medical Conscience Right Initiative.  It states that no medical practitioner, clinic, or hospital should be pressured or coerced to perform, or otherwise participate in, highly contested, elective procedures such as abortion, physician-assisted suicide, or "gender transition" surgery.
 
"Over the past few years we've seen laws passed in Arkansas, Ohio, South Carolina, Montana, and Florida," David K. Trimble, Vice President for Public Policy and Education at the Religious Freedom Institute told CBN News. 

"We're working right now in six other states," he said. "There are state laws, and there's also the First Amendment that protects our free exercise rights in the U.S. Constitution as people of faith."

However, despite these protections, many healthcare workers may do the procedures anyway. 

"When you're in that situation, there's pressure," said Dr. Haim. "If you decide to speak out against something like this, you can almost guarantee there's going to be severe career ramifications."

Dr. Haim was a featured speaker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. on the "Genesis 1:27" panel, referring to the Bible verse that says, "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

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During the discussion, Haim said transgender treatments on minors are like lobotomies – the once-touted brain surgery to treat mental illness that was later determined to do more harm than good.

"What is happening to these kids is not medicine," said Dr. Haim.

Terry Schilling, President of the American Principles Project also spoke on the panel.

"There's nothing wrong with these kids' bodies. There's nothing wrong with these adults' bodies. Adults are getting harmed by this as well, and that's important to recognize. But there is no such thing as a transgender child. There are boys and there are girls," Schilling said. 

While opponents of transgender procedures say physically altering the bodies of troubled children isn't the answer, most do think these young people need mental health intervention.  

"Many young people are in chaos," said David Trimble. "They're lacking understanding, and they're lacking compassion. And that's where we have to start. And I think we have to start with loving them, listening to them, caring for them."

"Telling these kids that they're perfect the way they are," said Dr. Haim. "That they're going through a hard time, and that the lessons they learn during those moments are what they take to adulthood, and they can find happiness in how they were created."