Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Files Land­mark Law­suit Against Children’s Health and Dal­las-Area Doc­tor for Hurt­ing Kids by Ille­gal­ly ​“Tran­si­tion­ing” Them and Defraud­ing Medicaid

Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a landmark lawsuit against Children’s Health System of Texas (“Children’s Health”), the country’s seventh-largest pediatrics hospital, and Jason Jarin, a Dallas-area pediatric doctor, for hurting kids by performing illegal “transition” procedures and engaging in Medicaid fraud in violation of Texas law. 

“I will use every legal tool available to ensure radical gender activists like Jarin face justice for hurting our kids,” said Attorney General Paxton. “This criminal extremist not only permanently harmed children, but he also then defrauded Medicaid and stuck Texas taxpayers with the bill for this insanity. Experimental ‘transition’ procedures on minors are illegal, unethical, and will not be tolerated in Texas.”

For years, Children’s Health and Jarin—a radical gender activist—have billed Texas Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) for gender interventions on children as young as 9 years old. Jarin is a Division Director at Children’s Health, where he saw patients for gender interventions at the Dallas and Plano locations. Jarin is a pediatric gynecologist, but he regularly performs procedures and medicates both female and male patients with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. 

Since 2017, Children’s Health and Jarin have engaged in a massive healthcare fraud scheme to bill Texas Medicaid—and the Texas taxpayers—for gender interventions on children. After September 1, 2023, when Senate Bill 14 (“SB 14”) took effect and codified Texas’s ban on gender interventions on minors, Children’s Health and Jarin continued to bill Texas Medicaid for cross-sex testosterone, estrogen, and puberty blockers to children in flagrant violation of Texas law.  

Attorney General Paxton’s lawsuit further alleges that Children’s Health and Jarin committed unlawful acts under the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act (“THFPA”), including by repeatedly changing patients’ gender in claims to Texas Medicaid in order to get illegal and unallowable claims paid. In addition to violations of SB 14 and the THFPA, Children’s Health and Jarin likely engaged in false, misleading, and deceptive acts in violation of Texas law. They did this by falsifying or misrepresenting medical records, prescriptions, and billing submissions to pharmacies, insurers, and Medicaid. Attorney General Paxton is seeking over $1,000,000 in the case, including civil penalties against Children’s Health and Jarin. To read the lawsuit, click here.