Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Children’s Health System of Texas and pediatric gynecologist Dr. Jason Jarin, accusing them of providing prohibited gender transition services to minors and fraudulently billing Texas Medicaid to conceal the treatments.
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Paxton alleged that Jarin and the hospital engaged in a yearslong scheme dating back to 2017, including continuing the practices even after a Texas law banning gender transition procedures for minors took effect on Sept. 1, 2023.
“I will use every legal tool available to ensure radical gender activists like Jarin face justice for hurting our kids,” Paxton said in the release. He further accused the defendants of permanently harming children and defrauding taxpayers by submitting improper claims to Medicaid.
🚨KEN PAXTON just DROPPED a BOMBSHELL lawsuit!
Filed against Children’s Health (the 7th-largest pediatric hospital in the country) and a Dallas-area doctor for ILLEGALLY “transitioning” kids and DEFRAUDING Medicaid, hurting vulnerable children while ripping off taxpayers.… pic.twitter.com/BWLO8O1Gng
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 18, 2026
According to the lawsuit, the state is seeking more than $1 million in damages. The filing alleges that Children’s Health and Jarin violated Texas law by falsifying or misrepresenting medical records, prescriptions, and billing submissions to pharmacies, insurers, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The complaint claims the defendants used misleading diagnosis codes to obscure the nature of the treatments. Among the allegations: billing puberty blockers as treatment for “precocious puberty,” listing cross-sex hormone prescriptions under codes such as “hormone replacement therapy” or “other long-term drug therapy,” and categorizing transgender-related claims as “endocrine disorders.”
The lawsuit also alleges that normal menstrual cycles were coded as “excessive” or “irregular” menstruation to justify suppression treatments, and that boys were billed under “contraception” codes when prescribed estrogen.
Paxton’s office alleges that some of the procedures involved children as young as 9 years old and that Texas taxpayers were billed for millions of dollars in services the state considers barred under Medicaid and CHIP rules.
“Although Texas law bans dangerous and experimental sex-rejecting procedures on children, the scourge of so-called ‘gender affirming care’ persists in the State of Texas,” the lawsuit states, arguing that enforcement action is necessary to halt the practices.
Children’s Health responded in a statement to KERA-TV, saying its “top priority is the health and well-being of the patients and families we serve.” The hospital added that it complies with “all applicable local, state and federal health care laws” but declined further comment due to ongoing litigation.
