Texas Children’s Hospital settlement requires ban on minors’ gender transition care and new free detransition clinic

Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston has agreed to a sweeping settlement with the state of Texas and the U.S. Department of Justice that requires the hospital to stop providing gender transition interventions to minors and to establish a new detransition clinic that will offer free care for several years.

The agreement, announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, resolves a yearslong investigation into the hospital’s treatment of transgender youth and its billing practices. Under the terms, Texas Children’s will no longer provide gender-transition interventions to patients under 18, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, as required by Texas law. The settlement also calls for new compliance measures across the hospital system and includes disciplinary action against physicians involved in the challenged care. Texas officials said five doctors’ privileges will be revoked, with provisions intended to automatically terminate privileges for any physician who violates the state’s prohibition on providing those interventions to minors.

A central requirement of the deal is the creation of what officials described as the country’s first dedicated multidisciplinary...