AUSTIN, Texas — Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Children's Health and Dallas-area physician Jason Domingo Jarin, alleging they performed illegal gender transition procedures on minors and fraudulently billed Texas Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
In the lawsuit, Paxton alleges that Children’s Health, described as the country’s seventh-largest pediatric hospital system, and Dr. Jarin provided puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and other gender-related medical interventions to children, including some as young as 9 years old.
The Attorney General claims the hospital system and physician continued billing Texas Medicaid for such treatments after Senate Bill 14 took effect on September 1, 2023. The law prohibits certain gender transition procedures and treatments for minors in Texas.
According to the filing, the state alleges violations of Senate Bill 14 and the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act. The lawsuit claims Children’s Health and Dr. Jarin improperly billed Medicaid for gender-related treatments and, in some cases, altered patients’ gender markers in claims submissions to obtain payment.
The state is seeking more than $1 million in civil penalties.
Paxton said in a statement that his office would pursue legal action against those who violate Texas law regarding medical treatments for minors and misuse public funds.
“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.”
Dr. Jarin serves as a division director at Children’s Health and practices pediatric and adolescent gynecology at its Dallas and Plano locations. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, where he joined the faculty in 2016.
According to his professional biography, Dr. Jarin specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology and congenital gynecologic anomalies. He has authored numerous scholarly articles and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. He is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, and the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology.
The case remains pending in Texas courts.
