The Justice Department subpoenaed Boston Children’s Hospital for alleged healthcare fraud related to sex-change surgeries for minors, National Review reported Monday.
The department announced earlier this month that it was investigating hospitals “involved in performing transgender medical procedures on children” for “healthcare fraud, false statements, and more.”
“Medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children in the service of a warped ideology will be held accountable by this Department of Justice,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the memo.
In January, Trump signed an executive order banning federal funding for sex-change surgeries for minors. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a rule change this month to implement the order. In May, CMS sent a letter to hospitals requesting “financial data for all pediatric sex trait modifications” that are “paid, in whole or in part, by the federal government.”
Some hospitals have paused programs or even closed their clinics offering gender transition interventions to minors following Trump’s executive orders.
However, according to whistleblowers — including adults who regret their sex-transition surgeries and surgeon Eithan Haim — others are finding ways of getting around the ban.
Whistleblower testimony claims that hospitals use deceptive billing codes to hide sex change surgeries for children while making insurance claims under federal programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The hospital didn’t address the specific allegations.
“Boston Children’s Hospital is committed to providing safe, evidence-based, and compassionate care to every patient and family we serve,” a Boston Children’s Hospital spokesman told National Review.
The hospital has a history of politically motivated healthcare.
While the hospital has denied performing sex-change surgeries on minors, an article published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine by faculty members claims that its Center for Gender Surgery is “the first pediatric center in the United States to offer gender-affirming chest surgeries for individuals over 15 years old and genital surgeries for those over 17 years of age.”
Last year, Boston Children’s faced backlash after halving its assessment time for children requesting life-altering transgender medical interventions. Laura Edwards-Leeper, who was the founding psychologist for the hospital’s gender clinic, the first of its kind in the United States, called the decision “crazy.”
Boston Children’s is one of three hospitals currently being investigated by the FBI for potential violation of a federal statute that condemns female genital mutilation.
The Justice Department has issued subpoenas to 20 medical establishments in total. While it did not reveal the names of the establishments in its memo, the Children’s Hospital Colorado has stated that it is also under investigation.
