Texas Accuses ‘Radical’ Doctors of Using Tax Dollars to Fund Secret Trans Procedures on Teenagers
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is hitting two doctors with expanded lawsuits, accusing them of using taxpayer money to secretly carry out transgender procedures on minors in violation of state law.
On Wednesday, Paxton announced new allegations against Dallas-based Dr. M. Brett Cooper and Dr. May Lau. Both are accused of prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors while disguising the treatments from insurers and Medicaid providers — a move Paxton’s office says amounts to healthcare fraud and child abuse.
“What these radicals were doing was evil, and I will pursue every available legal tool to stop and punish this cruel child abuse,” Paxton said. “Any fraudulent scheme to steal hardworking Texans’ taxpayer dollars will be stopped and repaid in full.”
The lawsuits, originally filed in 2024, have now been expanded to include Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act violations. Paxton is demanding the doctors repay the state triple damages for every dollar billed — and is also pursuing steep civil penalties.
“These are first-of-their-kind fraud lawsuits in the country,” his office stated.
Dr. Cooper is accused of prescribing testosterone to teenage girls as young as 14 and submitting false billing records to insurance providers. The lawsuit claims Cooper falsified diagnoses and medical records to hide the true intent of the prescriptions, describing the treatment as unrelated to gender transition.
The suit says Cooper’s actions were meant to “mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and patients” by concealing that the procedures were to affirm gender identity rather than treat legitimate medical conditions.
Cooper has publicly criticized Texas laws banning transgender procedures for minors, calling the legislation “driven by political ideology” and lamenting it as a “sad day for Texans.”
Meanwhile, Dr. May Lau — who surrendered her medical license in October — is accused of similarly prescribing testosterone to teen girls and estrogen to a teen boy, all while dodging state law.
The lawsuit calls Lau a “scofflaw” who “put the health and safety of minors at risk.”
Both doctors are accused of billing Texas Medicaid using deceptive diagnosis codes and submitting false documentation to cover their tracks. The state says they fraudulently used taxpayer funds to push a political agenda on vulnerable children.