Trans pride flags flutter in the wind at a gathering to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, 2017 at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles, California. International Transgender Day of Visibility is dedicate …
AUSTIN, Texas - Two North Texas doctors at the center of a lawsuit from the state attorney general's office accusing them of violating the state's laws banning gender-affirming care are now accused of fraudulently billing the state's Medicaid to provide that care.
Dr. May Lau and Dr. M. Brett Cooper were both sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2024 over claims they prescribed gender transition drugs to more than a dozen patients in violation of a state law that bans prescribing hormones and other gender-affirming care to minors.
In new filings, Paxton claims both doctors committed Medicaid fraud in violation of the state's Healthcare Program Fraud Prevention Act by changing patients' listed sex in their charts, using incorrect diagnosis codes and hiding that the prescribed drugs were being used for gender-affirming care.
What they're saying:
"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. Under my watch, the transgender activists using their positions in the medical field to illegally ‘transition’ children will face the full force of the law."
Paxton sues Dallas doctors over violations of gender-affirming care ban
The backstory:
In 2023, the Texas Legislature banned transgender kids from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapies.
The law bars trans kids from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapies, treatments many medical groups support. Children already receiving these treatments will have to be "weaned off" in a "medically appropriate" manner. The law also bans transition-related surgeries for kids, though those are rarely performed on minors. Texas is home to one of the largest trans communities in the U.S.
In October 2024, Paxton sued Lau claiming the UT Southwestern pediatrician prescribed hormones to at least 21 patients between the ages of 14 and 17. Court documents also claimed Lau implanted a puberty-blocking device into a 15-year-old and falsely billed the patient's insurance for an endocrine disorder instead of gender dysmorphia.
Lau voluntarily surrendered her medical license earlier this year. In a statement provided to the Texas Tribune, Lau said she was moving her medical practice to Oregon and no longer needed to maintain a Texas medical license.
Cooper was sued a month later for prescribing testosterone to 15 minor patients between the ages of 15 and 17.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in May.
A third doctor was also sued by Paxton, El Paso endocrinologist Hector Granados, but that suit was dropped in September after it found that the doctor had stopped providing gender-affirming care to minors before the law took effect.
What's next:
The new filings are asking the court to award three times the amount of Medicaid funds paid in damages. Senate Bill 14 requires those found to violate the law to have their medical license revoked by the state.
The Source: Information in this story comes from Attorney General Ken Paxton's office and previous FOX 4 reporting.