By JAMIE STENGLE
DALLAS (AP) — One of the nation’s first doctors accused of illegally providing care to transgender youth under GOP-led bans was found to have not violated the law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office says, nearly a year after the state sued the physician.
Dr. Hector Granados, a pediatric endocrinologist in El Paso, was called a “scofflaw” last year by Paxton’s office in a lawsuit that accused him of falsifying medical records and violating a Texas ban that took effect in 2023. More than two dozen states have prohibitions on gender-affirming care for transgender youth, but Texas was the first to bring cases against doctors, filing lawsuits against Granados and two other providers.
The cases against the other doctors, both in Dallas, remain ongoing. But Paxton’s office quietly withdrew its lawsuit last week against Granados, saying in a statement that “no legal violations were found” following a “review of the evidence and Granados’ complete medical records.”
Granados, who says Paxton’s office never reached out before suing him last October, said he wished the state had first let him show he had stopped providing gender-affirming care for youth before the law took effect.
“It was just out and then we had to do everything afterwards,” Granados said in an interview.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states can ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, and at least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care. Although those accused of violating bans face criminal charges in some states, they do not in Texas, where the punishments instead expose providers to steep fines and revocation of their medical licenses.
Paxton’s office said in a statement that Dr. May Lau and Dr. M. Brett Cooper, the other accused physicians, will “face justice for hurting Texas kids both physically and mentally.” Their attorneys didn’t offer comment Wednesday.
“Attorney General Paxton will continue to bring the full force of the law against the delusional, left-wing medical professionals guilty of forcing ‘gender’ insanity on our children,” Paxton’s office said.
Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has sought to position himself as a national leader among the GOP’s ascendant hard right and is running for the U.S. Senate.
Trump, in his second term, has launched a broad charge against transgender rights, moving to reverse years of legal and policy gains for transgender Americans. Even in states where the care is allowed under state law, major hospitals and hospital systems have said they were stopping or restricting the care.
Harper Seldin, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, said that even when a lawsuit is dropped, it still takes “an enormous toll” on those who have to defend themselves.
“I think this continues to be best understood as part of the Texas AG’s campaign to intimidate medical providers,” he said.
Granados said he was meticulous in halting gender-affirming care for youth before Texas’ ban took effect. He said that before the ban, treating transgender youth was just an extension of his practice that treats youth with diabetes, growth problems and early puberty.
He said that after the ban, he did continue to prescribe puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy, but that those treatments were not for gender transition. Granados said they were for youth with endocrine disorders, which occur when hormone levels are too high or too low.
Texas’ lawsuit against Granados called him a “scofflaw who is harming the health and safety of Texas children.” It referenced a 2015 news article about transgender care that quoted Granados and medical articles he had written on the topic. Also listed in the lawsuit were details on unnamed patients, including their ages and what they had been prescribed, including testosterone.
In a court document filed in Cooper’s case, an attorney in Paxton’s office said they had subpoenaed provider reports for the doctor’s testosterone prescriptions from the Texas Prescription Monitoring Program.
Granados’ attorney, Mark Bracken, said that after entering into an agreed protective order with the state, they were able to confidentially produce patient records to show Granados had complied with the law.
Peter Salib, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, said that it’s “unusual” for a state to drop a case due to lack of violations after filing a lawsuit.
“They have a lot of opportunity to find out what is going on before they decide to bring a lawsuit,” he said.
Granados said he’s grateful to no longer have the lawsuit on the back of his mind.
“It always puts a toll on you and how you feel,” he said.
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