Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Dr. M. Brett Cooper for illegally providing over a dozen children with cross-sex hormones.
Dr. Cooper is an assistant professor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern. He also has hospital privileges at the Children’s Medical Center Dallas.
The suit states that Cooper prescribed cross-sex hormones to 15 children ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old as recently as early October.
“Texas has prohibited doctors from prescribing these damaging and unfounded ‘gender transition’ drugs to children,” stated Paxton. “These medical professionals cannot willfully ignore the law and endanger the health of young people.”
Cooper is also accused of altering patient medical records, prescriptions, and billing records to mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and patients about his illegal practices.
Paxton filed two similar lawsuits last month against doctors in El Paso and Dallas. Both doctors were allegedly prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to children.
Doctors are prohibited from prescribing children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of “gender transitions” due to the passage of Senate Bill 14. The law also prohibits juvenile gender mutilation surgeries. It was passed in spring 2023 and took effect the following September.
The Texas Medical Board is directed to revoke the license or authorization to practice medicine of any doctor who violates this law.
“By banning these dangerous and experimental treatments for minors, Texas is ensuring that children receive the opportunity to resolve temporary feelings of discomfort and confusion about their biological sex with time and therapeutic support—without being pressured by radical gender activists to undergo irreversible medical procedures before they are capable of comprehending the significant life-long consequences,” the lawsuit against Cooper reads.
The law was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court this past summer, reversing an order issued by a Travis County trial court that temporarily blocked the ban imposed by SB 14.
UT Southwestern did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment on the lawsuit against Dr. Cooper.
