Texas AG Ken Paxton sues another Dallas doctor under transgender health care law

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued a third doctor under the state’s transgender health care law, which bans medical providers from giving “gender transition” care to minors.

Paxton’s office announced on Friday that the attorney general is suing Dr. M. Brett Cooper, a Dallas doctor who has publicly pushed back against the state’s ban and who provided a sworn statement for a legal challenge to the ban.

Paxton’s lawsuit alleges that Cooper provided hormone therapy drugs to minors and falsified medical records to hide the prescriptions. Paxton’s office filed the suit in Collin County district court on Monday.

Cooper works at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and has hospital privileges at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. He’s the third doctor Paxton has sued in recent weeks, and the second who works at UT Southwestern and Children’s Health.

A spokesperson for Children’s Health did not address any specifics of the lawsuit against Cooper, but sent a short statement.

“Our top priority is the health and well-being of our patients,” the statement said. “Children’s Health follows and adheres to all state health care laws.”

In October, Paxton sued another doctor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who also works at Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Later that month, Paxton also sued a doctor in El Paso.

The three lawsuits are the first enforcement actions that the attorney general has taken under Senate Bill 14, which went into effect in September 2023. The bill bans a wide array of medical treatments for transgender youth, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies.

Paxton’s filing against Cooper lists 15 minor patients who the doctor allegedly prescribed testosterone after the state’s ban on gender-affirming care went into effect.

Paxton’s legal filing against Cooper also indicates that the attorney general targeted Cooper in part because of his outspoken advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community.

The filing notes that Cooper provided a sworn statement in support of the families and medical providers who sued the state of Texas over the gender-affirming health care ban.

The filing also lists various publications that Cooper either wrote or was quoted in, which primarily advocate for empathetic treatment of LGBTQ+ patients. The filing also includes screenshots from Cooper’s social media on X, formerly Twitter, in which he criticizes Texas’ gender-affirming health care ban and also criticizes Paxton’s enforcement of the ban.

Texas politicians who support the ban have hailed it as a necessary protection for the state’s youth. But medical providers and medical associations have publicly opposed such bans, and LGBTQ+ advocates have said Texas’ ban inflicts significant harm on trans youth.

The American Medical Association has publicly opposed bans on gender-affirming medical care for several years. The association has raised concerns about the government interfering with individual health care decisions generally, and has also pointed to research showing that gender-affirming care improves quality of life for transgender people.

The ACLU of Texas has raised the same concerns, too, and was part of a group that sued over Texas’ ban. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the state law in an 8-1 decision over the summer.

Paxton’s suits against doctors are the latest in a string of Texas politicians’ moves targeting LGBTQ+ people, particularly when children are involved. In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott directed state agencies to treat reports of gender-affirming care for minors as “child abuse.” And in 2023, the Texas legislature passed a law criminalizing explicit drag shows when children are present; A federal judge ruled later in the year that the law was unconstitutional.

This story has been updated to include comment from Children’s Health. A representative for UT Southwestern Medical Center did not immediately provide comment.