Texas legislators in 2023 passed a law banning hormone treatments and surgeries on minors. That was in response to a report from journalist-activist Christopher Rufo. Haim had come forward silently as Rufo’s chief source.
It was September 2022, and Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton had already publicly stated that it would be considered “child abuse” under state law for any health care practitioners who performed gender-manipulation surgeries or prescribed gender-manipulation drugs to minors.
Texas Children’s Hospital responded with its own announcement that it would end gender-manipulation procedures.
That, however, wasn’t the end of the story. Haim discovered the hospital was continuing forward, albeit in a quieter manner. He felt compelled to do something.
The Department of Justice felt compelled to respond and is now pursuing Haim on criminal charges.
But they’re not only harassing Haim.
FBI agents have also threatened Vanessa Sivadge, a nurse at Texas Children’s Hospital, after she came forward with knowledge of alleged Medicaid fraud related to gender procedures for minors at the hospital, The Family Research Council reported on Washington Watch Thursday.
Sivadge first came forward in May of 2023.
As a young nurse, “I quickly saw that the number of transgender patients was increasing, and over time I was being asked to do things that were against my beliefs and against my faith,” she said.
Because of her experiences she knew Rufo’s information was correct. “I was seeing it at my own clinic,” she said.
Soon Sivadge was Rufo’s source in a second Texas Children’s story, one alleging Medicaid fraud by two of the hospital’s leading physicians, Drs. Richard Ogden Roberts and David Paul. The allegation is they cut corners and committed fraud to secure funds for the hospital’s – illegal by state law -- sex-change program.
“On one occasion, Dr. Roberts asked me to teach a healthy teenage boy how to administer estrogen injections to himself. At the time, I didn't realize what I was teaching him to do, but after thinking about it later, it dawned on me that he was going to go home and do it, to give himself estrogen,” Sivadge, a former FRC intern, told show host Tony Perkins.
Estrogen is a steroid hormone that plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of female reproductive organs and secondary sexual characteristics. It is responsible for regulating various physiological processes in the body.
That FBI knock on the door
It was late July of last year when two FBI agents knocked on Sivadge’s door while she was entertaining guests at home.
“At the time we were hosting friends for dinner. We were in a totally different headspace. I go to the front door, and I hear them saying my name and pulling out their badges, you know, very clearly from the FBI,” she said.
The agents told Sivadge they knew of her opposition to transgender medicine. They told her she was a person of interest in the investigation of Haim, although she neither knew Hiam nor had ever met him.
“I had no idea who he was,” she said.
The agents told Sivadge she was a person of interest in the investigation of a “leaker” who had released classified patient information to the public. They wanted Sivadge to help expose Haim.
“That’s when I knew they were lying because in that article with Christopher Rufo, all the patient information had been redacted and blacked out. So that was a lie,” Sivadge said.
The agents then threatened Sivadge with potential harm not from them but from other sources.
“They said I wasn’t safe at my job. They said someone at my job had given them my name and that I wasn’t safe. I think they believed that because I was aligned with the whistleblower testimony and that I corroborated that they could intimidate me into helping them,” Sivadge said.
Sivadge, frightened by her interaction with FBI agents, returned to work. Soon she noticed paperwork discrepancies and “red flags” regarding funds for Medicaid, a joint state-federal program that provides low-cost or no-cost insurance for those in need.
“I noticed that Texas Children’s was illegally using Medicaid to cover transgender surgeries and hormone treatments. Under the Texas Medicaid policy, which is available online, that’s not covered,” Sivadge said.
She also noticed the misdiagnosing of patients for the purpose of justifying puberty blockers.
Where does it stand?
Sivadge is unclear if Texas Children’s is continuing these practices. She’s had no other nurses share similar concerns with her privately.
She has yet to open the door for a second FBI visit from but is steeling herself for that possibility.
“Unfortunately, we've seen more and more examples of people of faith who experience the overreach of the federal government just for acting in accordance with what they believe,” she said.
