Trump rescinds Biden order protecting gender clinics from investigation, signals new whistleblower protections

The Trump administration is rescinding a Biden-era directive protecting hospitals from investigations and signaled that beefed-up protections for medical whistleblowers would be forthcoming.

"Under the Biden regime, the door for whistleblowers was closed," said Dr. Eithan Haim, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration after he leaked documents to the media that revealed Texas Children's Hospital in Houston was performing transgender medical procedures on minors, even after it said it had stopped. "It was a complete inversion of the role of HHS, the role of our legal framework, because the criminal entities were being protected and the individuals exposing criminal entities were now the ones being targeted."

Haim was indicted last year by Biden's Department of Justice for blowing the whistle on Texas Children's Hospital, after it continued to provide transgender medical treatments to minors even though the hospital had publicly indicated it had stopped such services in order to comply with new state guidance. Several days after President Donald Trump was sworn in, the charges against Haim were dropped. 

"Covered entities should no longer rely on the rescinded 2022 OCR Notice and Guidance," stated HHS' rescission notice. It added that "in consultation with the Attorney General" the agency will also be "expeditiously" issuing new guidance to protect whistleblowers who take action in accordance with Trump's efforts to protect children "from chemical and surgical mutilation." 

"The key thing with this new directive is that, as a healthcare provider, if a hospital or other doctors are participating in misconduct, if they're lying about something, if they are intervening on patients in a way that is harmful to those patients - especially kids - as a doctor, it's not only something you should do, it's something you have to do," Haim pointed out.

Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.