Texas surgeon likens 'gender-affirming care' to lobotomies: 'In no way is this medicine'

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland. — A whistleblower who exposed a children's hospital for lying about prescribing puberty blockers to children likened sex-change surgeries and hormone treatments to lobotomies, a procedure he noted society eventually came to view as "barbaric." 

General surgeon Dr. Eithan Haim spoke at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference during a panel titled "Genesis 1:27," named after the Bible verse that states God created men and women in "his own image." Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, also appeared on the panel, while Daily Caller reporter Meg Brock served as the moderator. 

During the panel, Haim discussed how he blew the whistle on the Houston-based Texas Children's Hospital, where he completed his surgical residency. The doctor provided journalist Christopher Rufo with internal documents showing that the hospital was continuing to conduct so-called "gender-affirming services" on minors despite telling the public it had paused such procedures. 

Haim said that after he exposed the hospital, federal agents showed up at his door to tell him that he was now under criminal investigation for his actions. 

Brock asked the surgeon why he decided to blow the whistle on the hospital, and Haim replied that he took an oath as a doctor to "do no harm." He said he felt a responsibility to do something. 

In response to a question about how trans activists argue sex-change surgeries and puberty blockers are medically necessary for people suffering from gender dysphoria, Haim declared, "In no way is this medicine." 

The surgeon stated that it is not possible to treat a psychological issue with a "solution of the body," likening so-called "gender-affirming care" to lobotomies.

Introduced in the 1930s, lobotomies became a popular brain procedure that some believed could be a cure for mental illness. According to a 2013 paper by Mercer University School of Medicine Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery (ret.) Miguel A. Faria, Jr., an estimated 60,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States and Europe between 1936 and 1956. 

As Haim noted, society finally recognized the procedure as "barbaric."

The whistleblower called on “good people” to speak up, claiming that trans ideology is “evil” and doctors are attempting to “play God.” 

"The actual goal of medicine is to preserve and strengthen what has already been created," he said. 

Haim believes doctors are hesitant to speak up because they fear for their livelihoods. He warned that the silence from doctors fearful of losing their jobs is a "miscalculation" on their part.

Haim contends that if more doctors don't speak up, then the world they will deliver to their children will be "much more dangerous." The surgeon stated that the "longer this goes on, the worse it gets." 

At one point during the panel, Schilling made a similar statement when he called on Republicans to stand against trans ideology, adding that they must care about values and not just winning elections. 

The conservative activist also highlighted a 2022 report the group released titled "The Transgender Leviathan." The report cited an analysis by Global Market Insights, which estimated that the "global market valuation" for sex-change surgeries will exceed $1.5 billion by 2026. 

"This is about control, and ultimately, this is about the destruction of biological sex," Schilling said in response to a question from Brock about how trans activists have branded themselves as a civil rights movement.