Texas Pediatrician Sued by Paxton for Transgender Treatments

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) sued a Dallas pediatrician he says prescribed medication to 21 minor patients, in violation of the state’s ban on treatments to children for the purposes of changing sexes.

Dr. May C. Lau mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and patients by falsifying records indicating the use of puberty blockers are for something other than transitioning sexes, Paxton alleged.

“Lau is a scofflaw who is putting the health and safety of minors at risk by prescribing testosterone, a controlled substance, to biological female minors for the purposes of transitioning their biological sex or affirming their belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their biological sex,” Paxton’s lawyers wrote in a lawsuit filed Thursday in state court.

Lau, an employee of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. She holds hospital privileges at Children’s Medical Center Dallas and Children’s Medical Center Plano, the suit said.

The lawsuit was filed in Collin County, where some of the patients live, and where Paxton lived during his time serving in the Texas legislature. Paxton’s lawyers are seeking an injunction against Lau and a judgment that she pay $10,000 per violation.

The suit is the first Paxton has brought against a physician under S.B. 14, the 2023 state law banning medical treatment for the purpose of transitioning a child’s sex or affirming their belief that their gender identity is inconsistent with their sex.

Paxton’s lawyers vigorously defended the law in court, ultimately securing a final victory when the Texas Supreme Court reversed a trial court’s injunction in June. The law has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2023.

The lawsuit says Paxton’s lawyers examined Lau’s medical records before bringing the claims. Lau lists some of her patients as male, but Paxton’s lawyers believe they were born female, and Lau prescribed testosterone for the purposes of transitioning, the suit says.

Lau also wrote prescriptions to patients prior to the state ban taking effect with orders to fill or refill the prescriptions after it took effect, the suit alleges.

Before the law went on the books, Paxton was already cracking down on child transition care. He released a formal opinion in 2022 concluding sex reassignment procedures can be investigated as child abuse. He served records requests on multiple Texas children’s hospitals he said he suspected of providing banned treatments, and on a LGBTQ+ nonprofit he said he believes has knowledge of medical providers engaging in insurance fraud by purposefully mislabeling gender affirming care treatments as something else.

The case is Texas v. Lau, Tex. Dist. Ct., case number unavailable, petition 10/17/24.