A Steep Price

Sometimes there are causes for which we speak out boldly, sometimes we create causes that we have no business talking about.  We have to determine, as it's been said, "the hill to die on."   We have to allow the Lord to show us what is important and how best to leverage our spiritual energy in order to make an impact in this world.  And, we have to avoid distractions.  Before the 31st chapter of Proverbs describes the righteous woman, there is a morsel of Scripture contained within the preceding two verses:
8 Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute.
9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

A young doctor in Texas took a bold stand for a worthy cause.  And, he paid the price for it. He's now attempting to repair the damage.  As The Daily Citizen of Focus on the Family reported:  "Eithan Haim exposed Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) secret 'transgender' medical program in 2023. Now, he is suing the hospital for malicious prosecution."  The article goes on to say:

Haim’s complaint alleges TCH, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and their representatives fed false information about Haim to government officials, resulting in the Department of Justice (DOJ) wrongfully indicting him for violating patient privacy laws.

Haim’s coworkers lied, the filing argues, to punish him for sending redacted medical documents to investigative journalist Christopher Rufo. The information showed TCH continued performing sex-rejecting medical procedures on children long after it claimed to stop in March 2022.

The DOJ dropped its case early last year - Haim could have gone to jail for up to 10 years and paid $250,000 in fines.  Already, according to the article, he and his wife have spent their life's savings in pursuit of justice.

The Daily Citizen reports:

The DOJ charged Dr. Haim with four felony HIPAA violations in May 2024. The original indictment alleged:

• Haim improperly accessed TCH’s medical records long after his work with the hospital ended in January 2021.
• Haim released private patient information to Rufo in violation of HIPAA.

Both claims proved false. Dr. Haim worked with adult and pediatric patients at TCH through April 2023. In a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the hospital admitted it gave Haim access to the records he viewed while employed there.

Haim also redacted all identifying patient details in the photos he exported to Rufo. Though prosecutor Tina Ansari claimed the government possessed other evidence showing Haim disclosed private patient information, such evidence never materialized.

The article says that Haim "...is the first American charged with a felony HIPAA violation absent evidence he sold or otherwise profited from sharing patient information."  The lawsuit, funded by Elon Musk, who has become a leading advocate against sex-change surgeries based on personal experience with his son, claims, "TCH and BCM searched for a sympathetic prosecutor to throw the book at Haim because they wanted to punish him for revealing the hospital’s secret, sex-rejecting medical program."

The Daily Citizen plainly states, "Sex-rejecting procedures harm minors. Dr. Eithan Haim performed a brave, honorable and selfless service by revealing TCH’s secret perpetuation of these devastating interventions. He has suffered greatly for it."

Eithan Haim possessed conviction - what he saw regarding these gender-change treatments, in violation of Texas law - needed to be exposed.  He risked his career to "blow the whistle," to bring what was shamefully done in darkness into the light of day.

We can consider in our lives what's important to us.  Unfortunately, we can become deceived that our voice is not important or distracted in pursuing other things that may not be important in the light of eternity.  1st Peter 5 directs us to be "sober-minded," recognizing the work of the enemy.  

In some circles of our culture, we find a total lack of unseriousness.  People get worked up over so many things that don't matter and ignore things that really do.  We have to be careful not to attach greater meaning to silly things and consider how God would have us to respond to trends and actions in our culture.

Eithan Haim teaches us that we should stand strong in the face of evil.  Mutilating children because they are duped into believing they were born in the wrong body or "assigned" the wrong gender at birth reflects a culture that will stop at nothing to pursue a harmful agenda. Our voices, as believers in Christ, count.  We can be confident in the Lord to direct us in ways that can effectively communicate His heart.