DALLAS — Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing another Dallas doctor for allegedly prescribing hormones to minors to transition their biological sex.
The lawsuit Paxton’s office announced Friday marks the third doctor sued under a Texas law, Senate Bill 14, that took effect in 2023 that bans health care providers from providing “gender transition” care to minors.
Dr. M. Brett Cooper, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center and an adolescent medicine physician at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, is named as the defendant in the lawsuit Paxton’s office announced Friday, court records show.
The lawsuit alleges Cooper unlawfully prescribed hormone therapy drugs to minors and falsified medical records to hide the prescriptions. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Collin County, court records show.
“Despite the enactment of the law, Cooper continues to prescribe and distribute cross-sex hormones to his minor patients for the purposes of transitioning their biological sex or affirming their belief that their gender identify or sex is inconsistent with their biological sex – writing unlawful prescriptions for the drugs as recently as September 25, 2024, with patients filling those unlawful prescriptions as recently as October 8, 2024,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit seeks a temporary and permanent injunction against Cooper, as well as civil penalties, attorney’s fees and costs, court filings show.
In response to the lawsuit, Children's Health said in a statement that it follows all state health care laws.
"Our top priority is the health and well-being of our patients," the statement said. "Children's Health follows and adheres to all state health care laws."
Cooper is the second doctor Paxton sued under Senate Bill 14 that works at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Paxton filed a lawsuit in October against May Lau, a professor in the Pediatrics Department at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Medical Director of the Adolescent and Young Adult clinic at Children’s Medical Center, court filings show.
Later in October, Paxton also sued Dr. Hector Granados, an El Paso pediatric endocrinologist.
