A Texas nurse who blew the whistle on the nation’s largest children’s hospital for allegedly using Medicaid to provide free sex-reassignment surgery to children now claims the FBI has stormed into her home and threatened her.
Vanessa Sivaj Said Investigative journalist Christopher Rufo has witnessed a sharp increase in “transgender children” receiving treatment at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) since 2021, and accused the employer of violating state law by using tax money to provide “gender reassignment treatment.”
“In the cardiac clinic, we were bringing in sick kids and making them better,” the nurse told Rufo. “In the transgender clinic, it was the opposite: we were harming these kids.”
Two months after they first spoke, Sivaggi called Rufo “in a panic.”
“The FBI sent two special agents, Paul Nixon and David McBride, to her home,” the journalist said. I have written his blog“The agent knocked on the door and told her, [her] “I haven’t had a job lately.’ He asked me to come inside. She was terrified.”
Sivaj was an anonymous whistleblower who spoke out about TCH’s child sex-rearing program in an interview with me last year, after which she says the FBI sent two agents to her home and threatened her. pic.twitter.com/ZSInVH3zrv
— Christopher F. Rufo⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) June 18, 2024
The nurse claims that Nixon and McBride told her she was a “material person of interest” in an investigation into a whistleblower who exposed TCH’s transgender children’s program and that she was informed that the whistleblower was violating federal privacy laws.
“They threatened me,” Sivaggi said, “and threatened to make my life difficult if I tried to protect the leakers. They said I was ‘unsafe’ at work and claimed someone at work had given my name to the FBI.”
When contacted by Rufo, the FBI declined to comment.
Sivaji is the second TCH employee to blow the whistle. Dr. Ethan Heim Leaked The hospital provided documentation proving it continued to administer puberty blockers and other gender-affirming treatments to children “even after the hospital announced it had stopped providing these procedures in March 2022.” Daily Mail report.
Haim alleges that just a month after he leaked the documents to Rufo, the FBI came to his home and informed him that he was a “potential target” of a federal investigation.
“I was given an investigative order signed by the federal prosecutor and told I was under criminal investigation for an incident related to medical records,” the doctor said.
Heim said the FBI agents’ visit to his home was a “blatant attempt at political intimidation.”
in interview With Fox News’ Surgeon General Laura Ingraham he Targeted Because he “spoke the truth.”
“Because I speak the truth, that’s one reason. If you go against the dominant political ideology, they come after you,” Heim said. “At some point, we have to fight it.”
He also claimed his life’s savings had “wiped away” because he had to pay lawyers fighting for him.
Haim recently Indicted The Associated Press reported that the company was sued for allegedly violating HIPAA medical privacy laws.
Federal prosecutors charged that the 34-year-old gave the documents to Rufo with “malicious intent to inflict harm” on his employer.
Heim pleaded not guilty on Monday.
When Governor Rufo questioned allegations that Medicaid was being used to pay for children’s gender-transition surgery, a Texas Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson asserted that the state’s public health program “has never covered ‘gender reassignment’ surgery or prescription drugs for ‘gender reassignment’ care.”
Rufo Confirmed On Wednesday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said he was investigating the allegations against TCH.
“This investigation has two possible outcomes: civil and criminal,” the journalist wrote.
“If the state were to file a civil lawsuit against Texas Children’s, the hospital could lose a lot of money and, in the worst case scenario, could lose its eligibility for state Medicaid coverage,” Rufo explained.
“If the state decides to bring criminal charges, the doctors involved could face heavy fines and up to 10 years in prison.”
State Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Ill.) called for emergency hearings to investigate “federal officials who harass whistleblowers and may be aiding and abetting the child abuse they bravely expose.”
I am now #translation A House investigation into federal officials who harass whistleblowers and may be aiding and abetting the child abuse they bravely expose. https://t.co/Y0A4QISzjU
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) June 19, 2024
“This is really awful. [the] “Rather than targeting the medical professionals who were abusing Texas children, the Department of Justice appears to be protecting them by silencing those who stand up against this abusive and illegal practice,” Harrison said in a letter to House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-S.C.
🚨 #translation The House must not allow the Biden Administration to aid and abet child abuse and Medicaid fraud by prosecuting whistleblowers.
I would like to ask the chairman Dade Phelan Immediately hold public hearings to investigate federal officials and hospital leadership.
To do nothing is to be complicit. pic.twitter.com/k0KxkBvzLQ
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) June 19, 2024
“The Texas House of Representatives cannot sit idly by and tolerate the abuse of federal power,” the state legislators continued.
“Texas must lead the nation in protecting future generations and our state’s sovereignty.”
