An attorney representing foster care children in a suit against Texas said Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw’s conclusion that there was no evidence of sexual abuse despite the investigation into the photos was “both surprising and extremely troubling.”
Health care
In-depth reporting on public health, healthcare policy, hospitals, and wellness issues shaping communities across Texas, from The Texas Tribune.
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Transgender Texans
Ken Paxton, lawyers for parents of trans kids disagree on whether child abuse investigations can continue
Paxton tweeted Friday that investigations into parents of transgender children would continue as a result of his appeal. But the state’s child welfare agency won’t confirm the status of the investigations.
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Health care
Video: As more Texans die from fentanyl overdoses, advocates and experts urge harm reduction policies
Alyssa Pastrana was 21 years old when she died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at her home in Abilene.
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Transgender Texans
His public custody battle helped ignite a movement against transgender health care for kids. Will it carry him to the Texas House?
Jeff Younger sees himself as the “tip of the spear” in an effort that led the state to investigate parents of transgender children for child abuse.
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Texas Abortion Restrictions
Texas Supreme Court deals final blow to federal abortion law challenge
The U.S. Supreme Court left abortion providers only the narrowest avenue to challenge the ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Friday’s Texas Supreme Court ruling has effectively ended that federal legal challenge.
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Transgender Texans
Judge temporarily blocks Texas investigations into families of trans kids
District Judge Amy Clark Meachum said the governor’s directive for the state child welfare agency to investigate parents who provide gender-affirming care to their children was “beyond the scope of his authority and unconstitutional.” The statewide injunction will remain in effect until the case is heard in July.
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Transgender Texans
Political pressure led to shutdown of Texas’ largest gender-affirming care program
Hospital administrators and doctors at GENECIS struggled to reconcile halting care with the knowledge that doing so could severely jeopardize patients’ mental health, recordings of internal meetings show.
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Transgender Texans
Analysis: Texas officials bully transgender kids for political points
Lucky for them, Texas officials probably can’t be prosecuted for bullying under the state’s education laws. The gist of those laws, however, is crystal clear, and so is the effect of their actions and rhetoric about gender-affirming health care.
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Health care
University of Texas Medical Branch names school for 19th-century Galveston magnate John Sealy
Sealy and his family have donated more than $1 billion over the past 100 years to UTMB and its medical institutions.
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Transgender Texans
Court upholds order stopping child abuse investigation into Texas trans teen’s family
The appeals court’s decision allows a lower court to hold a hearing on whether Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to investigate certain gender-affirming care as child abuse can stand.