KAUFMAN, Texas — April 13, 2025
KAUFMAN, Texas — April 13, 2025
In a case that places Kaufman County at the center of one of the most divisive legal and cultural battles in Texas, the State has filed a high-profile lawsuit against an El Paso doctor accused of violating the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
Dr. Hector M. Granados, a pediatric endocrinologist serving hundreds of families in far West Texas, is being sued by the Office of Attorney General Ken Paxton. The lawsuit alleges that Granados continued to prescribe puberty blockers and testosterone to minors after the enactment of Senate Bill 14, which prohibits such care for anyone under 18. The law took effect on September 1, 2023.
Filed in Kaufman County District Court, the case alleges Granados disguised gender transition treatments under the medical billing code for “precocious puberty,” a legitimate but unrelated diagnosis. The state claims this was done to avoid detection by insurers and regulators.
The lawsuit seeks over $1 million in penalties and a permanent injunction against Granados. Court records also show the state has accused the doctor of falsifying prescriptions, diagnoses, and billing records.
Why Kaufman County?
The decision to file the case in Kaufman County—over 600 miles from Granados’s clinic—hinges on one detail: one of the unnamed patients allegedly resides in this county.
That connection, while legally sufficient, has raised eyebrows. Experts suggest it’s part of a broader legal strategy.
“Filing this case in Kaufman County reflects more than geography,” said a legal scholar from Southern Methodist University, speaking to The Texas Tribune. “It reflects a political and legal strategy.”
A Motion to Transfer Venue to El Paso is set for June 25, 2025, and trial is set in October.
State’s Claims
The Attorney General’s Office has pointed to prescriptions allegedly written by Granados as late as August 19, 2024, and filled as recently as October 12, 2024. The lawsuit includes claims related to 21 minors, aged 12 to 17, who allegedly received gender-affirming medications.
“Texas is cracking down on doctors illegally prescribing dangerous ‘gender transition’ drugs to children,” Paxton said in an October 30 news release. “State law forbids prescribing these interventions to minors because they have irreversible and damaging effects. Any physician found doing so will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law” (Texas Attorney General’s Office).
Doctor’s Defense: ‘I Follow the Law’
Granados, who has served as a pediatric endocrinologist in El Paso since 2014, denies the accusations and says his clinic ceased providing gender-affirming care months before the law went into effect.
“I was always respectful of the law, and I will continue to be because we follow what it specifically mandates,” Granados told El Paso Matters in a January 2025 interview. “You’re not able to provide transgender care to minors. We stopped.”
Granados says he began discharging affected patients after SB 14 passed in May 2023 to ensure compliance and avoid risking his medical license. His attorney, Mark Bracken, has filed a motion to move the case to El Paso County, arguing that all the medical treatment occurred there.
“The law is clear with these types of claims—if it’s filed, it has to be where the health care was provided, and all the health care was provided here,” Bracken said in the same El Paso Matters report.
A hearing on the venue change is scheduled for June 26, 2025. The trial is currently set for October 28, 2025, in Kaufman County.
A Community Left in Limbo
Granados is one of only two pediatric endocrinologists in El Paso County, serving patients from across West Texas, southern New Mexico, and even Ciudad Juárez. According to El Paso Matters, he sees up to 28 patients per day and handles approximately 200 new referrals every month.
Families fear the lawsuit may jeopardize their access to specialized care. One local mother, Jennifer Oguete, whose daughter is being treated for Type 1 diabetes, expressed her concern in an interview with El Paso Matters.
“There’s not very many doctors that will see a child under the age of 12 here,” she said. “If he’s forced to stop practicing, I don’t know what we’ll do.”
Implications Beyond the Courtroom
Granados is not the only physician targeted under SB 14. The Attorney General’s Office has filed similar lawsuits across Texas, using consumer protection laws to challenge providers of gender-affirming care. Critics say these cases reflect not just legal enforcement, but a coordinated political campaign.
And for the families involved, the courtroom in Kaufman County now stands at the crossroads of law, politics, and deeply personal healthcare decisions.
