A Christian nurse who claims she was recently terminated from her job at Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH) in Houston for exposing alleged Medicaid fraud related to transgender procedures for minors says she sees her situation as part of a spiritual conflict.
“I am a Christian, and my faith is the foundation of everything,” Vanessa Sivadge told The Christian Post. “That’s the reason why I’ve spoken out as I have.”
Sivadge claimed TCH fired her on Aug. 16 for exposing alleged Medicaid fraud at the country’s largest children’s hospital, which she said was using federal funds to cover cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for minors in violation of Texas law, according to an exclusive statement provided to journalist Christopher Rufo.
Sivadge came forward to Rufo last year to claim TCH was pushing “gender-affirming care” on young patients while ignoring their underlying psychological problems.
Sivadge approached Rufo following his May 2023 story about Dr. Eithan Haim, who leaked medical records suggesting that TCH continued to prescribe puberty blockers for children with gender dysphoria despite claiming otherwise.
The U.S. Department of Justice slapped Haim with four felony counts in June for obtaining “personal information including patient names, treatment codes and the attending physician from Texas Children’s Hospital’s (TCH) electronic system without authorization,” according to a DOJ press release.
Haim and Rufo claim the patient was redacted from the documents he leaked.
In her most recent statement, Sivadge told Rufo that she requested a religious accommodation at the hospital on May 31 that would have transferred her out of the endocrinology clinic, where she alleges she was forced into “indirect participation in the care of children on cross-sex hormones.”
She asked to be transferred back to her core competency at the cardiology unit, where such ideology was not prevalent.
“This past Friday on August 16, TCH fired me effective immediately,” Sivadge wrote. “This is unlawful for two reasons: it is retaliation for my coming forward with information on TCH’s egregious pattern of deception and Medicaid fraud, and this action also illegally disregarded my request to transfer due to my belief that these procedures bring irreversible harm and lifelong regret to children confused about their sex.”
Sivadge said she doesn’t know Haim and that her situation differs from his because she hasn’t yet faced federal charges, though she noted that federal law enforcement have shown up at her home.
Two weeks after Rufo published Sivadge’s anonymous whistleblowing last year, two FBI agents appeared at her door, according to footage Rufo posted to X in June.
The video shows special agents Paul Nixon and David McBride showing up at Sivadge’s home while sporting blue jeans and telling her they wanted to speak about “some of the things that have been going on at [her] work lately.” They quipped they hoped they were not “interrupting dinner.”
