Abbott threatens to pull funding from hospital after doctor’s TikTok

(NewsNation) — Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull funding from Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine after a doctor in Houston said patients don’t have to answer whether they’re U.S. citizens on intake documents.

An executive order signed by Abbott went into effect on Nov. 1 requiring Texas public hospitals to ask for information from undocumented immigrants and report that data to the state. Critics fear the change could scare people away from hospitals in the state, but Texas Children’s Hospital says they are following the order.

However, Tony Pastor, a doctor at Texas’s Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, posted a TikTok saying patients do not have to answer this question and legally don’t need to disclose their immigration status.

That TikTok went viral, getting over a million views before being taken down, though Pastor told NewsNation he did not expect it to. Abbott responded to it on X, telling Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor College of Medicine, “This doctor is putting your Medicaid and Medicare funding at risk.”

“You better think twice and have crystal clear records,” Abbott said. “There will be consequences for failing to follow the law in the Executive Order.”

Texas Children’s Hospital said in a statement that it fully supports the order and is in “full compliance” with it.

“While we recognize that individuals working at Texas Children’s hold their own personal views on many topics, those opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of Texas Children’s Hospital,” the statement said.

Pastor told NewsNation that he had decided not to speak further on this topic.

“I decided to not speak further on this topic because I care too much about patients to certainly risk it,” he said.