Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, just getting things situated here in the studio.
We're not doing yet. We still got a little time
to go before we sign off with you this morning.
We've had a lot of guests this morning, and of
all the people I've spoken to, and I've spoken to
some brilliant people this morning, some really hilarious, fantastic comedians, journalists,
fascinating people. But I've been looking forward to this interview
all morning long. My next guest is a whistleblower. She
(00:26):
was a nurse at the largest children's hospital in the world,
and she blew the whistle on taxpayer dollars, your money,
your money, radio listener being used to cover cross sex hormones.
Her family has taken a hit for her speaking out.
It has caused a lot of problems for her. But
(00:47):
rather than me tell you the story, I'd love to
hear it from her. Ladies and gentlemen on the line
right now, Vanessa Savitch, Vanessa, thanks so much for your
time this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How you doing. I'm doing well. Thank you so much
for having me and for amplifying my story.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
This is a really I mean, it's interesting, but it's
also so concerning. Let's start off with this how'd you
get into nursing? Give us just the short cliff notes
on that. Why did you want to go out and
help children?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah? I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I'm
a Texas girl and volunteered at local hospitals in high
school and just was really interested in the nursing profession.
So I went to nursing school and graduated in twenty
fifteen and landed what I thought was going to be
my dream job at Texas Children's Hospital in twenty eighteen,
(01:35):
and I received the bulk of my training for the
first couple of years in the cardiology department, which is
currently still the number one cardiology center in the world
for pediatrics.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
And so obviously you wanted to help kids and you
got there. How long were you a nurse for before
things got weird?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, in twenty twenty one, I transferred to a pediatric
a multi specialty clinic, and that clinic was seeing transgender
patients minors by doctor Richard Roberts, and I was a
clinic nurse. I was, you know, having many interactions with
parents of these children. With doctor Roberts in particular, I
(02:21):
was witnessed to how he prescribed cross ex hormones at
regular visits. How he affirmed the false identities that these
patients had adopted for themselves, that they were very confused
and about their sex, and that they were put on
a path of medical transition, which I believe will lead
(02:42):
to irreversible harm and a lifetime of regret. But in
my opinion, these parents were manipulated and convinced by doctors
like doctor Roberts that this was the best thing, the
best course of action, the best treatment for their child
to go down. And so I came forward anonymously last
(03:02):
May of twenty twenty three to expose that, and to
expose that Texas Children had hidden this transgender program for
the public. They had hidden it from parents and lawmakers.
That was scrubbed from their website. No one knew about
it until a whistleblower before me, who we now know
is doctor Atonheim, came forward to reveal that and I
(03:22):
came forward to affirm his testimony as true because I
was working in the clinic that was providing transgender care
to these children.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, so did you ever think you'd get political? I mean,
this is obviously this doesn't seem like it should be political.
If we went back five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, nobody
would think this was a political issue. But the world's
changed so much in the last few years. Vanessa. When
you got into nursing, did you ever think there would
be anything political about it?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
No, absolutely not. This is to me like putting aside
my Christian faith and my beliefs. I believe that this
is an issue of following the science that boys and girls,
that men and women aren't created biologically distinct, with clear differences,
and in my view, those differences are to be upheld
and affirmed and celebrated, and no amount of hormone therapy
(04:16):
or you know, mutilating surgeries are going to a race
those differences between men and women. And so I just
think that we need to uphold that as true. We
need to uphold an affirm biological truth. And so, because
of what I did last May, I received a visit
from the SBI. In July of twenty twenty three, I
(04:37):
was eating dinner with my family in my home and
I received a knock on my door in which two
federal agents were mobilized from the Department of Justice to
come to my house because they knew what I believed,
and they wanted to coerce and intimidate me into aiding
their investigation into doctor him who had come before me
(04:58):
to expose this transgender program at my hospital. And it
was very terrifying. It was very intimidating, and they thought,
I think that they could intimidate me into helping them
and to silence my voice.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
We know we live in a time when the government
and the legal system have been weaponized against each other.
But as you describe your story to us, Vanessa, it
really doesn't sound like you broke the law. What did
the FBI say to you when they came.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, it was just a normal day, a normal evening.
We were hosting friends, and all of a sudden I
approached my front door and these two FBI agents flash
their badges and they say that they know of my
views against quote unquote gender affirming care and that they
have they are investigating a quote unquote leaker. They did
(05:53):
not call him a whistleblower. They called him a leaker
who had violated HIPPA by releasing patient information to the public.
And that, of course I knew was a lie because
no information, no patient information, was ever revealed to the public.
Everything was redacted and so I knew that they were
(06:14):
lying to me in order to co work me to
help them, and so I decided after that that I
was not going to help them under any circumstances. And
so that's when I came forward just a few months
ago in June to expose that Texas Children not only
hid the existence of this transgender program from the public,
(06:35):
but they are also using exactly how you said it,
American tax dollars to cover cross sex hormones and puberty
blockers and violation of Texas Medicaid policy.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Wow. Look, Vanessa, I mean, you're a healthcare worker. You
understand the science of how these things affect people. Most
of us look at this and we just think it
seems strange, it's creepy, it's bizarre. But you actually understand
the long term damage this does to children when they
undergo this kind of treatment. Can you speak to that
a little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Absolutely? Well. The reality is is that there's a lot
of money to be made with gender affirming care. This
is a highly lucrative industry. The longer a child is
on cross tex hormones, the more damage is, you know, irreversibly,
you know, irreversible, and just their physical the physical characteristics
(07:32):
that undergoes so much change, there's some psychological damage that
occurs with that, and I just ultimately believe that it's
that this is not going to help them long term.
Much of my testimony centers around the fact that many
of these patients have histories of abuse in their past,
(07:54):
many of them are autistic, many of them are depressed
and anxious, and there it's very clear that they're suffering,
and my heart breaks for those children. But I do
not believe that affirming the false identity, that affirming their
confusion and essentially affirming a lie that they've adopted that
they're not comfortable in their body, is going to solve
(08:16):
their problem.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, the autistic thing bothers me the most. A lot
of people don't realize how many of these children have
mental health issues. It's not like it's just a competent
person who believes themselves to be the wrong gender. These
are often people who have a liphany of other issues,
and then on top of it, there's this gender dysphoria,
and there's a doctor somewhere who sees dollar signs in
(08:40):
their pupils, and a parent somewhere that wants to correct
the mistake that God made is if such a thing
as even possible, and juvan Us are so brave for
speaking out about this. But of course there have been
problems and there's been consequences. There's been backlash against you.
Can you talk a little bit about the price that
your family had to pay for this?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah? So on August sixteenths, just a few days ago,
I was fired by Texas Children's Hospital and they it
is clear that they have retaliated against me for blowing
the whistle. I've retained the Burke Law Group to defend
me against this wrongful termination. But you know, I have
(09:20):
legal fees that are mounting, and I'm just a normal
person who's just lost my job, and so I don't
have the resources on my own to challenge this in court.
So I'm asking the public for their support by donating
to my Gifts and Go in order to fight this.
But this is an unlawful retaliation and it's essentially a
(09:41):
consequence for my coming forward with information on the hospital's
egregious pattern of deception and medicaid fraud. Not only that,
but it illegally disregarded a request that I made for
religious reasons. A religious accommodation or class in which I
requested an internal transfer out of the transgender clinic due
(10:02):
to my belief that these procedures bring your versible harm.
So I came forward. I submitted this request in May,
and they ignored this request. And it is you know,
Title seven, which is part of the Civil Rights Act,
protects people like me with religious beliefs in the workplace
against discrimination. And they have their in violation of Title seven,
(10:28):
they you know, retaliated. They discriminated against my religious beliefs.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Vanessa. For those that want to help Vanessa out, and
I really wish you guys would, she has a give
send to go that's it's sort of like go fund me,
but they actually will support conservatives and Christians and it's
a crowd source style website. There's a link to it
on her Twitter account. If you look at my Twitter account,
I just posted a link to her page. So, Vanessa,
(10:55):
if you want to connect with me on there, I've
got a link to Vanessa's page. She's trying to raise
money right now for her legal defense fund. It's called
on gifsend go on the website, it's called Legal Defense
Fund for Nurse Whistleblower, and I mean, just between the
basic needs that her family to survive, not to mention
the lawyers, the exorbitant cost that this is probably going
(11:16):
to amount to. She could certainly use your support, if
anybody could pitch in, you know whatever, five twenty bucks.
I'm sure anything helps. Vanessa. This is such a compelling story.
It's so important for people to hear what is going
on right now. They say that people that get this
kind of treatment spend a million dollars more during their
lifetime on so called healthcare, if that medical treatments, whatever
(11:38):
term you want to use. Then average folks like then,
regular people like you and I, And that's really all
this is about. This is big pharma. This is the corrupt,
evil part side of the medical industry. There's obviously good
people in the medical industry, like you, but there are
terrible people in this country who are driving this movement,
and it is it is all driven by dollar signs.
So I salute you for doing this, And I guess
(12:00):
that's the obvious question that our listeners want to know
from here, is Vanessa, what are you going to do next?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah? Well, I'm super happy and grateful to report that
the House Oversight Committee in Congress just a few weeks
ago released a letter sent a letter opening up a
formal investigation into the misuse of fun at Texas Children's
Hospital as it relates to Medicaid. So that is a
huge victory. And also the Texas Speaker of the House
(12:28):
also sent a letter initiating a probe into the misuse
of funds at the hospital. So I am hoping that
this case, that my story serves as a precedent for
other hospitals that will put them on notice that they
can't violate laws in order to uphold transgender medicine and
(12:49):
to harm children reversibly for life. And I'm also hoping
that other whistleblowers will come forward and will feel empowered,
no matter the consequences, no matter the cost, to speak
out and to expose what's been done behind closed doors.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Vanessa, you are a hero. You are doing God's work.
I think this is so cool. That is the voice
of nurse whistleblower Vanessa Savage, and you can follow her
on ex elon Musk's platform previously known as Twitter. I
just posted a link to her page finder there. If
you could donate, I encourage you to do it. Vanessa,
I am praying for you and your family, your husband
and everybody. You guys are so cool and brave for
(13:27):
doing this. We're so grateful for you today.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Vanessa, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Hey, quick break, folks, I'll be back at a bend
nor listening to the Walton and Johnson Network
All right, just getting things situated here in the studio.
We're not doing yet. We still got a little time
to go before we sign off with you this morning.
We've had a lot of guests this morning, and of
all the people I've spoken to, and I've spoken to
some brilliant people this morning, some really hilarious, fantastic comedians, journalists,
fascinating people. But I've been looking forward to this interview
all morning long. My next guest is a whistleblower. She
(00:26):
was a nurse at the largest children's hospital in the world,
and she blew the whistle on taxpayer dollars, your money,
your money, radio listener being used to cover cross sex hormones.
Her family has taken a hit for her speaking out.
It has caused a lot of problems for her. But
(00:47):
rather than me tell you the story, I'd love to
hear it from her. Ladies and gentlemen on the line
right now, Vanessa Savitch, Vanessa, thanks so much for your
time this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
How you doing. I'm doing well. Thank you so much
for having me and for amplifying my story.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
This is a really I mean, it's interesting, but it's
also so concerning. Let's start off with this how'd you
get into nursing? Give us just the short cliff notes
on that. Why did you want to go out and
help children?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah? I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I'm
a Texas girl and volunteered at local hospitals in high
school and just was really interested in the nursing profession.
So I went to nursing school and graduated in twenty
fifteen and landed what I thought was going to be
my dream job at Texas Children's Hospital in twenty eighteen,
(01:35):
and I received the bulk of my training for the
first couple of years in the cardiology department, which is
currently still the number one cardiology center in the world
for pediatrics.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
And so obviously you wanted to help kids and you
got there. How long were you a nurse for before
things got weird?
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, in twenty twenty one, I transferred to a pediatric
a multi specialty clinic, and that clinic was seeing transgender
patients minors by doctor Richard Roberts, and I was a
clinic nurse. I was, you know, having many interactions with
parents of these children. With doctor Roberts in particular, I
(02:21):
was witnessed to how he prescribed cross ex hormones at
regular visits. How he affirmed the false identities that these
patients had adopted for themselves, that they were very confused
and about their sex, and that they were put on
a path of medical transition, which I believe will lead
(02:42):
to irreversible harm and a lifetime of regret. But in
my opinion, these parents were manipulated and convinced by doctors
like doctor Roberts that this was the best thing, the
best course of action, the best treatment for their child
to go down. And so I came forward anonymously last
(03:02):
May of twenty twenty three to expose that, and to
expose that Texas Children had hidden this transgender program for
the public. They had hidden it from parents and lawmakers.
That was scrubbed from their website. No one knew about
it until a whistleblower before me, who we now know
is doctor Atonheim, came forward to reveal that and I
(03:22):
came forward to affirm his testimony as true because I
was working in the clinic that was providing transgender care
to these children.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Okay, so did you ever think you'd get political? I mean,
this is obviously this doesn't seem like it should be political.
If we went back five, ten, fifteen, twenty years, nobody
would think this was a political issue. But the world's
changed so much in the last few years. Vanessa. When
you got into nursing, did you ever think there would
be anything political about it?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
No, absolutely not. This is to me like putting aside
my Christian faith and my beliefs. I believe that this
is an issue of following the science that boys and girls,
that men and women aren't created biologically distinct, with clear differences,
and in my view, those differences are to be upheld
and affirmed and celebrated, and no amount of hormone therapy
(04:16):
or you know, mutilating surgeries are going to a race
those differences between men and women. And so I just
think that we need to uphold that as true. We
need to uphold an affirm biological truth. And so, because
of what I did last May, I received a visit
from the SBI. In July of twenty twenty three, I
(04:37):
was eating dinner with my family in my home and
I received a knock on my door in which two
federal agents were mobilized from the Department of Justice to
come to my house because they knew what I believed,
and they wanted to coerce and intimidate me into aiding
their investigation into doctor him who had come before me
(04:58):
to expose this transgender program at my hospital. And it
was very terrifying. It was very intimidating, and they thought,
I think that they could intimidate me into helping them
and to silence my voice.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
We know we live in a time when the government
and the legal system have been weaponized against each other.
But as you describe your story to us, Vanessa, it
really doesn't sound like you broke the law. What did
the FBI say to you when they came.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, it was just a normal day, a normal evening.
We were hosting friends, and all of a sudden I
approached my front door and these two FBI agents flash
their badges and they say that they know of my
views against quote unquote gender affirming care and that they
have they are investigating a quote unquote leaker. They did
(05:53):
not call him a whistleblower. They called him a leaker
who had violated HIPPA by releasing patient information to the public.
And that, of course I knew was a lie because
no information, no patient information, was ever revealed to the public.
Everything was redacted and so I knew that they were
(06:14):
lying to me in order to co work me to
help them, and so I decided after that that I
was not going to help them under any circumstances. And
so that's when I came forward just a few months
ago in June to expose that Texas Children not only
hid the existence of this transgender program from the public,
(06:35):
but they are also using exactly how you said it,
American tax dollars to cover cross sex hormones and puberty
blockers and violation of Texas Medicaid policy.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Wow. Look, Vanessa, I mean, you're a healthcare worker. You
understand the science of how these things affect people. Most
of us look at this and we just think it
seems strange, it's creepy, it's bizarre. But you actually understand
the long term damage this does to children when they
undergo this kind of treatment. Can you speak to that
a little bit?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Absolutely? Well. The reality is is that there's a lot
of money to be made with gender affirming care. This
is a highly lucrative industry. The longer a child is
on cross tex hormones, the more damage is, you know, irreversibly,
you know, irreversible, and just their physical the physical characteristics
(07:32):
that undergoes so much change, there's some psychological damage that
occurs with that, and I just ultimately believe that it's
that this is not going to help them long term.
Much of my testimony centers around the fact that many
of these patients have histories of abuse in their past,
(07:54):
many of them are autistic, many of them are depressed
and anxious, and there it's very clear that they're suffering,
and my heart breaks for those children. But I do
not believe that affirming the false identity, that affirming their
confusion and essentially affirming a lie that they've adopted that
they're not comfortable in their body, is going to solve
(08:16):
their problem.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Yeah, the autistic thing bothers me the most. A lot
of people don't realize how many of these children have
mental health issues. It's not like it's just a competent
person who believes themselves to be the wrong gender. These
are often people who have a liphany of other issues,
and then on top of it, there's this gender dysphoria,
and there's a doctor somewhere who sees dollar signs in
(08:40):
their pupils, and a parent somewhere that wants to correct
the mistake that God made is if such a thing
as even possible, and juvan Us are so brave for
speaking out about this. But of course there have been
problems and there's been consequences. There's been backlash against you.
Can you talk a little bit about the price that
your family had to pay for this?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah? So on August sixteenths, just a few days ago,
I was fired by Texas Children's Hospital and they it
is clear that they have retaliated against me for blowing
the whistle. I've retained the Burke Law Group to defend
me against this wrongful termination. But you know, I have
(09:20):
legal fees that are mounting, and I'm just a normal
person who's just lost my job, and so I don't
have the resources on my own to challenge this in court.
So I'm asking the public for their support by donating
to my Gifts and Go in order to fight this.
But this is an unlawful retaliation and it's essentially a
(09:41):
consequence for my coming forward with information on the hospital's
egregious pattern of deception and medicaid fraud. Not only that,
but it illegally disregarded a request that I made for
religious reasons. A religious accommodation or class in which I
requested an internal transfer out of the transgender clinic due
(10:02):
to my belief that these procedures bring your versible harm.
So I came forward. I submitted this request in May,
and they ignored this request. And it is you know,
Title seven, which is part of the Civil Rights Act,
protects people like me with religious beliefs in the workplace
against discrimination. And they have their in violation of Title seven,
(10:28):
they you know, retaliated. They discriminated against my religious beliefs.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Vanessa. For those that want to help Vanessa out, and
I really wish you guys would, she has a give
send to go that's it's sort of like go fund me,
but they actually will support conservatives and Christians and it's
a crowd source style website. There's a link to it
on her Twitter account. If you look at my Twitter account,
I just posted a link to her page. So, Vanessa,
(10:55):
if you want to connect with me on there, I've
got a link to Vanessa's page. She's trying to raise
money right now for her legal defense fund. It's called
on gifsend go on the website, it's called Legal Defense
Fund for Nurse Whistleblower, and I mean, just between the
basic needs that her family to survive, not to mention
the lawyers, the exorbitant cost that this is probably going
(11:16):
to amount to. She could certainly use your support, if
anybody could pitch in, you know whatever, five twenty bucks.
I'm sure anything helps. Vanessa. This is such a compelling story.
It's so important for people to hear what is going
on right now. They say that people that get this
kind of treatment spend a million dollars more during their
lifetime on so called healthcare, if that medical treatments, whatever
(11:38):
term you want to use. Then average folks like then,
regular people like you and I, And that's really all
this is about. This is big pharma. This is the corrupt,
evil part side of the medical industry. There's obviously good
people in the medical industry, like you, but there are
terrible people in this country who are driving this movement,
and it is it is all driven by dollar signs.
So I salute you for doing this, And I guess
(12:00):
that's the obvious question that our listeners want to know
from here, is Vanessa, what are you going to do next?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah? Well, I'm super happy and grateful to report that
the House Oversight Committee in Congress just a few weeks
ago released a letter sent a letter opening up a
formal investigation into the misuse of fun at Texas Children's
Hospital as it relates to Medicaid. So that is a
huge victory. And also the Texas Speaker of the House
(12:28):
also sent a letter initiating a probe into the misuse
of funds at the hospital. So I am hoping that
this case, that my story serves as a precedent for
other hospitals that will put them on notice that they
can't violate laws in order to uphold transgender medicine and
(12:49):
to harm children reversibly for life. And I'm also hoping
that other whistleblowers will come forward and will feel empowered,
no matter the consequences, no matter the cost, to speak
out and to expose what's been done behind closed doors.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Vanessa, you are a hero. You are doing God's work.
I think this is so cool. That is the voice
of nurse whistleblower Vanessa Savage, and you can follow her
on ex elon Musk's platform previously known as Twitter. I
just posted a link to her page finder there. If
you could donate, I encourage you to do it. Vanessa,
I am praying for you and your family, your husband
and everybody. You guys are so cool and brave for
(13:27):
doing this. We're so grateful for you today.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Vanessa, Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Hey, quick break, folks, I'll be back at a bend
nor listening to the Walton and Johnson Network
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