Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: Silenced Science: Inside the AMA’s Gender Agenda
Date: September 1, 2025
Hosts: John Bickley & Georgia Howe
Guest: Dr. Eitan Heim (Texas Children’s Hospital Whistleblower)
Featured Contributor: Ben Shapiro
Main Theme: An examination of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) support for gender-affirming care, focusing on exclusive footage of internal AMA deliberations and whistleblower testimony that alleges the organization is driven by ideology over evidence-based medicine.

Episode Overview

This special Labor Day edition of Morning Wire delves into a recent Daily Wire exposé featuring exclusive footage from a private meeting involving the AMA president, Dr. Bobby McOmulla, Michigan State Rep. Brad Paquette, and whistleblower Dr. Eitan Heim. The episode explores how the AMA guides national policy and insurance coverage for gender transition treatments, and raises questions about scientific standards, accountability, and transparency within one of America’s most influential medical organizations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Influence of the AMA

[02:02] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• The AMA wields unique authority as the largest U.S. medical association (approx. 250,000–300,000 members and $500M revenue).
• Controls CPT (Current Procedural Terminology) codes, which means every medical procedure billed in the U.S. sends royalties to the AMA.
• This monopoly enables the AMA to “pursue legislative policy,” making it a quasi-governmental body with enormous lobbying influence.
• Controls which medical interventions (e.g., gender surgeries) are covered by insurance—if AMA codes it, insurers follow:

  "If they say, hey, this intervention should be covered for, you know, some 14 year old girl to get a mastectomy, the insurance company is going to cover it." [03:36]

2. AMA’s Longstanding Policy on Gender Affirming Care

[03:42] John Bickley & [04:16] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Since 2008 (Resolution 122), AMA has backed “gender-affirming care,” citing organizations like WPATH and stating that interventions (hormones, surgeries) for “gender confusion” are “safe and effective,” not experimental.
• Dr. Heim notes that internal support for these policies remains unwavering even after challenges with new evidence:

  "...even after we informed him of all of these issues... he still released a statement saying it was evidence based and medically necessary." [04:16]

3. The Whistleblower Story & Context of Exposé

[05:47] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Dr. Heim details his background exposing Texas Children’s Hospital’s secret transgender program, questions about criminalization he faced, and his growing involvement with State Rep. Paquette.
• Initial hopefulness for respectful dialogue with AMA President Dr. McOmulla is quickly dashed by observed ideological rigidity.

4. Inside the AMA – The Zoom Meeting

[06:47] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Describes optimism before the meeting, only to be met by defensiveness and “disregard for an alternative viewpoint.”
• Noted that Dr. McOmulla used now-outdated terminology (“transsexual”), which at first “was actually reassuring to us that maybe this guy isn’t completely captured by this ideology.” [06:56]
• The atmosphere became adversarial, with Dr. Heim shocked by the lack of engagement and professional respect from the AMA president during a discussion of the medical consequences for children.

5. Dismissiveness & Lack of Expertise from the AMA President

[09:28] Notable Moment (Clip):

• Dr. McOmulla admits:

  "I'm not an expert at all in the science that you're talking to me about. I defer to the experts. If you would like an opinion from an expert on this, feel free to talk to an expert."
  (Dr. Bobby McOmulla, AMA President) [09:28]

• Dr. Heim is disturbed by dismissiveness and what he saw as arrogance:

  “It was shocking. It was truly shocking... How can someone act so disrespectfully towards a colleague?” [09:39]

• He draws an analogy to the trust placed in surgeons: “Every time I take care of someone, I have to treat them like a family member of my own. Because I'm a doctor, right? That's my job.” [10:44]

6. Evidence Presented & the AMA’s Response

[11:39] John Bickley & [11:51] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Dr. Heim presented data from the CAST systematic review (which found "lowest quality evidence" supporting gender transition interventions), and other recent reports.
• He explained that the standard for medical evidence should be high, and the evidence AMA relies on does not meet it.

7. AMA’s “Go-To” Gender Expert Raises More Concerns

[12:43] John Bickley & [13:01] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Rep. Paquette follows up with AMA’s referred “expert,” Dr. Jesse Krikorian, a family medicine physician and transgender individual.
• Dr. Heim critiques Dr. Krikorian’s lack of rigorous evidence review and questions the ethical underpinnings of her care:

  “[I]t is as clear as day that this person has no idea what she's doing, how to evaluate the evidence, has no ethical framework that instructs her care of these patients. And that's terrifying because these patients are vulnerable.” [13:23]

8. How to Rein in AMA’s Power – Policy Suggestion

[14:46] John Bickley & [14:56] Dr. Eitan Heim:

• Proposes breaking the AMA’s “government sanctioned monopoly on medical coding”—the CPT coding system.
• Suggests HHS (potentially under figures like RFK) could develop a government-run alternative, remove the financial incentive for the AMA to influence treatment standards, and bring oversight and transparency back into the process.

  "We should get these financial interests out of our medical system." [17:30]

Notable Quotes

• On the AMA’s insurance influence:

  “Because of their financial base, they can pursue legislative policy... they're essentially quasi governmental, left wing NGO.”
  (Dr. Eitan Heim, [02:02])

• On dismissiveness during scientific discussions:

  "...it was shocking. It was truly shocking... How can someone act so disrespectfully towards a colleague?"
  (Dr. Eitan Heim, [09:39])

• On expertise deferral:

  "I'm not an expert at all in the science that you're talking to me about. I defer to the experts. If you would like an opinion from an expert on this, feel free to talk to an expert."
  (Dr. Bobby McOmulla, [09:28])

• On patient care ethics:

  "Every time I take care of someone, I have to treat them like a family member of my own. Because I'm a doctor, right? That's my job."
  (Dr. Eitan Heim, [10:44])

• On solutions to AMA dominance:

  “We should get these financial interests out of our medical system.”
  (Dr. Eitan Heim, [17:30])

Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• [03:42] — Historical adoption of gender-affirming policies by AMA.
• [06:47] — Behind-the-scenes meeting setup and initial optimism.
• [09:28] — AMA President’s notable on-mic admission of lack of expertise.
• [10:44] — Dr. Heim’s analogy about surgical trust and ethics.
• [13:23] — Concerns raised on the AMA’s chosen “expert’s” qualifications and ethics.
• [14:56] — Actionable policy roadmap to break AMA’s coding monopoly.

Conclusion

The episode presents a critical and deeply skeptical look at the AMA's internal process regarding gender medicine, asserting that corporate, ideological, and financial interests are supplanting scientific evidence and patient care ethics. Dr. Heim and the hosts argue for regulatory reform to restore accountability, referencing both the handling of gender medicine and the broader conflicts of interest embedded in the AMA’s monopoly over medical coding.

For listeners seeking a blow-by-blow account of the AMA’s internal workings, whistleblower insights, and debate over the evidentiary standards underpinning “gender-affirming care” in U.S. medicine, this episode provides a perspective-rich, controversy-driven overview.