Contacts:
Lauren Gray, lgray@nclrights.org, 917-985-0709
Amanda Johnston, ajohnston@gladlaw.org, 617-417-7769
Represented by GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, National Center for LGBTQ Rights, and Brown Goldstein & Levy LLP, families tell court that without class-wide protection, DOJ will continue unlawfully obtaining transgender minors’ protected information hospital by hospital, faster than any individual can go to court to stop them
Eleven families have moved for a class action to block the US Department of Justice (DOJ) from obtaining sweeping access to private, protected health information about transgender youth from hospitals across the country.
The filing comes in response to escalating efforts by DOJ to force hospitals and providers to turn over patients’ private medical records, including personal identifying information, despite federal court orders prohibiting the government from obtaining that information from multiple hospitals.
DOJ has issued at least 20 essentially identical subpoenas to hospitals across the country demanding they turn over extensive protected medical records of individuals under 18 who have received transgender health care. The subpoenas demand a wide range of sensitive information, including patient dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and home addresses. Courts have condemned these demands, stating they lack any proper investigative purpose and amount to unlawful overreach, intimidation, and harassment of patients.
Despite this, DOJ has aggressively accelerated its efforts to get patients’ protected information. Late last week, DOJ filed a petition in the Northern District of Texas to enforce a subpoena against Rhode Island Hospital. That petition was granted within hours and without any notice to patients.
Families argued in today’s filing that without class-wide protection, DOJ will continue unlawfully extracting transgender minors’ protected information hospital by hospital, faster than any individual can go to court to stop them.
“The Department of Justice has turned its investigative power into a weapon against families and it has to stop. Federal courts have been clear: these subpoenas have no legitimate purpose, they are designed to harass and intimidate in order to further a political agenda. Medical privacy isn’t optional, and it should chill every one of us to see people’s private, protected information handed over to the federal government,” said GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) Legal Director Josh Rovenger.
“This case takes aim at a dangerous and chilling example of government overreach. The Trump administration should not be able to demand access to and review private medical records – for no legitimate purpose. This is a grave threat to family and medical privacy and cannot go unchallenged,” said National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter.
“History has shown what happens when the government collects lists of the members of groups it disfavors. We cannot allow that history to repeat itself,” said Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP Attorney Eve Hill.
In re: Administrative Subpoenas to Children’s Hospitals was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The families filing on behalf of the class have transgender children who have received care at hospitals across the country including Children’s National Hospital, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Michigan Medicine, and Rady Children’s Hospital.
They are represented by Donovan Bendana and Joshua Rovenger of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), Rachel Berg and Shannon Minter of National Center for LGBTQ Rights (NCLR) and Eve Hill of Brown, Goldstein & Levy LLP.
