Trump Administration Subpoenas Local Hospitals for Trans Kids' Medical Records

**Brian Lehrer** (0:10)
Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And for trans and gender non-conforming New Yorkers, the question of where to get medical care has gotten a lot more complicated this year. The Trump Administration has been pressuring hospitals to stop offering gender-affirming care to minors and investigating the ones that do.
Here in the city, two of the biggest hospital systems, NYU Langone and Mount Sinai, have pulled back that care for kids, and both are now caught up in a new wrinkle in this. It's federal subpoenas for their patients' records, federal subpoenas for their patients, these minors' records. At the same time, the Mamdani Administration said it's committed to protecting this care. The city is preparing to offer hormone therapy to trans adults at its own clinics, including a new health center in Corona, Queens.
Tish James, the state attorney general, is telling NYU Langone, no, you have to continue offering this care. So at least that hospital is caught in between the federal and state governments. But what the Mamdani Administration is offering to trans adults won't extend to minors, at least not yet. And advocates are watching closely as the city finalizes its budget at the end of the month to see if anything like that is in there. So here to walk us through some of this and to take your calls if you're involved in this at all as a trans person yourself, as a family member, as a medical provider. Caroline Lewis, Healthcare Reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. Hey Caroline, welcome back.

**Caroline Lewis** (1:43)
Hi Brian.

**Brian Lehrer** (1:45)
So let's talk about this subpoena issue. For people who don't know, last month NYU Langone first raised the alarm bells when they announced that they received a subpoena for the medical records of patients under 18 who received gender-affirming care. Where is this subpoena coming from?
And what's the rationale?

**Caroline Lewis** (2:06)
So the subpoena came from the US District Attorney for Northern Texas. And it's actually one of many federal subpoenas from Trump's Justice Department that have been issued to hospitals under his second term. But lawyers I spoke to said this represented sort of an escalation because it was a federal grand jury subpoena, which is typically issued in a criminal case as opposed to a civil case.
But, you know, it recently became public because it was included in a lawsuit, and I think it offered a lot of insight into what the administration is actually after. And it's really like a vast trove of records that they're seeking.

**Brian Lehrer** (2:46)
What do we mean by patient medical records? What kind of information is the DOJ actually looking to receive from these hospitals?

**Caroline Lewis** (2:55)
Yeah, so it's a variety of records and information. First, they specifically said they want identifying information about minor patients who received services such as puberty blockers or hormone therapy over the past six years. The Trump Administration refers to that as sex rejecting procedures, but many medical providers call it gender affirming care or treatment for gender dysphoria.
They're seeking the personnel files of anyone who provided or even billed for that care. And then they're also seeking a lot of documents that seem to be related to hospital practices around providing and billing for this care. So they want diagnostic codes. They want to know what kind of informed consent was required, documents that parents signed off on. Were there any adverse events? So it's really vast.

**Brian Lehrer** (3:46)
And what's the risk to the patients, to the minors themselves or any family members or the medical providers?
Why is there concern about this? What might the federal government do with this information that could actually hurt them?

**Caroline Lewis** (4:02)
We don't know. We don't know how it's going to be used. But I think, you know, I spoke to parents who said, one parent said, well, my trans son has, you know, a passport that has his correct gender marker on there. You know, if they get his medical records, will they, you know, next time he has to renew his passport, will they say, oh, actually, you know, now you have to say you're female. You know, parents certainly raised concerns. Are they trying to come after us and charge us criminally in some way?
But I think, you know, what is clear is that the Trump Administration is also trying to just get more information about hospitals practices here. And I think, you know, they have been building this case, you know, since Trump took office that to try to show that, you know, gender affirming care is just not legitimate and to try to, you know, basically block hospitals from offering this care.