Families fight the Trump administration's effort to obtain their children’s private medical records

As the Trump administration seeks exhaustive and unprecedented access to transgender youth medical records, families are taking to court to fight back.

Families in New York and California recently sued to block major hospital systems from complying with federal criminal subpoenas ordering the release of medical information around gender-affirming care for trans minors. Two separate lawsuits name NYU Langone Health in New York and Stanford Medicine Children’s Hospital in California as plaintiffs.

Both hospitals were subpoenaed last month by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas. Prosecutors are seeking staggering amounts of patient data, generally protected by health privacy laws such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). That includes patient forms, treatment histories, and internal hospital communications.

Related: Trump's DOJ subpoenas doctors and medical clinics that care for transgender youth

In New York, three trans youth and two trans adults who received gender-affirming care at NYU Langone filed a class-action lawsuit on Monday to block the release of their medical records. In California, six families with children in Stanford’s gender-affirming care program sued the hospital to block it from releasing their records last week.

The subpoenas met nationwide blowback from families and LGBTQ+ advocates worried about patient privacy and gender-affirming care access, especially for trans youth. The subpoenas gave the hospitals until June 10 to comply, but hospitals have widely been silent on how they plan to respond.

Related: Trump-appointed judge says DOJ ‘proven unworthy’ of trust in blistering trans care case ruling

Neither NYU Langone nor Stanford Medicine returned The Advocate's email requests for comment regarding their responses to the lawsuit and whether they plan to comply with the subpoenas.

Both hospitals are among the many across the United States that have halted their gender-affirming care programs for trans youth amid hostilities from President Donald Trump and the federal government.

In December, the Trump administration threatened to revoke federal funding from hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to youth. Although a court has already ruled the administration cannot do so, it has had a chilling effect on providers nationwide.

NYU Langone stopped its youth gender-affirming care program in February and has not responded to multiple requests from The Advocate for comment on the program's future. Stanford Medicine paused its program last June, before the Trump administration had issued the threat.

The lawsuits say that the Trump administration has placed patient privacy and medical access at risk.

Related: California families sue to stop Trump DOJ from obtaining trans kids’ records via Texas grand jury

“Plaintiffs feel that the true purpose of threatening disclosure is to intimidate patients out of pursuing gender-affirming medical care, making it harder for them to access the care that they need,” reads the New York lawsuit. “These fears have caused distress and anxiety such that they have affected their ability to concentrate in school or work and led to loss of sleep.”

New York has enacted “shield laws” that prohibit state agencies from cooperating with out-of-state investigations into gender-affirming health care, and HIPAA also imposes procedural requirements before hospitals can hand over patient records in response to subpoenas.

Multiple similar efforts to obtain medical records have been struck down by courts throughout Trump’s second term. Still, HIPAA does not necessarily prevent the release of medical records if a subpoena is deemed legal. Plaintiffs in both cases say the release of their medical information could spur risks to patients’ safety and well-being.

“The subpoenas represent a gross overreach of governmental power, founded on an improper purpose to ‘end’ gender-affirming medical care and cast transgender persons into the shadows,” reads the New York lawsuit.