Federal Prosecutor in Texas Subpoenaes Another State Hospital for its Trans Youth Health Care Records

NYU Langone Medical Health received a federal grand jury subpoena from a Texas prosecutor seeking broad information about minors who sought trans-affirming care within the last five years. The requested care includes puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and top or bottom surgery. The subpoena demands extensive records such as emails, calendar entries, and text messages. The filing is linked to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Texas, and the motive is unclear, though it is likely connected to a criminal case. A criminal case would increase pressure on providers by raising risks of arrest, jail time, or loss of licensure, escalating attacks on trans healthcare.

"NYU Langone Medical Health told its patients that it's one of several hospitals that received a grand jury subpoena from a federal prosecutor in Texas, likely stemming from a criminal case. The subpoena broadly demands information about minors that have sought trans-affirming care, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and top/bottom surgery, from the clinic in the last five years."

"The subpoena is, in many ways, as creepy as the ones the Justice Department has been sending to more than a dozen doctors and clinics in the last 15 months, and similarly asks for an expansive amount of information, like emails, calendar entries, and text messages. What's different, however, is that unlike the DOJ's efforts-most of which have failed -this subpoena seems like a new strategy to get the information via federal criminal charges."

"A criminal case would be particularly alarming, as it would try and intimidate providers with the risk of arrest, jail time, or the loss of their license. It would also dramatically escalate the administration's attacks on trans providers, and prove as yet another reminder of how pretty much any jurisdiction in Texas will never pass up an opportunity to suck up to MAGA-or find any excuse to uphold its long tenure of subjecting LGBTQ+ communities to regressive policies."

""This is mafia-type behavior," National Center for LGBTQ Rights Legal Director Shannon Minter told Mother Jones. "[It is] a blatant attempt to harass and intimidate medical providers based on this administration's ideological opposition to transgender people and to this healthcare.""

Read at Jezebel