Rightwing judge orders hospital to ignore federal judge & turn over trans kids' medical records - LGBTQ Nation

A federal judge in Texas ordered a Rhode Island hospital to produce documents after another federal judge had quashed a subpoena. The judge also issued a gag order preventing the hospital from appealing in its local court, encouraging others to appeal, or assisting others in their appeals. The Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to more than 20 hospitals providing gender-affirming care to trans youth, seeking extensive patient, provider, and treatment documentation, sometimes requiring non-anonymized data. Judges have criticized the subpoenas as a “fishing expedition,” and the DOJ has been accused of harassing and intimidating trans patients and providers. The DOJ has sought enforcement and criminal subpoenas through the Texas judge’s court, which can be harder to quash and carries higher penalties.

"A federal judge in Texas ordered a hospital in Rhode Island to produce documents in response to a subpoena that another federal judge had already quashed. He also issued a gag order against the hospital, blocking it from appealing the order in a court in its area, encouraging others to appeal, or aiding others in their appeals."

"The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been on what judges have called a "fishing expedition" since July last year, when it first issued subpoenas to over 20 hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to trans youth. Those subpoenas have requested extensive documentation, including patient, provider, and treatment data, sometimes insisting that the data not be anonymized. The DOJ has also been accused of trying to "harass" and "intimidate" trans patients and their providers."

"While such enforcement orders usually come from the district where enforcement is required (in this case, the District of Rhode Island) or from the district where the investigation is primarily housed, the DOJ has been accused of judge-shopping by instead taking its petition to O'Connor, whose courtroom is almost 2,000 miles from RIH. O'Connor is known for his anti-LGBTQ+ rulings and his loyalty to the current president."

"The DOJ has also used O'Connor's court to issue criminal subpoenas to some hospitals, which are harder to quash and carry steeper penalties for noncompliance than civil subpoenas."

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