Transgender patients fight Justice Department subpoena seeking their UPMC records

Four transgender people who received gender-affirming care at UPMC are battling efforts by the federal government to force the hospital system to turn over their “intimate” personal health information without their consent.

The current and former patients and their lawyers this week filed a motion to quash a Department of Justice subpoena ordering UPMC to turn over their detailed medical histories, diagnoses and treatment plans.

They allege the Trump administration’s efforts to gather the information is part of a broader plan to “delegitimize the concept of gender identity and eliminate access to gender-affirming care for youth,” according to filings in federal court in Pittsburgh.

Mimi McKenzie, the legal director at the Public Interest Law Center, one of the entities that filed the motion to quash, said the subpoenas are part of the Trump administration’s broad assault on transgender patients and their doctors.

“Here they’ve made it clear the real reason is animus,” McKenzie told TribLive Friday.

“I think it’s important to push back against the Trump administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice — to threaten providers, to intimidate patients and families from seeking care — all in an effort to end this important, often life-saving, treatment for transgender youth.”

In July, the Justice Department sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and medical clinics nationwide that were performing “transgender medical procedures on children.”

Those included UPMC, which halted gender-affirming care for minors in June, as well as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children’s Hospital.

The subpoena, according to court filings, seeks documents requesting personal identifying information — including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, address and parent information for anyone prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

It also seeks documents related to clinical indications, diagnoses and assessments; and those relating to informed consent and parent authorization.

According to the court filings, the Trump administration’s “sweeping subpoena” to UPMC sought five years’ worth of records for every patient under 19 who received gender-affirming care.

“These medical records are the most intimate kind these young patients have, detailing their mental health, reproductive health, and sexual health,” the court filing said.

“The government intrusion into their privacy therefore must be justified by compelling reasons. But the justification for this intrusion is clear: the administration seeks to use the immense power of DOJ to threaten providers, intimidate families and end gender-affirming care.”

The patients’ lawyers assert neither the Justice Department nor UPMC has sought the consent of any family regarding the subpoena, nor have they communicated with them.

Under the law, the government must provide a “compelling” reason for seeking the information outlined in a subpoena, the filing said.

In this case, though, the filing continued, it is a “barely disguised political agenda in search of a health care fraud offense.”

“Here a court need not read subtext, because animus is official policy,” the filing said.

“The administration has asserted that transgender citizens cannot lead an ‘honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle,’ and that their medical treatment is part of a ‘warped ideology’ and ‘evil and backwards lies’ that cause ‘sexual mutilation.’”

Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has issued a number of executive orders, and Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued policy statements, declaring the Justice Department would investigate medical professionals providing gender-affirming care to youths.

“The Department of Justice will not sit idly by while doctors, motivated by ideology, profits or both, exploit and mutilate our children,” Bondi wrote in a memo in April. “Under my watch, the department will act decisively to protect our children and hold accountable those who mutilate them under the guise of care.”

In the case of Boston and Philadelphia, those hospital systems filed their own motions to quash the subpoenas on behalf of their patients.

In Philadelphia, a federal judge stayed the subpoena, and the case remains pending.

In Boston, earlier this month, a federal judge granted the motion to quash, writing the government “failed to show proper purpose,” and that it was “motivated only by bad faith.”

“It is abundantly clear that the true purpose of issuing the subpoena is to interfere with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ right to protect (gender-affirming care) within its borders, to harass and intimidate (Boston Children’s Hospital) to stop providing such care and to dissuade patients from seeking such care,” wrote U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun.

In Pittsburgh, however, UPMC appears not to have filed such a motion to quash.

In response to a request for comment Friday, UPMC issued the same statement it has circulated for months — including after it said it would stop providing gender-affirming care for minors in June.

“UPMC remains steadfast in our commitment to providing exceptional care for all patients,” the statement said.

“As we continue to monitor any executive branch memos, directives, subpoenas and other guidance from the Trump administration, these actions have made it abundantly clear that our clinicians can no longer provide certain types of gender-affirming care without risk of criminal prosecution.”

While the statement notes UPMC can no longer prescribe puberty blockers or hormone therapy for patients under the age of 19, it said the system will continue to provide behavioral health support while seeking to protect the confidentiality of the physician/patient relationship.

“We empathize deeply with the patients and families affected by these ongoing changes,” it concluded.

Although McKenzie said her group represents only a small number of families covered under the subpoena, they are seeking broad relief to protect all patient records being sought.

“We don’t know what approach UPMC is taking with respect to this subpoena,” McKenzie said.

But, she continued, “If the Constitution means anything, it means the federal government can’t go rifling through your kids’ medical records to intimidate you.”