UPMC has not turned over transgender patient records to DOJ

UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh has not turned over to the federal government any information requested in a subpoena filed earlier this year related to its treatment of transgender patients.

That information was revealed Tuesday in a filing in federal court.

“We are pleased to learn that UPMC has not turned over any patient medical records. Nor should they,” said Mimi McKenzie, the legal director for the Public Interest Law Center, which has been advocating against the subpoenas. “The government cannot rifle through the most intimate details of a child’s life for no reason other than spite and intimidation.

“This is not a close call. UPMC must keep protecting the privacy of these young patients and their families.”

The filing by UPMC Children’s Hospital asked U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon to stay the subpoena request while she considers a motion to quash filed by four transgender patients in September.

In July, the Department of Justice issued at least 20 subpoenas to doctors and hospital systems across the country seeking information regarding “transgender medical procedures on children.”

The subpoenas sought personal identifying information — including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and parent information — for anyone prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

The subpoenas, DOJ said, are part of a nationwide investigation into off-label drug use and fraudulent billing.

But attorneys representing transgender patients said the subpoenas are part of an effort by the Trump administration to end gender-affirming care through intimidation and threats.

In September, four UPMC patients filed a motion to quash the subpoena, arguing that it was a violation of their privacy rights, and that the government could offer no compelling reason why the information was required.

Several hospital systems have also filed motions to quash the subpoenas. Those motions have been granted in Boston, Seattle and most recently, on Friday, in Philadelphia.

“We strike the three requests for these child-identifying and treatment and disclosure records as beyond the authority granted by Congress,” the judge in Philadelphia wrote. “We also find, even if this private information could be relevant, the heightened privacy interests of children and their families substantially outweighs the department’s need to know the children’s names, addresses, and treatment along with disclosures for gender-affirming care at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.”

In the Philadelphia case, Gov. Josh Shapiro, joined by several other states, urged the court to grant the hospital’s motion to quash.

“If enforced, DOJ’s subpoena to [Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia] would threaten all states’ ability to regulate the practice of medicine,” the governor wrote. “It is part of an effort to end a specific type of care for a particularly vulnerable population, even though there is no federal law prohibiting such care.”

The brief called DOJ’s request “an extraordinary attempt to subvert the policy and judgment of the states as the traditional regulators of the practice of medicine.”