Federal prosecutors have agreed to withdraw subpoenas seeking patient and medical records from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles tied to gender-affirming care for minors, ending a long-running effort that drew lawsuits from families trying to protect their children’s information.
The agreement, filed in federal court Thursday, withdraws requests that identified patients or their families through 2029, according to the settlement described by Associated Press.
The dispute stems from federal subpoenas sent last summer to more than 20 medical providers that offered gender-affirming care for minors. At the time, the Justice Department said it was investigating “healthcare fraud” and “false statements,” and sought records from the hospital as part of that effort.
Seven families whose children had received gender-affirming services at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles sued in November to quash the subpoena, arguing it improperly sought their personal and medical information. The hospital did not turn over the requested documents.
Khadijah Silver, director of Gender Justice & Health Equity at Lawyers for Good Government, said the department never provided evidence of fraud. She said, “It was basically a fishing expedition,” and added, “Without any probable cause, they did not have the authority to be seeking medical information.”
According to the subpoena described in court documents, the Justice Department sought a wide range of materials, including patient intake forms and insurance claims, along with “documents sufficient to identify each patient (by name, date of birth, social security number, address, and parent/guardian information)” for patients prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.
Attorneys representing patients and their families moved to dismiss the case, and Silver said the settlement is “one piece of a large, very important puzzle,” but it also allows clients “to hold on to their basic legal right to medical privacy.”
The settlement came in the same week that a judge in Baltimore rejected the Trump administration’s request to subpoena the same information from Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., according to the report.
The records subpoena is not the only federal action involving transgender patients and providers. Last year, the Trump administration issued an executive order threatening to pull federal funding from medical institutions that provide gender-affirming care for minors, and Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over the summer seeking to block the order.
The federal government has also issued orders recognizing only two biological sexes and preventing transgender girls and women from participating in women’s sports, and it issued a third order threatening federal funds for schools that support transgender youth.
After federal actions escalated, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles closed the doors to its Center for Transyouth Health and Development last July, leaving about 3,000 young patients in limbo, the report said. Bonta said his office took steps in recent months “to assure (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles) that they were protected and required to provide gender-affirming care.”
Bonta’s office has filed amicus briefs opposing the Trump administration’s attempts to subpoena medical records of gender-affirming care at other hospitals, including University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Bonta did not intervene in the case that settled this week.