NYU Langone says it was subpoenaed over teen patients who received gender affirming care
NYU Langone is warning patients and faculty of a federal subpoena seeking details about the hospital's gender-affirming care.
LGBTQ rights advocates rallied in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, calling on the hospital to ignore the subpoena, which demands information on adolescent transgender patients as well as the healthcare providers who treated them.
"It would be an abrogation of NYU Langone's most primary responsibility as a healthcare provider, which is first, do no harm," said Jay Walker of the group Gays Against Guns.
"It is outrageous"
In a letter to patients this week, NYU Langone said it was one of several institutions that received a "grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas," directing the hospital to provide information on patients "under the age of 18 who received gender-affirming care" since 2020, as well as the names of "providers and others who were involved in offering such care."
"It is outrageous that a MAGA-appointed attorney in Texas, under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice, is persecuting the parents of trans patients here in New York City," Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said. "Every hospital in New York regards patient privacy as sacrosanct. Otherwise, no patient can feel comfortable walking through their doors."
"New York has strong protections in place to protect the privacy of patient records. Every health care institution in New York should seek to protect both patients and providers," a spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
NYU Langone declined to comment on the subpoena. Earlier this year, it announced it was ending its program that provides medical care for transgender youth, amid threats from the Trump administration to withhold funding.
"We will not allow anti-trans extremists to turn our hospitals into hunting grounds. Playing political games to weaponize Americans' private healthcare information is not just an attack on trans people -- it is an attack on every single American who benefits from basic patient-provider privacy. NYU Langone has a moral and legal obligation to stand up to this power grab and hold the line to protect their patients," Tyler Hack of the Christopher Street Project said. "The New York Shield Law exists for this exact moment. The law requires that every New Yorker, trans or not, receive essential healthcare. NYU must follow New York State law and protect patients, providers, and the integrity of medical care. Trans kids deserve healthcare."
New York's Shield Law
Under New York's Shield Law, hospitals are required to notify patients whose information the subpoena is seeking 30 days before complying with the subpoena.
"We understand that these developments may be concerning to our patients, providers, and others. Please know that NYU Langone takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously and we are evaluating our response to the subpoena," NYU Langone said in a message to patients.
"Private medical records should never be weaponized as punishment for seeking lawful health care," James wrote on social media.
"The president ran on this"
CBS News New York reached out the Justice Department, but has not yet heard back.
"The president ran on this. He ran on ending transgender-affirming care for the youth, and he won the popular vote in the electoral college," said legal expert J.C. Polanco, a law professor at the University of Mount St. Vincent in the Bronx.
Polanco said HIPAA laws have carveouts for federal subpoenas, and this case is gearing up to be a clash about federalism.
"Can the federal government force the state to comply with a federal subpoena even though a practice is allowed in that state? So this is going to go all the way to the Supreme Court," Polanco said.