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Families of transgender youth in California learned this week their private medical records will not be sent to the Trump administration for now. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin spoke to one of the families.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: For nearly a year, the Department of Justice has served hospitals with subpoenas, seeking detailed patient files of transgender youth, personnel files for providers and more. Attorneys for the government haven't articulated exactly what's being investigated, but they have pointed to the stated goal of President Trump to end gender-affirming care for youth. At first, they used administrative subpoenas. Many of those were quashed in court. Now they've moved to criminal subpoenas.
SHANNON MINTER: They're literally seeking the - exactly the same things, same private information. Nothing has changed.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's Shannon Minter with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, which has brought many of the lawsuits fighting these subpoenas.
MINTER: It is pure harassment. It's just an effort to frighten people, to intimidate doctors out of providing the care and to frighten parents and make them afraid that the federal government is going to seek them out, identify them and harm their families.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: This week, Minter and families in California notched a win. A group of six families, who received care at Stanford's Children's Hospital, sued to prevent the hospital from sending any of their medical files to the Department of Justice. Right before a deadline for the hospital to send those files, a federal judge in northern California granted a request to put it on hold temporarily for the whole state. Arne Johnson is the parent of a trans teen in the Bay Area. He says even if the win is temporary, it's still a relief for parents like him.
ARNE JOHNSON: This is like being in a stormy ocean right now, like you're floating on a raft, and each individual wave is terrifying, but we also know we have a really long journey to survive.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: He says he's thankful for the families that brought the case and the attorneys representing them.
JOHNSON: It's impressive and very noble in a time when people are compromising and turning their backs on our families. You know, it just really means a lot to folks to see how hard people are working to fight for our kids.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: The Department of Justice did not respond to NPR's request for comment about this case. Also this week, a federal judge in Maryland heard a case to certify a class of families of transgender youth across the country in the fight against the administrative subpoenas. Minter is an attorney in that case as well.
MINTER: There are many families who are now protected, but there's also many who are not yet protected, and that is a big problem.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So far, these many legal challenges have been quite effective.
MINTER: We don't have any reason to believe that any hospitals have turned over records yet, but, I mean, there would be no way to know that for certain.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Craig Konnoth is a health law professor at the University of Virginia. He notes the government's moves to get private medical records here are unprecedented and could have effects far beyond transgender youth.
CRAIG KONNOTH: It's not just search and seizure of medical records. It's the ability of the government to come after you, hoping that they'll be able to catch you out in something that they will attach a label to afterwards because they don't like the group that you belong to or the group that you're trying to assist.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's why, he says, if the government succeeds in these efforts, the implications are vast.
Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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