Seattle Children’s Hospital Sues Texas Attorney General Over Trans Patient Records

The lawsuit comes in response to a subpoena demanding patient records of Texas residents who have received transition-related care, following a new Texas law banning certain treatments for transgender youth.

Seattle Children’s Hospital has sued the Texas Office of the Attorney General to block the release of patient information after the agency sent the hospital an investigative subpoena demanding any patient records of Texas residents who have received transition-related care.
The attorney general’s civil investigative demand came more than two months after a new Texas law went into effect that bans the use of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender youth.
A sworn affidavit from a hospital administrator stated that no clinical staff for Seattle Children’s provide gender-affirming care in Texas, or do so remotely from outside of the state.
The hospital argued that the Texas attorney general’s office does not have jurisdiction over the Washington-based hospital system, where the email and health record systems both reside.
The subpoena demanded the hospital system provide medications prescribed to children who reside in Texas, the children’s diagnosis, the number of Texas children in the hospital’s care and the name of Texas laboratories used to administer tests for those youth.