NYU Langone Health has received a federal subpoena seeking information on any patients under 18 who received gender-affirming care at the health system over the past six years, according to a notice the health system posted on its website. The subpoena also seeks the names of clinicians and others involved in providing that care.
NYU Langone said in the statement it was one of several institutions that received similar grand jury subpoenas from the United States attorney for Northern Texas. NYU Langone did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday on whether the health system will comply with the request.
“We understand that these developments may be concerning to our patients, providers, and others,” NYU Langone said in the website post. “Please know that NYU Langone takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously and we are evaluating our response to the subpoena.”
The move comes as the families of transgender children, along with officials in New York and other Democrat-led states, have pushed back against efforts by the federal government and attorneys general in Republican-led states to restrict access to gender-affirming care and obtain information about those who are receiving these services.
The Trump administration has threatened to pull funding from hospitals that provide services such as hormone therapy and other gender-affirming care to minors. NYU Langone earlier this year announced that it was no longer providing such care to minors, citing the departure of the Transgender Youth Health Program’s medical director and the “current regulatory environment.”
The health system was ordered by the New York state attorney general to resume those services in March, but has not commented since on whether it has done so.
Rachel, a Brooklyn mom whose 17-year-old son received gender-affirming care at NYU Langone until it discontinued those services in February, said she saw the notification about the subpoena Monday evening.
“ It just feels like such a violation of privacy and makes no sense because he's not even getting care there anymore,” Rachel said. She asked that her last name not be used in order to protect her family’s privacy.
Rachel said Tuesday morning that she hadn’t shared the news with her son. “I feel like it’s one more thing that he’s going to feel unsafe about and there’s too many things already,” she added.
NYU Langone said that under the state’s shield law it is required to notify the people the federal subpoena pertains to. The shield law seeks to protect patients and providers engaged in gender-affirming care and other health services that are lawful in New York from persecution by out-of-state actors.
“New York has strong protections in place to protect the privacy of patient records,” Sophie Hamlin, a spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office, said Tuesday. “Every health care institution in New York should seek to protect both patients and providers.”
The U.S. Department of Justice declined to comment on why it is requesting this information.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
