UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital of Pittsburgh has not turned over to the federal government any information requested in a subpoena filed earlier this year related to its treatment of transgender patients.<\/p>\n
That information was revealed Tuesday in a filing in federal court.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are pleased to learn that UPMC has not turned over any patient medical records. Nor should they,\u201d said Mimi McKenzie, the legal director for the Public Interest Law Center, which has been advocating against the subpoenas. \u201cThe government cannot rifle through the most intimate details of a child\u2019s life for no reason other than spite and intimidation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a close call. UPMC must keep protecting the privacy of these young patients and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n
The filing by UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital asked U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon to stay the subpoena request while she considers a motion to quash filed by four transgender patients in September.<\/p>\n
In July, the Department of Justice issued at least 20 subpoenas to doctors and hospital systems across the country seeking information regarding \u201ctransgender medical procedures on children.\u201d<\/p>\n
The subpoenas sought personal identifying information \u2014 including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses and parent information \u2014 for anyone prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.<\/p>\n
The subpoenas, DOJ said, are part of a nationwide investigation into off-label drug use and fraudulent billing. <\/a><\/p>\n But attorneys representing transgender patients said the subpoenas are part of an effort by the Trump administration to end gender-affirming care through intimidation and threats.<\/p>\n In September, four UPMC patients filed a motion to quash <\/a>the subpoena, arguing that it was a violation of their privacy rights, and that the government could offer no compelling reason why the information was required.<\/p>\n Several hospital systems have also filed motions to quash the subpoenas. Those motions have been granted in Boston, Seattle and most recently, on Friday, in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe strike the three requests for these child-identifying and treatment and disclosure records as beyond the authority granted by Congress,\u201d the judge in Philadelphia wrote. \u201cWe also find, even if this private information could be relevant, the heightened privacy interests of children and their families substantially outweighs the department\u2019s need to know the children\u2019s names, addresses, and treatment along with disclosures for gender-affirming care at The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.\u201d<\/p>\n In the Philadelphia case, Gov. Josh Shapiro, joined by several other states, urged the court to grant the hospital\u2019s motion to quash.<\/p>\n \u201cIf enforced, DOJ\u2019s subpoena to [Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia] would threaten all states\u2019 ability to regulate the practice of medicine,\u201d the governor wrote. \u201cIt is part of an effort to end a specific type of care for a particularly vulnerable population, even though there is no federal law prohibiting such care.\u201d<\/p>\n The brief called DOJ\u2019s request \u201can extraordinary attempt to subvert the policy and judgment of the states as the traditional regulators of the practice of medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n Paula Reed Ward is a TribLive reporter covering federal and Allegheny County courts. She joined the Trib in 2020 after spending nearly 17 years at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where she was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team. She is the author of “Death by Cyanide.” She can be reached at pward@triblive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UPMC Children\u2019s Hospital of Pittsburgh has not turned over to the federal government any information requested in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-315788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}