Child Advocate seeks to block federal government subpoena for private medical records of minors
Amazingly, the DOJ’s request to enforce
the subpoena for these records was both filed and approved on Thursday – on the
same day, without an opportunity for response – by a judge in Texas, not Rhode
Island. The motion filed this morning argues that court intervention is
“immediately necessary . . . to protect the constitutional privacy rights of
Rhode Island’s children.”
Today’s motion was filed in the U.S. District Court
in Rhode Island on behalf of the state’s Child Advocate. The motion calls
the subpoena an “unprecedented intrusion into the private medical information
of children, many of whom are among the most vulnerable in our state’s care,”
that “cannot be justified by any legitimate law enforcement purpose.”
Instead, the motion argues, “DOJ issued the Subpoena as part of a coordinated campaign by the Trump Administration to eliminate access to medical care for gender dysphoria – lifesaving care that is recognized as medically necessary by every major medical association – even where it is expressly protected by state law, as it is in Rhode Island. The Administration has made no secret of its true goal: to end medical care for gender dysphoria through intimidation, harassment, and the threat of criminal prosecution.”
In emphasizing the scope of the privacy intrusion implicated
by the subpoena, the motion notes:
These requests demand the identities and complete medical
histories of every minor patient who received medical care for gender dysphoria
at RI Hospital over more than five years. The medical records responsive to
these requests contain the most intimate details imaginable: children’s mental
health struggles, experiences with bullying or discrimination, family dynamics,
sexual development, gender identity, trauma histories, suicidal ideation, and
deeply personal conversations with physicians and therapists. For children
in DCYF care, these records
may also contain information about abuse or neglect, foster care placements,
court involvement, and other highly sensitive circumstances. The records would
identify not only the children themselves but also their parents, guardians,
foster families, siblings, friends, teachers, and others mentioned in clinical
notes.
The motion points out that seven other courts across the
country have quashed identical subpoenas issued to other providers of medical
care for gender dysphoria. The motion further explains that all major medical
organizations recognize gender dysphoria—which occurs when there is a conflict
between the sex a person is assigned at birth and the gender with which they
identify—as a medical condition that can cause significant distress and that
appropriate medical care can effectively treat, including in minors.
In describing the subpoena’s potential harm to the children
in state care and custody, the Child Advocate’s motion argues that minors who
received treatment at Rhode Island Hospital now “face concrete injury—invasion
of their privacy, disclosure of their most intimate medical information,
potential ‘outing’ of their gender identity, and exposure to harassment or
discrimination.” The subpoena must be quashed, the motion argues, “because it
was issued for an improper purpose: to eliminate medical care for gender
dysphoria at a federal level, rather than to investigate any legitimate federal
crime.”
The motion, which seeks an expedited court hearing, was
filed on behalf of Child Advocate Katelyn Medeiros by LCRI
cooperating attorneys Kevin Love Hubbard, Miriam Weizenbaum,
and Amy Romero, and ACLU of RI cooperating attorney Lynette
Labinger.
“Children in foster care navigate profound vulnerability,
and exposing their medical records compounds that harm,” said Child Advocate
Medeiros. “The medical records of these children contain private information
that is protected under the law, which exists to safeguard confidentiality,
privacy, and the dignity of every patient. When those protections are
disregarded—especially for children—it is not merely a violation of the law but
a breach of trust that could have profound lifelong consequences. Safeguarding
these records must remain a priority, ensuring that every child’s identity,
medical record, and personal health history are shielded from disclosure and
treated with the highest standard of care and respect.”
This is not the first legal challenge in Rhode Island this
year to extremely intrusive DOJ efforts to procure the personal and private
information of Rhode Islanders. Last month, the Rhode Island Secretary of
State, the ACLU, and LCRI obtained a favorable
court decision dismissing a DOJ demand for the Social Security
Numbers and driver’s license numbers of all Rhode Island voters.
A copy of the motion can be found here.
