DOJ Appeals Judge’s Block on Rhode Island Hospital Trans Youth Medical Records

The U.S. Department of Justice filed notice Thursday morning that it will appeal a Rhode Island federal judge’s order Wednesday night blocking a federal attempt to secure transgender youths’ medical records from Rhode Island Hospital.

“Elected officials and LGBTQ+ organizers gathered near New York City Hall on Wednesday morning, urging a major hospital system to reject what advocates described as an illegal subpoena seeking medical records for transgender youth”

Advocate

The court fight centers on six years of patient information from minors prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy via Rhode Island Hospital providers, after DOJ’s July 2025 maneuvering to obtain these records via an administrative subpoena.

Advocate

U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy amended her decision to broaden protections for youth receiving gender affirming care at Rhode Island Hospital, writing that DOJ “has misrepresented and withheld information.”

McElroy also said the “Administration has publicly characterized gender-affirming care for minors as abuse,” and the DOJ spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre replied that “We are appealing, and our investigations continue.”

NYU Langone released the grand jury subpoena it received from DOJ officials, saying it was told to hand over the names of “providers and others who were involved in offering such care at NYULH in that timeframe.”

The subpoena notification directed NYU Langone to provide information on trans patients it served, and the request explicitly asks for patients’ names and “de-identified information” is said to be insufficient.

CBS News

Alejandra Caraballo, a Harvard Law instructor and trans legal scholar, said the subpoena is “a blatant unlawful effort by the DOJ to intimidate providers of gender-affirming care to trans youth by engaging in judge and forum shopping.”

Shannon Minter, the legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, told Mother Jones that the subpoena is “a blatant attempt to harass and intimidate medical providers based on this administration’s ideological opposition to transgender people.”

MedPage Today said U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy blocked DOJ’s demand for Rhode Island Hospital’s records of trans kids, describing the subpoenas as seeking birth dates, Social Security numbers, and addresses of every patient who received transgender care over the past 5 years.

“NYU Langone Releases Grand Jury Subpoena: Feds Want Names Of Every Trans Youth Care Patient NYU Langone has released the subpoena it received from DOJ officials—but there may be ways to fight back”

Erin In The Morning

McElroy rejected DOJ’s argument that the information was needed to investigate possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion, writing that the administration “celebrated when hospitals curtailed such programs as a result of this subpoena campaign.”

In New York, advocates and elected officials gathered near New York City Hall urging NYU Langone to reject the subpoena, with Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Siegel saying, “Every hospital in New York regards patient privacy as sacrosanct.”

The Advocate quoted Kei Williams, executive director of the NEW Pride Agenda, saying the subpoena “is an attempt to intimidate hospitals to eliminate public health care and push trans people out of public life.”