Republican attorneys general in Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas are accused of using unfair legal demands to get transgender patients’ medical records for their own political and ideological reasons. a 10-page report was recently released by the staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee’s Democratic majority.
The report says the attorneys general used misleading legal reasons to demand gender-affirming healthcare providers' records, causing harm to LGBTQ+ people's mental health and creating anti-LGBTQ+ environments.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s investigation claimed clinicians were misusing Medicaid funds as a “money-making scheme.” Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey alleged that gender-affirming clinics had violated consumer protection laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton demanded records from clinics in his state and other states without explanation.
All four states mentioned above have passed bans on gender-affirming care for minors.
The report stated that Attorney General offices demand invasive items such as unredacted physical and mental health records, photos of children’s bodies, correspondence to hospitals’ general email addresses for LGBTQIA+ patients, and lists of people referred for transgender health care in their anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns.
Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center handed over its records and patients and their families sued the hospital for privacy violations. Hospitals in Missouri and Washington refused to comply with investigative requests, citing federal patient privacy laws and suing to protect patient records. The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allows healthcare providers to share patient information without their consent with law enforcement, but it also requires that requests are tailored to be relevant, specific, and limited in scope, and that they accept anonymized information that can’t be used to identify patients or retaliate against them. The report states that hospitals should use HIPAA and other legal methods to protect their patients and that in some states, attorneys general lack the power to obtain private patient records because that power belongs to more appropriate state healthcare agencies.
The report stated that attorneys general are using their authority for their own political gain, harming LGBTQIA+ people and undermining the integrity of public health care.
The report also mentioned that the Medicaid program, a public insurance program for low-income Americans, is being undermined by these efforts.
Ron Wyden, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and a Democrat from Oregon, expressed his disapproval of the report, stating that some conservative attorneys general in certain states are misusing their power to intimidate transgender teenagers, violating patients’ privacy, and causing actual harm to vulnerable youth and adults. He criticized law-enforcement officials for targeting teenagers who are just trying to live their lives in order to gain favor with far-right activists.
Wyden also criticized the disregard for patient privacy, especially following the repeal of certain regulations. He stated that this has led to the criminalization of women’s private reproductive health choices, which is a complete betrayal of a medical provider’s duty.
, opened the door to criminalizing women’s private reproductive health choices and is an utter betrayal of a medical provider’s responsibility,” Wyden added. Roe v. WadeAt least 23 states have prohibited gender-affirming care for transgender minors, while 14 states and Washington, D.C. have laws protecting such care and refusing to cooperate with out-of-state investigations related to this type of care. A
recent report discovered that negative experiences with healthcare have a detrimental impact on the mental health of LGBTQ+ patients and deter queer individuals from seeking healthcare. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at
988lifeline.org Trans Lifeline. The (1-877-565-8860) is staffed by trans people and will not contact law enforcement. The Trevor Project provides a safe, judgement-free place to talk for youth via , text (678-678), or phone (1-866-488-7386). Help is available at all three resources in English and Spanish. chatTheir investigations have used flimsy legal pretexts and harmed trans people’s mental health, a new report says.
