Judge blocks Trump administration's subpoena of trans kids' medical
records from Boston hospital
[September 10, 2025]
By REBECCA BOONE
A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's
attempt to subpoena medical records of transgender patients who received
gender-affirming care at Boston Children's Hospital.
In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun said the
administrative subpoena served by the U.S. Department of Justice was
improper and “motivated only by bad faith.”
The Justice Department said the information was needed to investigate
possible fraud or unlawful off-label promotion of drugs, but the
information requested — including actual patient records — seemed to be
unrelated, the judge said. Phone messages left with the Justice
Department’s attorney Ross Goldstein and with a Justice Department
public affairs officer were not immediately returned.
“The Administration has been explicit about its disapproval of the
transgender community and its aim to end GAC,” Joun wrote, referring to
gender-affirming care. The judge later continued, “It is abundantly
clear that the true purpose of issuing the subpoena is to interfere with
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' right to protect GAC within its
borders, to harass and intimidate BCH to stop providing such care, and
to dissuade patients from seeking such care.”
Just eight days after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an
executive order aimed at restricting access to medical care for
transgender youth. In June, the Justice Department’s Civil Division
announced the division would use “all available resources to prioritize
investigations of doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and
other appropriate entities,” in an effort to investigate what it called
“radical gender experimentation.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a statement July 9 that the
Justice Department had sent more than 20 subpoenas to doctors and
clinics that provide care to transgender patients under 18. Bondi said
the requests were part of investigations into “healthcare fraud, false
statements, and more.” But the requests did not just seek information on
policies or billing practices — they also demanded information about
individual patients who had been prescribed puberty blockers or hormone
therapy.
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Pedestrians walk past the Boston Children's Hospital, Aug. 18, 2022,
in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
 Boston Children's
Hospital asked the federal court to quash the subpoena on July 8,
saying the Justice Department was seeking practically every document
related to the provision of gender-affirming care over the past five
and a half years, including highly sensitive and personally
identifiable information about young patients.
But the Justice Department contended the subpoena was proper and a
valid way for the agency to investigate potential violations of
off-label prescription drug rules.
Gender-affirming care includes a range of medical and mental health
services to support a person's gender identity, including when it's
different from the sex they were assigned at birth. It may include
counseling, medications that block puberty, hormone therapy to
produce physical changes or surgeries to transform chests and
genitals, although those are rare for minors.
Most major medical groups say access to the treatment is important
for those with gender dysphoria and see gender as existing along a
spectrum.
At least 27 states have adopted laws restricting or banning the care
for minors, while several others have adopted laws or policies
protecting access to transgender health care.
Massachusetts' state constitution protects the right to
gender-affirming care, the judge said, making it difficult to
understand exactly what the Justice Department was trying to
investigate.
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Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this story.
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