DOJ withdraws demand for Los Angeles hospital to turn over transgender minors' records

By Nate Raymond

Jan 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice has agreed to withdraw a subpoena demand that Children's Hospital of Los Angeles turn over records identifying over 3,000 transgender youth who received gender-affirming care at the hospital.

The agreement was reached on Thursday after judges in several other states rejected the Trump administration's efforts to subpoena providers of transgender healthcare for patient information.

At least seven judges in recent months have sustained challenges to some of the more than 20 subpoenas the DOJ has said it issued to doctors and clinics involved in providing gender-affirming care to children nationwide.

One such subpoena was issued in June to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles as part of what the Justice Department said was an investigation into potential violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and related offenses.

The hospital that same month said it would close its Center for Trans Youth Health and Development and Gender-Affirming Care program, effective July 22.

The Justice Department in related cases had said it had issued subpoenas to healthcare providers in order to investigate the off-label promotion or unlawful dispensing of puberty blockers and hormones to minors.

Parents of six children who had received gender-affirming care from the hospital filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles in November seeking to quash the subpoena, which they said improperly sought their families' medical information in violation of their privacy rights.

The subpoena requested information identifying any patients prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapies; the diagnoses that formed the basis of those prescriptions; and any disclosures about off-label use of the treatments and their potential risks.

According to Thursday's settlement agreement, the Justice Department recently withdrew that portion of the subpoena request and instructed the hospital to redact any patient-identifying information in documents it produced in response to a demand for billing and insurance records.

Under the agreement, the Justice Department agreed to notify the plaintiffs' lawyers if it nonetheless does receive information identifying patients.

Cori Racela, executive director for Western Center on Law & Poverty, which represented the plaintiffs, in a statement said the settlement "is a crucial affirmation that health care decisions belong in exam rooms, not government subpoenas."

"No one's private health records should be turned into political ammunition – especially children," Racela said.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment.

The subpoenas to the healthcare providers were issued after Trump, shortly after taking office in January 2025, signed an executive order ending all federal funding or support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

The order described such care as a "stain on our Nation’s history," a "dangerous trend" and a form of "chemical and surgical mutilation." The order directed the Justice Department to prioritize investigations concerning such treatments, which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi then directed the department to do.

The case is In Re 2025 Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles Subpoena, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:25-cv-11183.

For the plaintiffs: Amy E. Powell of Lawyers for Good Government; Helen Tran of Western Center on Law & Poverty; and Lori Rifkin of Impact Fund

For the Justice Department: Scott Dahlquist of the Justice Department

Read more:

DOJ subpoenaed hospital to end gender-affirming care through 'fear,' judge says

Judge rejects DOJ's subpoena to Children's Hospital Colorado over transgender care

Judge blocks Justice Department's transgender care subpoena to Boston Children's Hospital