NYU Langone Criminally Subpoenaed by Federal Court for Trans Youth Care Records
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The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas has subpoenaed NYU Langone Health, one of the largest hospital systems in New York City, for records of patients under 18 who received gender-affirming care from between 2020 and 2026.
The federal subpoena, which patients were alerted to Monday, also demands NYU Langone Health provide the names of healthcare providers who were involved in administering the care to trans youth. NYU Langone Health is one of several hospitals included on the subpoena. It is not yet clear why Ryan Raybould, the Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney General, is requesting these records through a grand jury.
Because New York state is protected by “shield laws,” a collection of measures meant to protect patients and providers from legal charges from other states for providing/receiving gender-affirming care or abortion services, NYULH officials stated they needed to notify patients of the investigation.
“We understand that these developments may be concerning to our patients, providers and others,” NYULH officials stated in a notice to patients. “Please know that NYU Langone takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously, and we are evaluating our response to this subpoena.”
According to S. Baum, staff writer for the independent blog Erin in the Morning, which tracks attacks on trans healthcare, this makes NYU Langone the first known hospital system to receive a federal criminal subpoena for providing gender-affirming care.
Hospital systems across the country have been pressured by the Donald Trump administration to cease providing gender-affirming care to youth or risk federal funding since the President took office for the second time in January of last year. In February 2025, New York City advocates and healthcare providers rallied to press NYU Langone to continue providing life-saving care to trans youth such as hormone blockers and hormone replacement therapy. Even so, the hospital system announced it would stop providing gender-affirming care to minors in February 2026, citing the “current regulatory environment.”
“Electing to refuse service to a class of individuals based on their protected status, such as withholding the availability of services from transgender individuals based on their gender identity or their diagnosis of gender dysphoria, while offering such services to cisgender individuals, is discrimination under New York law,” New York state Attorney General Letitia James wrote in a letter to state healthcare providers in 2025.
In the months following NYU Langone and Mount Sinai Hospital systems shuttering their respective trans youth programs, queer and trans advocates have pressed Mayor Zohran Mamdani to live up to campaign promises to increase access to gender-affirming care to trans New Yorkers.
Per the hospital’s statement to patients, any NYU Langone Health patients, former or current, can email their questions regarding the investigation to TYHPSubpoena@nyulangone.org.
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