NYU Langone Hospital Receives Criminal Subpoena Over Trans Youth Care in Latest Federal Crackdown

The Trump administration has spent the past year issuing subpoenas to hospitals nationwide, demanding access to medical records of children receiving gender-affirming care and the doctors treating them. Most of these efforts have failed, with at least eight separate administrative subpoenas thrown out. Another set of DOJ subpoenas targeting California hospitals was dropped in January 2025.

Now, federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Texas have adopted a new strategy. On May 11, NYU Langone Hospital revealed it had received a grand jury subpoena seeking confidential information about patients under age 18. As S. Baum of Erin In The Morning noted, this escalation signals a criminal case, putting providers or hospital officials at risk of arrest and imprisonment. The subpoena does not appear to target parents or trans patients directly.

News of the subpoena also indicates the federal government has empaneled a grand jury, a critical step toward potential criminal proceedings.

“We understand that these developments may be concerning to our patients, providers, and others. Please know that NYU Langone takes the privacy of your protected health information very seriously and we are evaluating our response to the subpoena.”

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights, condemned the subpoena as a politically motivated attack on medical providers. “This is a blatant attempt to harass and intimidate medical providers based on the administration’s ideological opposition to transgender people and this healthcare,” Minter stated. Since prior attempts to compel hospitals to surrender patient data failed, the DOJ is now pursuing the same information through federal criminal charges. By filing the subpoena in Texas, Minter argued, the administration is seeking a jurisdiction likely to align with its goals.

“It’s just an egregious abuse of federal power. This is mafia-type behavior.”

This is not the first time NYU Langone has faced scrutiny for its care of transgender patients. In January 2025, the hospital halted new enrollments in its Transgender Youth Health Program following a Trump executive order banning federally funded hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to minors. The decision sparked protests. Over a year later, the hospital announced it was ending the program entirely “due to the current regulatory environment,” prompting further demonstrations from trans youth and their families, many of whom struggled to secure alternative care.

In early March 2025, New York Attorney General Letitia James ordered NYU Langone to resume care. Days later, then-Deputy US Attorney General Todd Blanche sent a letter to James demanding the hospital not reinstate trans youth care.