Brown Goldstein & Levy partner Eve Hill and co-counsel from GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law) are representing eight families who are asking a federal court to deny a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) demand for complete access to their private and sensitive medical information.
On November 17, Eve and co-counsel from GLAD Law filed a motion asking the judge to block the DOJ-issued subpoena for their confidential medical records related to care received at Children’s National Hospital’s Gender Development Program. The motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
“The Department of Justice is engaged in a fishing expedition,” Eve said. “Patients have a rightful expectation that their sensitive medical information will remain private. Trust is essential to the patient-provider relationship and undermining that trust is likely to deter people from seeking the care they need.”
This case comes after President Trump issued Executive Order 14187 on January 28, directing the Attorney General to conduct investigations related to transgender healthcare, with a clear goal to “end” transgender healthcare in the United States. Since then, the DOJ has issued at least 20 subpoenas demanding hospitals and providers turn over extensive medical records and personal identifying information of individuals under 19 who have received transgender healthcare over the past five years.
“These subpoenas are an abuse of judicial process orchestrated to coerce providers and patients into abandoning lawful medical care,” Eve said.
This is not the first case in which BGL is representing transgender individuals whose rights were threatened by the federal government. Earlier this year, Eve won a temporary restraining order on behalf of transgender women in federal facilities, challenging the Trump administration’s Executive Order aimed to transfer them to men’s facilities and cease medical care.
ABOUT EVE HILL
Eve Hill is one of the nation’s leading civil rights lawyers, known especially for her work with clients with disabilities and LGBTQ+ clients. She has been recognized by Law360 as one of just 12 “Titans of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” for 2023, as well as by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America (2022, 2023, and 2024). Her wide-ranging experience complements Brown, Goldstein & Levy’s decades of dedication to high-impact disability rights cases and its advocacy on behalf of individuals with disabilities and their families. Eve also leads Inclusivity, BGL’s Strategic Consulting Group, which works with organizations to promote the education, engagement, and employment of people with disabilities. Learn more about Eve’s disability rights practice here.
ABOUT BROWN GOLDSTEIN & LEVY
Founded in 1982, Brown Goldstein & Levy is a law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland, with an office in Washington, D.C. The firm is nationally recognized in a wide variety of practice areas, including complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care, family law, and criminal defense. Above all else, Brown, Goldstein & Levy is a client-centered law firm that brings decades of experience and passionate, effective advocacy to your fight for justice.