A federal district judge has approved a Department of Justice petition to compel Rhode Island Hospital to comply with a federal subpoena — after the hospital refused to hand over records related to puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones administered to minors.
The DOJ filed the petition in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas through its Enforcement and Affirmative Litigation Branch and the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The subpoena was issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as part of a federal investigation into the distribution of puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to minors with gender dysphoria and related disorders. Rhode Island Hospital had not complied with the subpoena at the time the petition was filed.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Brett Shumate stated: “The Department of Justice expects and demands full compliance with validly issued subpoenas like the one at issue here. Non-compliance with lawful process is never an option.”
The Rhode Island Hospital case is one of several active federal investigations into gender clinics. Attorney General Pam Bondi has previously confirmed the DOJ issued more than 20 subpoenas seeking to hold “medical professionals and organizations that mutilated children” accountable. The subpoenas have targeted providers in both states where such interventions remain legal and states where they have been banned.
The federal scrutiny has already had a measurable effect: more than a dozen hospitals across the country have quietly reduced or halted gender-related interventions on minors since the subpoenas were issued.