The Trump administration has cleared the way for people to report doctors who provide gender-affirming care to minors — and now says they can do so without violating federal medical privacy laws.
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In new guidance issued Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that health care workers, clinic staff, and even third parties may file complaints against providers offering gender-affirming care and, in many cases, even disclose protected patient information under HIPAA’s whistleblower provisions. Under HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, medical professionals must keep a patient’s health information confidential. The guidance, issued under President Donald Trump’s January 28 executive order titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” establishes a new federal portal to collect these reports.
Civil rights and LGBTQ+ health advocates say the move weaponizes patient privacy law against the very people it was designed to protect — and targets providers in a sweeping campaign to scare them out of delivering medically necessary care.
“At a time when trans health is already becoming more and more difficult for patients to access, this guidance is a page out of the anti-abortion activism playbook,” said Adrian Shanker, a national LGBTQ+ health policy expert and senior HHS official under the Biden administration....
A Guatemalan national residing in the U.S. illegally has been indicted for his alleged role in smuggling a 14-year-old girl into the country. Juan Tiul Xi, 26, was indicted on Thursday for alleged...