Civil rights probe targets Vanderbilt as trans patients sue hospital for sharing records with AG
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is cooperating with an investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Civil Rights, a spokesperson for the hospital confirmed on Thursday.
News of the probe comes just weeks after transgender patients sued VUMC for failing to redact personally identifying information from their health records when they were shared with the office of Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti late last year.
When the hospital disclosed its compliance with the records request, which according to the AG’s office was made in connection with its investigation into the hospital’s billing practices, transgender patients and their families raised alarm over how their information might be used.
The patients’ complaint argues these concerns are amplified following the passage of bans on gender affirming health care for minors, along with other efforts by the state’s Republican officials to restrict the rights of trans Tennesseans. “Our clients are encouraged that the federal government is looking into what happened here,” an attorney for the plaintiffs told The Tennesseean.
