SEATTLE — Seattle Children's has filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas over its request for the hospital to produce records related to gender-affirming care of patients.
The suit was filed in Travis County District Court in Texas earlier this month and argues the hospital is bound by Washington state law to not comply with the request from the Texas Attorney General's office. Seattle Children's refutes Texas as having the authority to compel the records from the hospital under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which it cited as the legal backing for the requests.
According to court documents, the Texas AG's office served Seattle Children's with a Civil Investigative Demand on Nov. 20. The state requested records related to gender-affirming care for Texas patients, including prescriptions, diagnoses, and how to "wean" a child off gender-related care. Sworn written statements from Seattle Children's were part of the request.
Seattle Children's cites Washington's "Shield Law," which protects it “from civil and criminal actions in other states that restrict or criminalize reproductive and gender-affirming care.” The lawsuit alleged the state law requires the hospital not to “comply with a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other civil or criminal legal processes for records, information related to protected health care services that are lawful in the state of Washington”
The hospital said while it has employees licensed to work in the state of Texas, none of them work in gender-affirming care and no state money has been taken by Seattle Children's as part of.
“Seattle Children’s took legal action to protect private patient information related to gender-affirming care services at our organization sought by the Texas Attorney General. Seattle Children’s complies with the law for all health care services provided. Due to active litigation, we cannot comment further at this time,” a hospital spokesperson told KING 5 in a written statement Thursday.
Gov. Jay Inslee signed a group of bills in April aimed at protecting Washington's access to abortions and other gender-affirming related care. House Bill 1340 protects healthcare providers in Washington from disciplinary action for providing legal abortion and gender-affirming care in Washington.
KING 5 has reached out to the Texas AG's office for a response to the lawsuit.
