NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vanderbilt University Medical Center is facing a lawsuit filed by its transgender clinic patients. The patients allege that the hospital violated their privacy by turning their records over to Tennessee’s attorney general.
The lawsuit, filed in Nashville Chancery Court, claims that more than 100 individuals had their records sent to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti by Vanderbilt. The attorney general’s office has stated that they are investigating medical billing and that the probe is not directed at the patients or their families. Vanderbilt has maintained that they were legally obligated to comply with the request.
The patients argue that Vanderbilt should have known about the state’s hostile stance toward transgender rights and should have removed their personally identifying information before releasing the records.
Tennessee has been known for its conservative-led efforts to restrict the rights of transgender individuals, enacting some of the country’s most anti-LGBTQ policies. The lawsuit seeks class-action status on behalf of all clinic patients whose private medical records were disclosed to Skrmetti.
The lawsuit accuses Vanderbilt of negligence, emotional damage, and violations of patient privacy and consumer protection laws. It asks for monetary damages, improved security procedures, an injunction against further record releases without notice, an acknowledgment of Vanderbilt’s violation of its own privacy policy, and an admission that the policy inadequately informs patients of their disclosure rights.
Vanderbilt’s spokesperson, John Howser, explained that it is common for health systems to receive requests for patient records in billing investigations, and that the decision to release records is not taken lightly. Many of the patients involved in the lawsuit are state workers, adult children, or spouses, and some are beneficiaries of the state’s Medicaid plan.
The lawsuit states that since learning about the disclosure of their information, the patients have experienced fear for their physical safety, significant anxiety and distress affecting their ability to work, increased home security measures, and withdrawal from normal activities.
The attorney general’s requests for information were made several months after conservative commentator Matt Walsh publicized videos in which a medical center doctor claimed that gender-affirming procedures are profitable for hospitals. Vanderbilt temporarily halted gender-affirming surgeries for minors under pressure from Republican lawmakers and Governor Bill Lee, who called for an investigation.
Vanderbilt had been performing about five gender-affirming surgeries on minors each year, with parental consent and without performing genital procedures. However, Tennessee lawmakers subsequently passed a ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which a federal appeals court recently allowed to take effect.
The hospital notified the patients about the record disclosure months after it happened, following the emergence of the requests as evidence in another court case. Vanderbilt stated that they wanted patients to hear the news directly from them instead of through media reports or other sources.
Both Vanderbilt and the attorney general’s office are currently discussing what information is relevant to the investigation and will be provided by the hospital.
This report includes contributions from Kimberlee Kruesi in Nashville.