Texas AG Threatens Seattle Hospital With Jail Unless It Provides Trans Patient Data
Attorney General Ken Paxton has sent a civil investigative demand to Seattle Children's Hospital, demanding data on all Texas patients traveling for care, despite having no jurisdiction there.
According to a complaint filed by Seattle Children’s Hospital in Travis County on December 7, the office of the attorney general under AG Ken Paxton has demanded that the hospital turn over patient data for transgender patients who traveled or moved from Texas. The demands include “no redaction” and apply to any Texas trans youth. The letter also states that the hospital is required by law to “wean children off of” gender-affirming care if they travel or have moved from Texas. The letter lists several other records-related demands and even threatens Seattle hospital workers with jail time if they do not comply.
You can see the excerpts of the request for patients records here:
Seattle responded to the request by filing a lawsuit in Travis County, stating they cannot comply because Texas has no jurisdiction in Washington State, and no care was provided by the hospital in Texas. They also point out that the Dormant Commerce Clause, protected by the United States Constitution, “protects the right to interstate travel, including to obtain healthcare services.” By targeting out-of-state hospitals for enforcement of laws that only apply within the jurisdiction of Texas, they “discriminate against healthcare based on an interstate element,” violating constitutional protections, according to the legal filing. Lastly, Seattle Children’s Hospital cannot comply due to a shield law passed by Washington State. This law bars the hospital from providing any patient data and from responding to subpoenas pursuant to “protected healthcare services” obtained within the jurisdiction of Washington. Protected healthcare services include abortion, reproductive care, and gender-affirming care.
See the relevant statute passed this year in Washington State:
“A business entity that is incorporated, or has its principal place of business, in Washington and provides electronic communication services as defined in RCW 9.73.260 may not knowingly provide records, information, facilities, or assistance in responding to a subpoena, warrant, court order, or other civil or criminal legal process that relates to an investigation into, or the enforcement of, another state’s law that asserts criminal or civil liability for the provision, receipt, attempted provision or receipt, assistance in the provision or receipt, or attempted assistance in the provision or receipt of protected health care services that are lawful in the state of Washington.”
The list of demands is extensive. The demands include medications prescribed, concurrent diagnoses for patients, lab tests, information on the hospital’s standards of care, and a demand that the hospital shows it has weaned trans youth residing or who have resided in Texas from gender-affirming care “as required by” Texas’ ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. While it is uncertain what AG Paxton intends to do with these records, one explanation put forward by Seattle Children’s Hospital is that Paxton’s office aims to stop all Texas residents from obtaining care that is legal in other states, essentially claiming ownership of the out-of-state actions of Texas residents.
This clearly has implications that extend far beyond care. Texas has made headlines recently for attempts to restrict interstate travel for another targeted healthcare service: abortion. Multiple counties in Texas have banned “transporting” pregnant people through the county to obtain an abortion. Similarly, Texas’ abortion bounty hunter law could target out-of-state travel due to a provision banning aiding and abetting abortion care. If Texas is successful in targeting Seattle Children’s Hospital for trans care, the same strategy could easily be applied to abortion care across the United States.
In 2023, Idaho nearly passed a bill that would give life sentences to anyone transporting transgender youth across state lines for gender-affirming care. That same week, lawmakers in Missouri proposed an amendment that would ban out-of-state abortions. Earlier this year, Idaho passed a travel ban that made “abortion trafficking” across state lines a crime. None of these bills go as far as what the Texas AG is claiming, however; whereas these bills target those who move people across state lines, Texas AG Paxton appears to be targeting the actual clinics in other states directly.
This is also not the first time that AG Paxton has taken extraordinary action to target trans people. Earlier this year, his office attempted to get a list of all trans people from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles by asking for all people who have changed their gender markers. Similarly, in 2022, his office famously determined that gender-affirming care was child abuse, leading to the investigation of trans youth throughout the state.
This case promises to be extraordinarily complex. Seattle Children’s Hospital is challenging the jurisdiction of the demands directly in a Texas state court. Regardless of what the local court decides, the claims are likely to go to the Texas Supreme Court. Given that the claims also have a time limit on them and that appeals in Texas automatically favor the attorney general due to an automatic lifting of stays in the state, Seattle Children’s Hospital workers and providers for trans patients from Texas could be under legal jeopardy. Ultimately, the case presents questions of conflicting state laws and regulation of conduct across state lines, and the implications of those laws could be dire for abortion and trans care nationwide.
You can read the full lawsuit here:
This just shows that the highest profile crime in Texas is being a transgender child. These people need to be voted out of office come on Texas.
Once a Texas resident, always the property of Texas? Cannot think of a better way to absolutely and permanently dissuade potential employees of large companies from ever moving to Texas.