A Nashville hospital that was at the center of controversy for offering irreversible “gender-affirming” surgeries for children is facing a civil rights investigation by the Biden administration for turning over trangender patients’ records to the state attorney general.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services investigation was announced shortly after two patients sued Vanderbilt University Medical Center for turning over their health records to Tennessee AG Jonathan Skrmetti over possible medical billing fraud (via the Associated Press):
The patients suing over the release of their information say VUMC should have removed personally identifying information before turning over the records because the hospital was aware of Tennessee authorities’ hostile attitude toward the rights of transgender people.
Many of the patients who had their private medical information shared with Skrmetti’s office are state workers, or their adult children or spouses; others are on TennCare, the state’s Medicaid plan; and some were not even patients at VUMC’s clinic that provides transgender care.
“The more we learn about the breadth of the deeply personal information that VUMC disclosed, the more horrified we are,” said attorney Tricia Herzfeld, who is representing the patients. “Our clients are encouraged that the federal government is looking into what happened here.”
Townhall reported in June how John Howser, VUMC's chief communications officer, explained that the center turned over the records in a statement to The Tennessean.
"VUMC received requests from the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General as part of its investigation seeking information about transgender care at VUMC. The Tennessee Attorney General has legal authority in an investigation to require that VUMC provide complete copies of patient medical records that are relevant to its investigation. VUMC was obligated to comply and did so,” he said.
In a statement to its patients, VUMC claimed that it provided the records with “assurance that the records would remain confidential as required by Tennessee law.”
Last year, VUMC came under fire after reports broke that it was providing irreversible, experimental transgender treatments to kids kind of care because it’s profitable, which Townhall covered. At least 20 states have enacted legislation banning transgender treatments for minors, which includes hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and sex reassignment surgery.
Vanderbilt opened its trans clinic in 2018. During a lecture the same year, Dr. Shayne Taylor explained how she convinced Nashville to get into the gender transition game. She emphasized that it's a "big money maker," especially because the surgeries require a lot of "follow ups" pic.twitter.com/zedM7HBCBe
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) September 20, 2022
Additionally, Townhall covered how a recent poll published by Gallup found that the majority of Americans, 55 percent, consider “changing one’s gender” to be “morally wrong.” On the other hand, 43 percent said they believe it is “morally acceptable.” Compared to results collected by Gallup in 2021, 51 percent of respondents said that changing one’s gender was “morally wrong,” while 46 percent said it was “morally acceptable.”