Overview
- A settlement filed in federal court removes Justice Department requests for names, Social Security numbers, addresses and other identifiers from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles records, with remaining materials to be redacted.
- The agreement includes a pledge that the government will not use any patient-identifying information for investigation or prosecution and requires return or destruction of such data.
- Protections cover records of more than 3,000 trans youth patients and bar similar requests to CHLA until at least February 2029, while allowing a process to seek limited redacted records.
- The Justice Department said the subpoena itself was not withdrawn and characterized the step as withdrawing three requests, as families’ attorneys called the outcome a major privacy victory.
- The CHLA deal follows a January 21 ruling denying access to patient records at Children’s National in Washington, D.C., while broader federal subpoenas, HHS rulemaking and inspector general inquiries continue nationwide.