A reported plan by the Mount Sinai Health System to hand over the records of transgender teenagers who received gender-affirming treatment to the U.S. Justice Department has set off a wave of objections in New York. Eyewitness News ABC7NY reported that the prospect of those medical files being shared with federal investigators has alarmed local officials and the families of young patients alike.
Leading the pushback is the Manhattan borough president, who argued that sharing the records would amount to a violation of patient privacy. He pointed specifically to New York's Shield law, a statute designed to protect medical information from being used in out-of-state investigations, as a reason the hospital should think carefully before turning anything over.
The borough president went further, saying that Mount Sinai should not comply with the government's request at all. Instead, he urged the health system to work with the New York State attorney general, casting the matter as one where the city and state should be standing between the federal request and the patients whose data is at stake.
For the families involved, the concern is intensely personal. Parents of young patients said they are afraid of what the Justice Department might do with the information if it is released, uncertain about how such sensitive records could be handled once they leave the hospital's control.
One parent framed the issue as a question of how the city protects its children, saying they wanted New York to take a stand as a place that cares about its young people. The parent said they did not know how the data might be shared or who it could be given to, adding that families would be in danger if the government obtained it.
The dispute also arrives against the backdrop of a significant shift in Mount Sinai's own approach. According to the report, earlier this year the health system announced that it would no longer provide gender-affirming care for transgender teenagers, a decision that already drew attention before the records question emerged.
For now, the focus is on what Mount Sinai will do next, with officials and parents watching to see whether the hospital releases the records or holds them back. Eyewitness News ABC7NY reported that the calls to resist the request, and to involve the state attorney general, reflect a broader fight over who controls sensitive medical information and under what rules.