After sharing patients' medical information with the state attorney general amid a probe into transgender care practices, Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center is now facing a civil rights investigation, the Los Angeles Times reported Aug. 11.
HHS has launched an investigation into VUMC due to the incident, according to the publication.
"We have been contacted by and are working with the Office of Civil Rights," John Howser, spokesperson for VUMC, told the Los Angeles Times. "We have no further comment since this is an ongoing investigation."
The investigation comes shortly after two patients filed a class-action lawsuit against the health system allegedling that the organization violated patients' privacy by sharing medical information.
According to the suit, VUMC allegedly gave Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office a list of 106 patients who received gender-affirming care from the medical center.
Vanderbilt told Becker's July 25 that it was obligated to reply to the information requests and did so.
Tricia Herzfeld, who is representing the patients in the suit, told the publication that "the more we learn about the breadth of the deeply personal information that VUMC disclosed, the more horrified we are."
Vanderbilt paused gender-affirming surgeries on patients under age 18 in October 2022 after receiving a letter of concern from about 60 Republican Tennessee lawmakers. In June, the medical center closed its transgender clinic ahead of a state ban on gender-affirming healthcare for youth, which took effect July 1.