NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A federal investigation is now underway into the controversial release of medical records from Vanderbilt's transgender clinic, according to a local attorney.
That release of records came at the request of Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti.
The question is did the request and release go too far and violate privacy laws? What we are talking about here is the HIPAA law, which protects the privacy of patients' medical records.
There are exceptions for civil investigations -- but there are guidelines and limits.
"The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is investigating Vanderbilt and the Attorney General," attorney Abby Rubenfeld said.
"When did you learn this?"
"Yesterday, I spoke with the Office of Civil Rights, this is a priority for them," Rubenfeld responded.
Rubenfeld is part of the legal team that's filed a class action lawsuit against Vanderbilt Medical Center alleging it failed to safeguard the privacy of its patients in the transgender clinic.
The hospital had responded to a request from the state attorney general for medical records. Jonathan Skrmetti told NewsChannel 5's Phil Williams he's looking into alleged improper billing issues.
"Is this a transgender investigation? No this is a fraud investigation," said Skrmetti.
"It's hard out there for transgender people, and I don't what to persecute them. I just want to make sure that our laws are enforced in an appropriate way." Rubenfeld disagrees.
"He's the one making it hard. He's gone after the transgender community. I don't care how many excuses he gives on TV. If you don't want to persecute, then don't."
Skrmetti says there is no political agenda. Rubenfeld says there, and it is to intimidate trans patients.
"He talks about no exceptions to the fraud laws for politics; that's garbage. There's no exception to HIPAA for his political agenda."
So there is the class action lawsuit ... and now the federal investigation.
Yes, under HIPAA medical records can be released for a civil investigation, but the guideline is to do so in the least intrusive way. Rubenfeld says they went way beyond that.
The Class Action lawsuit was filed on July 24th.
Vanderbilt is expected to file a response with the state court before the end of the month.
