Appeals court gives Missouri AG pathway to Transgender Center patient records

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is allowed to access patient health information as part of its investigation into the Washington University Transgender Center, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals decision , written by Judge Phillip Hess, reverses a ruling last year by a St. Louis judge that allowed the health center to withhold patient information protected by the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

But Tuesday’s ruling does not end the fight for these otherwise confidential records nor will it open the floodgates for the attorney general to have untethered access to records. Instead, the circuit court must step in to tailor the requests and minimize the amount of protected health information that is ultimat