After Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued their physician for allegedly violating the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, Spencer said they figured there was a “non-zero” chance their information was included in the lawsuit.
That didn’t make receiving a letter from Paxton’s office any less surreal.
The letter confirmed Spencer, who requested to use a pseudonym, was one of 15 unnamed patients in the state's lawsuit against Dr. M. Brett Cooper. The attorney general’s office subpoenaed Cooper, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health for years of patients’ medical and billing records, therapy notes and communication with Cooper.
Spencer, a transgender and non-binary North Texan who saw Cooper for years, called the news and the possibility their records will be used in the case “the one biggest source of stress” in their life.
“It all feels like I’m very helpless in this because this is my information that I don’t want to be aired in court," they said. "Even if it is anonymized, this is my health care."
Paxton sued Cooper, along with Drs. May Lau and Hector Granados, last fall for allegedly violating Senate Bill 14, which banned the prescription of hormones or puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria in minors. Paxton's office alleges the doctors prescribed hormone treatments after the ban took effect in September 2023. Paxton also accused the doctors of using false billing codes and diagnoses to fill prescriptions.
In separate lawsuits, Paxton called each doctor a “scofflaw” and called for their medical licenses to be revoked.
The law contains a provision for patients to wean off medications they were already prescribed when the law took effect.
Cooper’s attorneys have argued that Paxton’s press releases about the case have turned the cases into a “politicized media spectacle” that ignores the law’s exceptions for people who were already receiving treatment before June 2023.
Attorneys for the state, Cooper, Lau and the hospitals have spent months deliberating in Collin County’s 493rd District Court ahead of eventual trial dates. Judge Christine Nowak denied Cooper and Lau’s motions to dismiss their cases. In April Nowak denied Cooper’s motion to transfer venue to Dallas or Travis County.
Meanwhile, in Dallas County, Spencer and 12 other patients listed in the lawsuit against Cooper asked a district court for protection from the state’s subpoena seeking their medical records. Eleven of Lau’s patients filed a similar petition in Dallas County.
Production of medical records by UT Southwestern or Children’s Health is on hold pending appeals in Cooper and Lau’s cases in Collin County. Lau’s patients' case in Dallas County is also on hold after a Dallas County Court judge denied the state’s request to suspend the case. State attorneys immediately filed an appeal.
In addition to the scope of the subpoenas, William Logan, an attorney with Winston & Strawn who represents Cooper's and Lau’s patients, said his team is also concerned with those who may have not been notified their medical records are listed in the lawsuits.
“The medical records themselves are the key component and the thing we’re trying to protect here, but recognizing that these patients are people, right? It's also important that their ... due process rights are protected as well,” Logan said. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure those are protected to the full extent possible under Texas law.”
KERA News reached out to state attorneys listed in the case for comment.
Spencer said they’re grateful to have protection and frustrated in how patients have been addressed in court documents. They especially take issue with the word “victim” being used to describe them.
“I can’t speak for any of the other patients, but I can speak for myself when I say that I don’t feel at all like a victim of Dr. Cooper’s,” Spencer said. “If anything, I feel like a victim of the state of Texas and their attempts to stick their hands into my personal medical care.”
Asked about anything they wish the public would know while watching the case, Spencer said they wish transgender people would be seen as just that: people.
“I feel like there’s the tendency in today’s landscape to view the people involved as though we’re nothing but political talking points, but trans people exist,” Spencer said. “We’re just regular people that want to live out our lives without [...] what I personally believe is overreach.
“I also want people to know that at least in my case, the state may talk about how they’re doing this for my own good, but I do not see it that way whatsoever."
Got a tip? Email Kailey Broussard at kbroussard@kera.org.
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