NYU Langone Pays $8.5M, Ends Youth Gender Care in DOJ Deal

NYU Langone Health agreed Sept. 18 to pay $8.5 million and permanently stop gender-affirming medical care for patients under 18, settling a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the hospital network's treatment of transgender minors.

The deal covers NYU Langone facilities in New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County. Under its terms, the hospital will no longer give puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors, and will not perform related surgeries. The DOJ had subpoenaed medical records of minors who received such care; the settlement spares the hospital from turning those records over.

"NYU Langone has not entered into this settlement because of any wrongdoing and has affirmatively denied any wrongdoing or liability in the agreement," spokesman Steve Ritea said in a statement. The hospital said the resolution protects patient privacy and its providers from prolonged litigation.

The Justice Department announced the agreement Sept. 18 alongside a separate settlement with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which agreed to pay $950,000. "Today's resolutions send a clear message: hospitals that target children in these practices and then fraudulently obtain payment for the procedures will be held to account," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the department's release.

NYU Langone is the second major New York hospital system this month to reach such a deal. The Justice Department announced a similar agreement with Mount Sinai Health System on Sept. 4, under which Mount Sinai agreed to stop providing the treatments to minors, pay a monetary penalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for people the department says were harmed by such care they received as children.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the deal, calling it "another alarming example of a private institution caving to pressure from the federal government" with real consequences for transgender youth. The New York State attorney general's office said it is reviewing the settlement.

The Justice Department's Civil Division opened a nationwide investigation into providers of gender-affirming care for minors after President Donald Trump directed the department in 2025 to prioritize such cases, according to the department's Sept. 18 release. The department said the claims resolved in the agreements are allegations only, with no determination of liability.