The Trump administration decided to resolve a litigation filed by eight plaintiffs and the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) that wanted to stop the removal and restore vital public health and science information from government websites. The terms of the settlement require the Department of Health and Human Services to recall over 100 deleted datasets and webpages starting January 2025.
On January 20, 2025, President Trump authorized a number of executive orders. The two executive orders detailed below were about gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
- Executive Order 14151: Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government
- Executive Order 14168: Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing
Throughout a few months, the Trump administration instructed government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to remove public health data that had been published on their websites in the past.
The erased information included public health data associated with gender and reproductive health, LGBTQ health, vaccine assistance, Mpox treatment, opioid use disorder, pregnancy risk, HIV/AIDS research, and the NIH HIV Risk reduction software, information from clinical trials, etc.
The lawsuit seeks to halt the removal of information from taxpayer-funded sites, bring back the deleted information, and create a legal safeguard to stop future attempts to control public health information. The WSMA, Washington Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Washington State Nurses Association, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, AcademyHealth, Fast-Track Cities Institute, National LGBT Cancer Network, Vermont Medical Society, and the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care filed the lawsuit.
The named defendants in the lawsuit include Jay Bhattacharya of NIH, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Martin A. Makary of FDC, Charles Ezell of the Office of Personnel Management, and Thomas J. Engels of Health Resources and Services Administration.
The Washington State Medical Association et al. v. Kennedy et al. lawsuit claimed that the erased information was crucial to public health research and fighting morbidity and mortality. Deleting the health-related information (not PHI) according to the executive orders is a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Paperwork Reduction Act, the separation of powers principle, the Prematurity Research Expansion and Education for Mothers Who Deliver Infants Early Act, and the Public Health Service Act.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit state that the unannounced and unparalleled removal of these government webpages and datasets shocked the scientific and medical communities, which count on these resources to keep track of and react to disease outbreaks, aid doctors and other physicians in everyday care, and notify the public regarding a variety of healthcare problems. Health specialists, nonprofit institutions, and state and local regulators used the websites and datasets every day to look after their patients, deliver community resources, and enhance public health.
The lawsuit claimed that many databases were erased, depriving the healthcare community as well as the public of being able to access important resources. The defendants have brought back some of the removed datasets and internet pages, in some cases, to follow court orders; however, the restoration is sporadic. The plaintiffs stated that the defendants made erratic decisions to remove important resources, which, under American legislation, must be accessible to American citizens. Having access to reliable information helps to resolve real issues, enhance health results, and prepare for the future.
The WSMA announced on September 2, 2025 that according to the settlement reached, the HHS must bring back the internet pages and information wrongfully removed, and make them accessible once more to doctors, scientists, and healthcare experts. It is a victory for the Washington health care community and its partners to be able to push back this awful example of government overreach.