Boston Children's Hospital subpoena quashed as issued in "bad faith"; DOJ appeals

Ruling on the first major challenge to the July 2025 subpoena wave, Judge Joun quashed the administrative subpoena to Boston Children's Hospital — which sought personnel files for ~2,000 employees, billing records, consent forms, and identifying information for minor patients — finding the government showed "bad faith," that the request was a "fishing expedition" without "an iota of suspicion" of fraud, and that its true purpose was to intimidate providers and patients and interfere with Massachusetts law protecting the care. DOJ appealed to the First Circuit. A parallel D.R.I. challenge by the Rhode Island Office of the Child Advocate to a companion subpoena also blocked disclosure.