Trump administration to restore health websites and data under lawsuit settlement

Federal officials have agreed to restore health- and science-related webpages and data under a settlement with doctors groups and other organizations that sued over the removals, the lead plaintiffs said.

The settlement was announced this week by the Washington State Medical Association, which led a coalition that sued after federal health agencies deleted or removed information on topics including pregnancy risks, opioid-use disorder and the AIDS epidemic shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Plaintiffs said the deletions followed an executive order issued by the Trump administration that instructed agencies to stop using the term "gender" in federal policies and documents. Administration officials characterized the move as an effort to end the promotion of what they described as "gender ideology," while doctors, scientists and public health advocates called the removals an overreach that interfered with access to trusted medical information.

"This was trusted health information that vanished in a blink of an eye — resources that, among other things, physicians rely on to manage patients’ health conditions and overall care," said Dr. John Bramhall, president of the Washington State Medical Association.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services agreed as part of the settlement to restore more than 100 websites and related datasets, according to the plaintiffs. The settlement resolves the legal challenge brought by medical associations and other groups contending that the removals harmed clinicians and patients who rely on federal health guidance and data.

Plaintiff groups said the missing pages included fact sheets, statistical data and clinical guidance used in everyday care and public health responses. Their complaint had argued that the abrupt removals impeded clinicians’ ability to access authoritative information on diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

The announcement underscores tensions between policy directives from the administration and longstanding public health communication practices. Advocates for the plaintiffs said restoring the material was necessary to ensure clinicians and the public have access to evidence-based resources. The administration did not immediately issue a public statement on the settlement.

Legal and medical groups that brought the case said they would monitor the restoration process to ensure that content and data are reinstated intact and accessible. The settlement marks a resolution to litigation prompted by abrupt changes to federal health websites that, the plaintiffs said, created gaps in readily available health information.

The dispute drew attention from clinicians and public health officials who warned that interruptions to federal web resources can hamper patient care, epidemiologic monitoring and public education on issues ranging from infectious disease to substance use disorders. The plaintiffs said the restoration of the sites and data will help re-establish those resources for clinicians, researchers and the public.