Missouri AG, Whistleblower’s Lawyers Dispute Transgender Youth Clinic’s ‘Internal Review’

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey gives a news interview in March 2023. Courtesy of Missouri Attorney General's Office

A Missouri transgender clinic says an internal review found that staff treated gender-confused youths ethically and didn’t cause harm, calling a whistleblower’s allegations “unsubstantiated.”

But the whistleblower’s lawyers and the Missouri attorney general dispute that conclusion, saying they remain concerned about practices at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

“The transgender center’s assertions don’t line up with what we’ve uncovered so far in our investigation,“ Attorney General Andrew Bailey wrote on Twitter. “We will leave no stone unturned.”

Further, the internal review committee “never bothered to interview” Jamie Reed, the ex-employee whose allegations led to state and federal investigations of the center’s operations, Reed’s lawyers said in an April 25 email to The Epoch Times.

Those reactions followed the university’s release of a four-page report last week.

The report summarizes the university’s conclusions after an eight-week internal review of the center’s operations. Physicians and staff followed “accepted standards of care” for young transgender-identifying patients, the report asserts.

The report says that “appropriate mental health assessment and/or intervention was, and is, required for all medical treatment” provided to patients younger than 18.

But some changes are being made. Among them: The center will now secure parents’ consent in writing—not just verbally—before prescribing gender-transitioning medications to minors.

Facts, Figures Disputed

Since June 2018, 1,165 patients sought care at the center, the report says. Fewer than half of the patients received cross-sex hormones; 67 patients were prescribed puberty blockers. The remaining 567 patients received neither type of prescription, the report said.

But Reed’s lawyers, with the Child & Parental Rights Campaign, said they had reason to doubt the accuracy of those figures.

During a 28-month span, Reed recorded data on 1,315 patients, 150 more patients than the university “self-reported” during a 55-month period, her lawyers said.

The university’s number of patients “should far exceed” Reed’s “because the University is reporting 27 additional months of data,” Reed’s lawyers said.

And, according to Reed’s data, 912 patients were “seen by a hormone-prescribing physician;” 613 patients, or 67 percent, were given prescriptions, her lawyers say.

Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old woman who regrets surgically removing her breasts, holds testosterone medication used for transgender patients in Northern California on Aug. 26, 2022. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

In a sworn statement written for Bailey’s office in February, Reed said she saw staff provide “gender-affirming” prescriptions “without complete informed parental consent.”

Reed also alleged that this was done “without an appropriate or accurate assessment of the needs of the child,” and she saw “shocking injuries from the medication the Center prescribed.”

However, the university’s report found “no patients who had adverse physical reactions caused by medications prescribed by Center providers.”

No Referrals For Surgeries

In her sworn statement, Reed alleged that the center’s physicians publicly denied referring minors for gender-altering surgeries. They claimed these referrals “were only ‘for educational purposes,’” to inform patients about their later options, Reed wrote. “But these referrals were, in fact, referrals.”

The center’s report said its medical providers “have not referred patients under 18 for gender-affirming surgery since late 2018, when the Center adopted a policy prohibiting these referrals.”

“Upon request, some families were provided with the names of surgeons (including Washington University physicians) who provided such surgeries,” the report said.

Only six “gender-affirming” surgeries were performed by Washington University physicians since 2018, the report said.

All of those were breast removals for females “transitioning” to males. All six of the procedures were done after “referrals from other medical providers or patient-initiated self-referrals, not a result of direct Center provider referrals,” the report said.

Prisha Mosley had both of her breasts removed when she believed she was transgender; she was hoping to receive reconstructive surgery. Courtesy of Independent Women’s Forum

‘Standard of Care’ Criticized

The university’s report says the center follows guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and that other major U.S. health organizations concur with WPATH’s standards of care.

But Reed’s lawyers said that rather than basing recommendations on “sound proven evidence,” WPATH is an “an advocacy organization” that relies heavily on the notion that transgender “health care” includes the pursuit of “cosmetic goals on demand.”

WPATH’s website says the organization promotes “evidence-based health care.”

However, WPATH has come under fire for its “deeply flawed” standards of care, according to BeyondWPATH.org. Its online petition has been signed by more than 2,100 mental health professionals, public health scientists, and others.

Investigations Continue

Reed went public with a first-person account of the center’s practices in February; she is believed to be the nation’s first whistleblower who worked at a pediatric gender clinic. Her allegations prompted Bailey and U.S. Rep. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to investigate.

The university said it was continuing to cooperate with both investigations.

Hawley’s probe was triggered, in part, by Reed’s allegations of possible improper billing to federal health programs.

Neither Bailey nor Hawley has released a specific update about their investigations.

The university said its report was produced after top officials worked with St. Louis Children’s Hospital to review the center’s procedures, interview staff, and examine medical records.

But Reed’s lawyers called the report “little more than a self-serving finding.”

“What ultimately will matter most are the conclusions and findings” that will come from Bailey’s office and other officials’ investigations, Reed’s lawyers said.