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

Are gender-confused youths being treated ethically at the Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital? The answer is still up for debate. While the center claims that an internal review found no evidence of harm, a whistleblower and the Missouri attorney general remain concerned about the practices there.

“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.”

The center’s internal review committee failed to interview Jamie Reed, the ex-employee whose allegations led to state and federal investigations of the center’s operations, according to Reed’s lawyers. The university’s release of a four-page report last week has done little to quell concerns.

While the report claims that physicians and staff followed “accepted standards of care” for young transgender-identifying patients, Reed’s lawyers dispute the accuracy of the figures presented. Reed recorded data on 1,315 patients over a 28-month span, 150 more patients than the university “self-reported” during a 55-month period, her lawyers said.

Despite the controversy, the center is making changes, including securing written consent from parents before prescribing gender-transitioning medications to minors.

Are Minors Being Harmed?

Reed alleged that staff provided “gender-affirming” prescriptions “without complete informed parental consent” and without an appropriate assessment of the child’s needs. She also claimed to have seen “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.”

Referrals for Surgery

Reed alleged that the center’s physicians publicly denied referring minors for gender-altering surgeries, but the university’s report says 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.”

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.

Questions Remain

While the center claims to follow guidelines for the “standard of care,” the controversy surrounding its practices continues. The Missouri attorney general has promised to leave “no stone unturned” in the investigation, and Reed’s lawyers remain skeptical of the university’s report. As the debate continues, the welfare of gender-confused youths hangs in the balance.