A Missouri transgender clinic that came under fire for allegedly hastily administering hormone drugs to children will end the practice because of a new state law.
University of Washington Transgender Center at Children’s Hospital St. Louis “will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors for the purpose of gender transition,” the university announced Monday.
The center was the catalyst for state lawmakers to enact the new law, which bars hormone therapy for children under 18 after a whistleblower came forward in February to allege doctors gave hormone drugs to children with little vetting of their mental health problems.
A former caseworker at the clinic, Jamie Reed, said the practice was “morally and medically appalling” and “permanently harmed” children by failing to consider “red flag” mental health concerns, ignoring potential side effects and ignoring some who then decided to de-transition.
The newly enacted law only provides an exemption for patients who have already received gender-confirming hormone medication before August 28.
But the Transgender Center decided to end such services to all its patients, new and old, because of new legal requirements created by the law for minors receiving the drugs, university officials said.
University of Washington Transgender Center at Children’s Hospital St. Louis announced on Monday that it will no longer prescribe hormone drugs to minors. Google Maps
The parents of a child treated at the clinic blamed politics for the decision to end hormone therapy for youth. AP
“This lawsuit creates unsustainable liability for health care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without exposing our universities and providers to an unacceptable level of liability,” the University of Washington said. in a statement.
The law establishes a minimum liability of $500,000.
The university said the new state law creates “an unacceptable level of liability.”
The Transgender Center decided to end services to all of its patients, new and old, because of new legal demands made by the law for minors receiving the drugs.AP/Charlie Riedel
The center will refer its current patients to other providers and said it was “disappointed” by its forced decision.
It will still offer education and mental health support for transgender children as well as medical care for those over 18.
Some patients at the clinic and their parents slammed Reed’s claims and said they didn’t add to their own experiences, adding that he only works in the administrative department and doesn’t really see what goes on in medical appointments.
Whistleblower Jamie Reed claims the clinic often rushes through approval of hormone therapy for its young patients. The Free Press
Some of the former case manager’s allegations were later corroborated, while others could not be confirmed as part of a New York Times investigation that included interviews with dozens of patients, parents, former employees and local health providers and more than 300 pages of documents.
The report found that the clinic often relied on outside therapists, some with little expertise in gender issues, to make calls about their young patients’ eligibility for hormone medication and that the clinic provided little or no support for its former patients who stopped identifying as transgender. .
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is investigating Reed’s allegations and many Republicans in the state seized on his whistleblower report.
Parents of former patients at the transgender center blame politics for the closure of the hormone medication program.
“I hope they’re very happy with the harm they’re doing to transgender children,” Kim Hutton, whose now-grown son is receiving treatment, told St. Louis Dispatch Monday. “Clearly our children are not worthy of care.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
