On February 10, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey called for a moratorium on the Washington University in St. Louis Transgender Center after a whistleblower exposed alleged malpractice in the administering of puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgeries to minors, prompting an investigation.
Jamie Reed, the whistleblower who worked at the Center for nearly four years, released an affidavit on February 7 that outlined unethical practices she saw during her time at the Center.
“I took the job because I support trans rights and firmly believed I would be able to provide good care for children at the Center who are appropriate candidates to be receiving medical transition. Instead, I witnessed the Center cause permanent harm to many of the patients,” reads the affidavit.
Reed continues that she “personally witnessed Center healthcare providers lie to the public and to parents of patients about the treatment… and the effects of treatment provided to children at the Center,” “witnessed staff at the Center provide puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children without complete informed parental consent,” and “witnessed children experience shocking injuries from the medication the Center prescribed.”
She also emphasizes in the affidavit that “the Center [made] no attempt or effort to track adverse outcomes of patients after they left the Center.”
Specific malpractices Reed claims to have witnessed included the Center providing templates to center-appointed therapists for letters supporting transition; misinforming patients on the risks of bicalutamide, a medication used to treat prostate cancer that acts as a puberty blocker for biological males; and pressuring parents into consenting to give their children gender-transition medications who were hesitant to do so.
Reed also alleges that the Center knowingly violated minimum age requirements for the administering of cross-sex hormones.
“During the time, I was at the clinic, the WPATH Standard of Care Version 7 stated that children be at least 16 years old to start using cross-sex hormones. The Center deviated even from this most lenient standard and routinely prescribed cross-sex hormones to children as young as 13,” she writes.
Reed made her story known to the public in a Feb. 9 piece written for The Free Press.
“Clinics like the one where I worked are creating a whole cohort of kids with atypical genitals,” Reed wrote. “I doubt that any parent who’s ever consented to give their kid testosterone (a lifelong treatment) knows that they’re also possibly signing their kid up for blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, and perhaps sleep apnea and diabetes.”
One of Reed’s main concerns was the Transgender Center’s lack of post-operational care for patients, specifically in the cases of de-transitioners. During a retreat in 2022, she said one of the doctors at the clinic told her to “stop questioning the ‘medicine and the science’ as well as their authority.” Reed left the clinic in November that same year.
On Jan. 26, Reed wrote a letter to AG Bailey, outlining the “questionable and harmful” practices of the Washington University in St. Lous Center and asking him to open an investigation.
“Experiments are supposed to be carefully designed. Hypotheses are supposed to be tested ethically,” Reed maintained in her Free Press article. “The doctors I worked alongside at the Transgender Center said frequently about the treatment of our patients: ‘We are building the plane while we are flying it.’ No one should be a passenger on that kind of aircraft.”
On Feb. 9, Washington University in St. Lois released a statement responding to the allegations.
“We are alarmed by the allegations reported in the article published by The Free Press describing practices and behaviors the author says she witnessed while employed at the university’s Transgender Center,” the statement reads.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and have already begun the process of looking into the situation to ascertain the facts. As always, our highest priority is the health and well-being of our patients. We are committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care to all of our patients and we hold our medical practitioners to the highest professional and ethical standards.”
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