Washington University's Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital is now under a multi-agency investigation after it was discovered that several workers made a list of patients they deemed "on the fence" about being transgender and passed it along to an anti-trans blogger.
The workers made the list in clear violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
HIPAA stipulates how personally identifiable information maintained by the healthcare and healthcare insurance industries should be protected from fraud and theft. It generally prohibits healthcare providers and healthcare businesses from disclosing protected information to anyone other than a patient and the patient's authorized representatives without their consent.
The list made its way to journalist Jesse Singal, whose work has been negatively received by prominent members of the trans community due to the nature of his reporting on detransition and transition regret. A cover story he wrote for The Atlantic in 2018 about transgender children was criticized for a lack of a diversity in editorial oversight.
According to Singal's own Substack newsletter, workers at the gender-affirming care center shared patient lists with him as well as socially conservative politicians.
The list was created by worker Jamie Reed, a self-proclaimed anti-trans "whistleblower" who recently manufactured controversy by claiming patients at the clinic were being coerced and abused into getting treatment.
Her claims have been thoroughly debunked by parents of children who are patients at the clinic.
It's evident, based on Singal's story about the matter, that the list included other private information that was not necessarily redacted.
In a statement, Minnesota Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey lent credence to Reed's allegations and said his office is "thoroughly investigating to make sure children are not harmed by individuals who may be more concerned with a radical social agenda than the health of children.”
Many have been outraged by the scandal, which comes at a time of rising anti-trans sentiment nationwide.
Missouri is one of at least two dozen states that have introduced legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors amid a wave of anti-trans hysteria alleging transgender people and others in the LGBTQ+ community are "groomers" targeting children.
Studies show transgender teens are more likely to be subjected to violence in high school and have higher rates of suicide.
A recent study showed transgender adults with access to puberty blockers as teens were less likely to have suicidal thoughts.
The study, published in Pediatrics, concluded "those who received treatment with pubertal suppression, when compared with those who wanted pubertal suppression but did not receive it, had lower odds of lifetime suicidal ideation."
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