Missouri
Missouri transgender clinic will no longer prescribe hormone drugs to minors due to new state law
A Missouri transgender clinic that came under fire for its alleged rush to prescribe hormone drugs to children will end the practice due to a new state law.
The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital “will no longer prescribe puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to minors for purposes of gender transition,” the university announced Monday.
The center became a catalyst for state legislators to draft the new law, which bars hormone therapy for minors under 18 after a whistleblower came forward in February to claim physicians doled out hormone drugs to kids with little screening of their mental health issues.
A former caseworker at the clinic, Jamie Reed, said its practices were “morally and medically appalling” and were “permanently harming” children by failing to take into account “red flag” mental health concerns, glossing over potential side effects and ignoring the few who later decided to detransition.
The newly enacted law only provides an exemption for patients who were already receiving gender-confirming hormone meds prior to Aug. 28.
But the Transgender Center decided to end such services to all its patients, new and old, because of a new legal claim the law created for minors who received the medications, university officials said.
“This legal claim creates unsustainable liability for health-care professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without subjecting the university and our providers to an unacceptable level of liability,” Washington University said in a statement.
The law enacts a minimum liability of $500,000.
The center will refer its current patients to other providers and said it was “disheartened” 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.
Several patients at the clinic and their parents slammed Reed’s allegations and said they don’t add up with their own experiences, adding that she worked only on the administrative side and didn’t actually see what was happening in medical appointments.
Some of the former case manager’s accusations were later corroborated, while others were unable to 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 external therapists, some with little expertise in gender issues, to make the call on their young patients’ eligibility for hormone drugs and that the clinic provided little to no support for its former patients who stopped identifying as transgender.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is investigating Reed’s claims and many Republicans in the state seized on her whistleblower report.
The parent of a former patient at the transgender center blamed politics for the closure of the hormonal drug program.
“I hope that they’re very pleased with the harm that they’re doing to transgender children,” Kim Hutton, whose now-adult son received treatment, told the St. Louis Dispatch Monday. “Obviously our children are not worthy of care.”
Missouri
People Magazine's 'Most Beautiful' Missouri Restaurant is Wrong
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder which is one reason why I will rarely ever criticize what someone else thinks is beautiful, but in the case of People Magazine’s choice for the most beautiful Missouri restaurant they’re dead wrong.
People Magazine (oh, wait…magazines aren’t much of a thing anymore so let’s just call them “People”) says that Grünauer in Kansas City is (in their eyes) the most beautiful Missouri restaurant. Here’s the view of their restaurant if you’re about to walk in.
And here’s the view if you’re standing outside of Grünauer.
No offense intended to Grünauer as I hear it’s a spectacular place to eat, but “beauty” is not a word that comes to mind when you’re staring at a parking lot in downtown Kansas City.
Let me suggest that People could have made a better choice when it comes to “beautiful” Missouri restaurants. How about The Blufftop at Rocheport Les Bourgeois Vineyards with this view.
If you’re sitting at a table at this spectacular Missouri winery, you have this view.
Again I want to emphasize nothing against the People Magazine choice for Missouri’s most beautiful restaurant since that’s a very subjective thing, but don’t you think this would have been a more compelling choice?
HGTV Features Doomsday Missile Silo Home Not Far From Missouri
Gallery Credit: HGTV via YouTube
Missouri
Missouri falls to Omaha in NCAA softball regional opener
Missouri, the overall No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, opened the Columbia Regional on Friday with a 3-1 loss in nine innings to the Omaha Mavericks at Mizzou Softball Stadium.
The Tigers will have to win four games in the next two days to advance to the Super Regionals.
Missouri
Missouri legislature finishes chaotic session amid paralyzed Senate
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KFVS) – Missouri saw a chaotic end to the 2024 legislative session Friday after a stalled Senate skipped the final day of work.
The hotly-debated resolution to make constitutional amendments more difficult to pass on the ballot upended debate and became a “hot potato” between the House and Senate. Each chamber repeatedly referred the measure to the other, the Senate asking for a conference committee to work out the differences and the House refusing to recede from its position.
Senate leaders on Friday said this session revealed a vast difference between lawmakers who want to find compromises with colleagues and those who want to battle to impose their political will.
In the end, Democrats and the majority of Republicans sent a message that the Missouri General Assembly, particularly the Senate, must remain a place of compromise, where lawmakers find a way to work together.”
“My theory is, if you treat people with respect, you’re willing to listen to them, and you’re willing to work with them, that you can get done the things you need to get done,” said Senate Majority Floor Leader Cindy O’Laughlin.
The five-member “Freedom Caucus” faction of Republicans, led by Harrisonville senator Rick Brattin, called their party’s leaders “cowardly.”
“The Republican party has turned into feckless, spineless, ambassadors of nothing, and not fighting for what’s right,” Brattin said.
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said decency and democracy ultimately overcame division and distrust.
“I think that decorum won, I think the bullies lost,” Rizzo said. “I don’t think that matters if you have a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ by your name. I think the [Senate] pushed back on being pushed around all year in the last throes of session.”
With the senate adjourned, the Missouri House spent Friday finishing several bills including a major public safety omnibus package.
That bill includes tougher penalties for hurting or killing a law enforcement dog, making it a felony to run from police, and outlawing celebratory gunfire.
But some major bipartisan bills failed to pass including open enrollment in public schools, a ban on child marriage, and Governor Parson’s top priority of new child care tax credits.
“Just because we didn’t pass legislation doesn’t mean that the issue has gone away,” said State Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City. “If anything, it’s going to get worse, because there hasn’t been legislative action taken.”
Governor Parson declined to say whether he’ll call lawmakers back for a special session this summer, though many lawmakers predict he will do so for the general assembly to craft a supplemental budget.
Copyright 2024 KFVS. All rights reserved.
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