Explosive allegations have emerged about Jamie Reed's allegations against a gender affirming care clinic in Missouri. One family alleges Reed lied about the cause of their child's liver damage.
The first part of Reed's affidavit is worded very carefully: "I know of at least one patient at the Center who was advised by the renal department to stop taking bicalutamide because the child was experiencing liver damage." Technically true, and so carefully worded that it seems likely that at the time she wrote it, Reed already knew that there was no evidence that the liver damage was *caused* by the bicalutamide. But absolutely designed to mislead. (Also, "at least one"? Exactly one! This is the kind of statement written by someone who knows that they're lying by omission.)
The original wording in her allegation: "As with most cancer drugs, bicalutamide has a long list of side effects, and this patient experienced one of them: liver toxicity." is even more disingenuous, and it's likely she didn't think she could get away with that degree of manipulation in an affidavit.
The claim in the affidavit that a parent had said "this could be a huge PR problem for you", on the other hand, was an outright lie, and that's what any perjury charge would probably have to be based on.
On the medical issues: bicalutamide has a well-defined pre-screening and monitoring regime, which involves testing and regularly re-testing transaminase levels. You can see the details by looking at the Professional section of its entry on drugs.com. None of the anti-trans side have ever provided any evidence that these safety precautions weren't rigorously followed. On the contrary, for all we know the liver damage from the COVID drug could have been picked up earlier than it otherwise would have been, *because* they were followed. Jamie Reed doesn't know, she's a flunky who got her information second- or third-hand from a nurse (and then published it, which was a clear HIPAA violation that Washington University School of Medicine should be pursuing).
Who is the puppet master who is pulling Reed's strings? Which organization of liars and sociopaths is she affiliated with? How is she profiting off of this?
Since the affidavit was given to the attorney general, the state attorney general's office would be the one to file charges. Very unlikely given who it is. I don't think district attorneys would have jurisdiction to file charges.
Thank you, Erin, it's exactly this kind of reporting we don't get enough of elsewhere. As troubling as this is, it's something we need to know, to fight this fight for justice. You're the best in the business, on the subject.
Excellent journalism as always. Gender affirming care is evidence-supported, has the backing of major medical organizations, and saves lives. That is a FACT. Anti-trans zealots, on the other hand, will stop at nothing to distort the facts in order to get the results they want. I long for the days in the past when this issue wasn’t so intensely politicized.
Staying knowledgeable is super-important, and you are a big help, Erin.
In our Chicago Gender Society meeting this week, we also discussed that we all need to come out of our closets and show our pride. Trans folk are everywhere, playing endless important roles in our society. Hiding our true selves perpetuates the big secret, making us all vulnerable to misinformation. Sharing our secret (or our gift as some of us call it) shows our friends and neighbors, schools, churches, leaders, etc, EVERYONE, that we are just like them, with the same needs and wants and desires.
If your church says you're a sinner, find a new church. My Bible says I was created perfectly. I believe it. I am a trans woman 71 years young, with 4 adult children who love and respect me, grandchildren, a wonderful wife, a business, owned 4 airplanes, etc. Life is good.
By coming out and sharing our gift, we give hope to youth that they can also survive the current politics and come out in a great world on the other side.
I know it's not possible for everyone to be out for many reasons, but for me, it was like being reborn, with generally good acceptance, in spite of all my childhood fears.
Bottom line is that we all need to be knowledgeable and fight the good fight, and those of us who can, need to be out and proud.
I am so curious on what the deal is with her husband, who's supposedly a trans man himself. Surprised the right wing hasn't paid him much mind; who is he and is he someone who might be called "trans medicalist" (generally trans-identified, believes in strong restrictions against care access) or not in line with Ms. Reed and keeping quiet?
I noticed that detail, as well, Byron. It strikes me that either Jamie Reed surveyed the landscape to find the Child & Parental Rights Campaign (a virulently anti-trans org), or the CPRC recruited her.
For both, it becomes a great talking point: Jamie Reed couldn't be anti-trans, because of her husband! And now the president of CPRC, Yale and Harvard alum Vernadette Broyles, is representing Ms. Reed. The key question, for me, is: Who is funding the CPRC?
Recently (in September), Jamie was slated to be part of a forum supported by NPR in Kansas City to discuss recent anti-trans legislation and its effects on our trans family. Enough of us objected to the slated group of speakers that the event was cancelled. It's great to have this information backing up why that was a great decision!
Jamie Reed is a key piece of the gender clinic story. Another key is the CPRC, the Child & Parental Rights Campaign. That anti-trans org is helmed by Vernadette Broyles, who is serving as Jamie's attorney (and often, spokesperson).
The CPRC's website gives an air of being well-established and well-funded as a "nonprofit public interest law firm" (dedicated to defending parents' rights to "shield their children from the impacts of gender identity ideology"). Its staff, all the way through its paralegals, profess anti-trans family values bona fides, including desires to eradicate comprehensive sex ed to high school students.
But, who is funding them? Broyles has testified in state legislatures, including Florida, supporting anti-trans legislation. How and when has the relationship between Jamie Reed and CPRC developed?
The open question for me is whether Jamie Reed already felt compelled, or assured, by the likelihood that deep-pocketed funders were itching for this fight and desperate for her to lie, when her affidavit came out.
yes, available for the price... but not a doctor. Jamie Reed was never a clinician. She was on staff as a Case Manager. At times, she answered incoming calls. She spent time at the reception desk. She was in the room with clinicians at times in order to be fully informed on coordinating patient care plans and referrals.
Staying knowledgeable is super-important, and you are a big help, Erin.
In our Chicago Gender Society meeting this week, we also discussed that we all need to come out of our closets and show our pride. Trans folk are everywhere, playing endless important roles in our society. Hiding our true selves perpetuates the big secret, making us all vulnerable to misinformation. Sharing our secret (or our gift as some of us call it) shows our friends and neighbors, schools, churches, leaders, etc., EVERYONE, that we are just like them, with the same needs and wants and desires.
If your church says you're a sinner, find a new church. My Bible says I was created perfectly. I believe it. I am a trans woman 71 years young, with 4 adult children who love and respect me, grandchildren, a wonderful wife, a business, owned 4 airplanes, etc. Life is good.
By coming out and sharing our gift, we give hope to youth that they can also survive the current politics and come out in a great world on the other side.
I know it's not possible for everyone to be out for many reasons, but for me, it was like being reborn, with generally good acceptance, in spite of all my childhood fears.
Bottom line is that we all need to be knowledgeable and fight the good fight, and those of us who can, need to be out and proud.
It would be very helpful if people could find out the times and dates of the conferences you mentioned.
How about our trans activists getting to hold demonstrations at the conferences for once. Just like the gay activists back in the 80’s who demonstrated at the APA Conferences when accused of being pedifile and child polyesters, or mentally I’ll.
It’s about time that these conferences are made to be more inclusive!!
Long ago, when I was a medical student at Washington University, the first lesson we were taught in pharmacology was that all medications have side effects and before prescribing a physician must weigh the risks and benefits, thoroughly inform the patient of the risks and benefits, and then monitor treatment as long as the patient remains on the medication.
It is known that bicalutmide has a small risk, (1%) of serious liver damage. It is also well established that 80% of transgender youth consider suicide and that about 40% of transgender youth attempt suicide. Puberty hormone blockers have been shown to reduce that risk 50 - 70%.
Jamie Reed should have done the math before spreading false information leading to closure of the Gender Clinic at Washington University, before metastasizing to University of Missouri and closure of its Gender Clinic, seducing Senator Josh Hawley who then used this false information to advocate for legislature banning the accepted standard of transgender care for ALL transgender youth in Missouri and becoming a ‘blue print’ for anti-transgender legislation throughout the country.
And one more thing. Is there another medical condition for which a well established and widely endorsed medical treatment is criminalized and withheld?
Daira Hopwood has already thoroughly covered the misleading and false aspects of Reed's allegation and affidavit. I just need to chime in on one claim that immediately annoyed me. I didn't even get past "As with most cancer drugs..." before dismissing Reed's allegation completely as made up nonsense. Bicalutamide has the most benign side-effect profile of all the available non-GnRHa blockers. Elevated ALT is a commonly reported short term side effect but the liver compensates within weeks of commencing treatment in the overwhelming majority of patients. Because the initial ALT response is so common, and because the albeit minuscule risk of acute liver toxicity is serious, ELFT results are ALWAYS monitored extremely closely during administration of bicalutamide until they return to normal ranges. If the reported patient's liver function was actually impaired by bicalutamide this is a non-event because GAHT monitoring protocols were followed as intended. If bicalutamide was not the cause GAHT monitoring protocols probably saved the patient long term liver damage.
Why is she not being charged with perjury?!!
The first part of Reed's affidavit is worded very carefully: "I know of at least one patient at the Center who was advised by the renal department to stop taking bicalutamide because the child was experiencing liver damage." Technically true, and so carefully worded that it seems likely that at the time she wrote it, Reed already knew that there was no evidence that the liver damage was *caused* by the bicalutamide. But absolutely designed to mislead. (Also, "at least one"? Exactly one! This is the kind of statement written by someone who knows that they're lying by omission.)
The original wording in her allegation: "As with most cancer drugs, bicalutamide has a long list of side effects, and this patient experienced one of them: liver toxicity." is even more disingenuous, and it's likely she didn't think she could get away with that degree of manipulation in an affidavit.
The claim in the affidavit that a parent had said "this could be a huge PR problem for you", on the other hand, was an outright lie, and that's what any perjury charge would probably have to be based on.
On the medical issues: bicalutamide has a well-defined pre-screening and monitoring regime, which involves testing and regularly re-testing transaminase levels. You can see the details by looking at the Professional section of its entry on drugs.com. None of the anti-trans side have ever provided any evidence that these safety precautions weren't rigorously followed. On the contrary, for all we know the liver damage from the COVID drug could have been picked up earlier than it otherwise would have been, *because* they were followed. Jamie Reed doesn't know, she's a flunky who got her information second- or third-hand from a nurse (and then published it, which was a clear HIPAA violation that Washington University School of Medicine should be pursuing).
Who is the puppet master who is pulling Reed's strings? Which organization of liars and sociopaths is she affiliated with? How is she profiting off of this?
Since the affidavit was given to the attorney general, the state attorney general's office would be the one to file charges. Very unlikely given who it is. I don't think district attorneys would have jurisdiction to file charges.
Considering it was testimony given at a legislative hearing, I feel like individual legislators ought to be allowed. They have standing.
I can't speak for the state level, but charging someone with perjury before US congress falls to the executive branch.
Congress can hold them separately in contempt, even jail them indefinitely. Not a power the Congress has apparently ever actually used, but . . .
https://rollcall.com/2019/05/08/just-where-is-this-secret-house-jail-located/
Found my wiki rabbit hole for the night.
That was my first thought as well.
Give it a few more weeks -- the courts move slow.
Thank you, Erin, it's exactly this kind of reporting we don't get enough of elsewhere. As troubling as this is, it's something we need to know, to fight this fight for justice. You're the best in the business, on the subject.
Thank you so much. This was an explosive story.
Excellent journalism as always. Gender affirming care is evidence-supported, has the backing of major medical organizations, and saves lives. That is a FACT. Anti-trans zealots, on the other hand, will stop at nothing to distort the facts in order to get the results they want. I long for the days in the past when this issue wasn’t so intensely politicized.
Thank you for your efforts to watch over our community. I really appreciate all you do to keep us informed in today's chaotic world.
How can we all help debunk this stuff?
Just stay knowlegable.
Staying knowledgeable is super-important, and you are a big help, Erin.
In our Chicago Gender Society meeting this week, we also discussed that we all need to come out of our closets and show our pride. Trans folk are everywhere, playing endless important roles in our society. Hiding our true selves perpetuates the big secret, making us all vulnerable to misinformation. Sharing our secret (or our gift as some of us call it) shows our friends and neighbors, schools, churches, leaders, etc, EVERYONE, that we are just like them, with the same needs and wants and desires.
If your church says you're a sinner, find a new church. My Bible says I was created perfectly. I believe it. I am a trans woman 71 years young, with 4 adult children who love and respect me, grandchildren, a wonderful wife, a business, owned 4 airplanes, etc. Life is good.
By coming out and sharing our gift, we give hope to youth that they can also survive the current politics and come out in a great world on the other side.
I know it's not possible for everyone to be out for many reasons, but for me, it was like being reborn, with generally good acceptance, in spite of all my childhood fears.
Bottom line is that we all need to be knowledgeable and fight the good fight, and those of us who can, need to be out and proud.
Thank you for giving this coverage, many locals are wildly uninformed and still believe the false allegations made by Reed!!!
Is there any legal recourse to lying on a signed affidavit? Is it a sworn statement enough to be considered perjury?
I hope WashU jumps on any opportunity to sue her back to the stone age.
Excellent work, thank you!
I am so curious on what the deal is with her husband, who's supposedly a trans man himself. Surprised the right wing hasn't paid him much mind; who is he and is he someone who might be called "trans medicalist" (generally trans-identified, believes in strong restrictions against care access) or not in line with Ms. Reed and keeping quiet?
I noticed that detail, as well, Byron. It strikes me that either Jamie Reed surveyed the landscape to find the Child & Parental Rights Campaign (a virulently anti-trans org), or the CPRC recruited her.
For both, it becomes a great talking point: Jamie Reed couldn't be anti-trans, because of her husband! And now the president of CPRC, Yale and Harvard alum Vernadette Broyles, is representing Ms. Reed. The key question, for me, is: Who is funding the CPRC?
I hope she is held accountable for her damning lies. These people have nothing but lies and hate.
Recently (in September), Jamie was slated to be part of a forum supported by NPR in Kansas City to discuss recent anti-trans legislation and its effects on our trans family. Enough of us objected to the slated group of speakers that the event was cancelled. It's great to have this information backing up why that was a great decision!
Jamie Reed is a key piece of the gender clinic story. Another key is the CPRC, the Child & Parental Rights Campaign. That anti-trans org is helmed by Vernadette Broyles, who is serving as Jamie's attorney (and often, spokesperson).
The CPRC's website gives an air of being well-established and well-funded as a "nonprofit public interest law firm" (dedicated to defending parents' rights to "shield their children from the impacts of gender identity ideology"). Its staff, all the way through its paralegals, profess anti-trans family values bona fides, including desires to eradicate comprehensive sex ed to high school students.
But, who is funding them? Broyles has testified in state legislatures, including Florida, supporting anti-trans legislation. How and when has the relationship between Jamie Reed and CPRC developed?
The open question for me is whether Jamie Reed already felt compelled, or assured, by the likelihood that deep-pocketed funders were itching for this fight and desperate for her to lie, when her affidavit came out.
Ah, the ‘good doctor’ - available for all hate groups, just name your price $$
yes, available for the price... but not a doctor. Jamie Reed was never a clinician. She was on staff as a Case Manager. At times, she answered incoming calls. She spent time at the reception desk. She was in the room with clinicians at times in order to be fully informed on coordinating patient care plans and referrals.
Staying knowledgeable is super-important, and you are a big help, Erin.
In our Chicago Gender Society meeting this week, we also discussed that we all need to come out of our closets and show our pride. Trans folk are everywhere, playing endless important roles in our society. Hiding our true selves perpetuates the big secret, making us all vulnerable to misinformation. Sharing our secret (or our gift as some of us call it) shows our friends and neighbors, schools, churches, leaders, etc., EVERYONE, that we are just like them, with the same needs and wants and desires.
If your church says you're a sinner, find a new church. My Bible says I was created perfectly. I believe it. I am a trans woman 71 years young, with 4 adult children who love and respect me, grandchildren, a wonderful wife, a business, owned 4 airplanes, etc. Life is good.
By coming out and sharing our gift, we give hope to youth that they can also survive the current politics and come out in a great world on the other side.
I know it's not possible for everyone to be out for many reasons, but for me, it was like being reborn, with generally good acceptance, in spite of all my childhood fears.
Bottom line is that we all need to be knowledgeable and fight the good fight, and those of us who can, need to be out and proud.
~Reed has lied their care~
...has lied about their care...
It would be very helpful if people could find out the times and dates of the conferences you mentioned.
How about our trans activists getting to hold demonstrations at the conferences for once. Just like the gay activists back in the 80’s who demonstrated at the APA Conferences when accused of being pedifile and child polyesters, or mentally I’ll.
It’s about time that these conferences are made to be more inclusive!!
Long ago, when I was a medical student at Washington University, the first lesson we were taught in pharmacology was that all medications have side effects and before prescribing a physician must weigh the risks and benefits, thoroughly inform the patient of the risks and benefits, and then monitor treatment as long as the patient remains on the medication.
It is known that bicalutmide has a small risk, (1%) of serious liver damage. It is also well established that 80% of transgender youth consider suicide and that about 40% of transgender youth attempt suicide. Puberty hormone blockers have been shown to reduce that risk 50 - 70%.
Jamie Reed should have done the math before spreading false information leading to closure of the Gender Clinic at Washington University, before metastasizing to University of Missouri and closure of its Gender Clinic, seducing Senator Josh Hawley who then used this false information to advocate for legislature banning the accepted standard of transgender care for ALL transgender youth in Missouri and becoming a ‘blue print’ for anti-transgender legislation throughout the country.
And one more thing. Is there another medical condition for which a well established and widely endorsed medical treatment is criminalized and withheld?
Ralph Freidin, MD
WUMS 1969
Daira Hopwood has already thoroughly covered the misleading and false aspects of Reed's allegation and affidavit. I just need to chime in on one claim that immediately annoyed me. I didn't even get past "As with most cancer drugs..." before dismissing Reed's allegation completely as made up nonsense. Bicalutamide has the most benign side-effect profile of all the available non-GnRHa blockers. Elevated ALT is a commonly reported short term side effect but the liver compensates within weeks of commencing treatment in the overwhelming majority of patients. Because the initial ALT response is so common, and because the albeit minuscule risk of acute liver toxicity is serious, ELFT results are ALWAYS monitored extremely closely during administration of bicalutamide until they return to normal ranges. If the reported patient's liver function was actually impaired by bicalutamide this is a non-event because GAHT monitoring protocols were followed as intended. If bicalutamide was not the cause GAHT monitoring protocols probably saved the patient long term liver damage.