Missouri says clinic that challenged transgender treatment restrictions didn't provide proper care

Source: Associated Press

Missouri says clinic that challenged transgender treatment restrictions didn’t provide proper care

BY JOSH FUNK
Updated 5:01 PM EDT, September 24, 2023

Missouri officials struck back at one of the clinics that unsuccessfully challenged new state restrictions on gender affirming care, accusing the clinic in a lawsuit of failing to provide proper care for transgender minors even before the new law took effect.

Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced the counter lawsuit against St. Louis-based Southampton Community Healthcare on Sunday, two days after it was filed in court.

The ACLU of Missouri, which represented the clinic in challenging the law that bans minors from beginning puberty blockers and outlaws gender-affirming surgeries, didn’t immediately respond Sunday to the new filing. And no one answered the phone at the clinic Sunday.

The lawsuit said Southampton’s doctors admitted in court during the hearing over the new law that they failed to provide comprehensive mental health evaluations to all their patients. Bailey’s office argues that violated Missouri’s consumer protection law because the clinic didn’t follow the accepted standard of care that was in place long before the new restrictions that called for psychiatric evaluations.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/missouri-lawsuit-transgender-health-gender-affirming-5988d61ad490e2abbc3cf9a71a047b64