Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey now has access to Planned Parenthood patient documents, potentially revealing whether clinics provided puberty-blocking drugs and transgender surgeries to children There is sex.
St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Michael Stelzer ruled last week that Mr. Bailey was suspended under Missouri’s Commodity Exchange Act because it does not fall under the protections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a federal law that protects patient privacy. The court ruled that it was permissible for the patient’s documents to be obtained.
Bailey told Fox News Digital that the court’s decision is a “huge victory” in a series of investigations into how transgender clinics have served minors.
But of the three clinics Bailey won in court, only Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City filed paperwork. Another clinic, a family planning organization in the Great Plains, filed an appeal seeking to keep the documents private. The St. Louis family planning organization that a judge ordered to turn over its files to the attorney general has yet to send any patient documents.
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Planned Parenthood organizations are appealing a St. Louis judge’s decision to turn over the documents to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (inset). (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images/File)
“It is highly suspicious that Planned Parenthood is actively obstructing our investigation,” Bailey told Fox News Digital. “We had to take them to court to force a judge to hand over the documents we requested.”
Bailey added: “If we have to continue to go to court to protect our children and find out what happened here, that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
According to the court’s opinion, Planned Parenthood tried to block Bailey’s investigation, arguing that he had “failed to show” how his office was “directly involved in the investigation” of the transgender clinic.
In Stelzer’s opinion, Bailey is “investigating possible fraud in Plaintiff’s medical practice and billing practices.”
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Protesters of Kentucky Senate Bill SB150, known as the transgender health care bill, cheer during a rally on the lawn of the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort, March 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)
“The statute is clear that defendants have broad investigative powers when consumers may require protection, and we dispute that the MMPA applies in this case.” No,” Stelzer said.
Bailey launched a multi-agency investigation last year after a whistleblower publicly accused St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s Washington University Transgender Center (TGC) of lying to patients’ parents. .
The AG’s investigation into TGC “seeks all records of all patients treated at TGC, including requests for private and protected health information. The records include more than 1,000 patients.
In an affidavit filed with the Attorney General’s Office in early 2023, Jamie Reed said she was employed as a case manager at a children’s hospital from 2018 to November 2022. She accused hospital staff at the transgender center of lying to patients’ parents. There are many other issues as well.
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State Attorney General Bailey has launched an investigation into transgender clinics across Missouri. (Graham Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images/File)
Just a few months later, Missouri passed a law banning puberty-blocking drugs, hormones, and sex-reassignment surgeries for minors. However, the AG’s investigation from before the law was enacted will continue across the state, the agency told FOX News Digital.
After the law was passed, Bailey’s office sent a letter to health care providers across Missouri warning them to immediately stop offering experimental treatments to children.
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“My team will uncover the truth about how this secret clinic network has exposed children to puberty-blocking drugs and irreversible surgeries, often without parental consent. ” Bailey said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment.
Fox News’ Adam Sabes contributed to this report.
