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Welcome to the latest edition of Investigative Roundup, highlighting some of the best investigative reporting on healthcare each week.

Doctor Drives Gender-Affirming Care Bans

Stanley Goldfarb, MD, is backing the push to restrict care for children with gender dysphoria via his organization Do No Harm, according to .

Goldfarb does not have a background in gender care, the outlet reported. He is a former dean at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school and a nephrologist. Do No Harm has provided legislative strategy and medical experts, however, to Republican-led states, Politico reported.

Though the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics have acknowledged gender-affirming care as safe and necessary, Goldfarb has accused the groups of prioritizing ideology over medicine. Mainstream health organizations have expressed concern over his influence on Republican politicians and the risk it brings to patients.

Next, Goldfarb is looking to take on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in medical education.

Is Cord Blood Banking a Scam?

Companies that sell the banking of cord blood to new mothers may offer more hype than help, a investigation found. Banking cord blood is marketed as a safeguard for the child's future health, but despite millions of privately banked samples, only 19 stem-cell transplants using a child's own cord blood have been reported since 2010.

Through private cord blood banks like Cord Blood Registry, ViaCord, and Cryo-Cell, new mothers are pitched on the benefits of storing their umbilical cord blood, which contains stem cells that could, theoretically, be used as treatments for their child later on.

Some of this marketing claims that the blood can treat as many as 80 different conditions, be used in future clinical trials, and holds valuable potential as new scientific discoveries arise. In many cases, obstetricians are paid "collection fees" for each sample of cord blood they obtain for a bank, which may create an incentive to sign up more mothers, according to the New York Times.

In reality, storage can be pricey, at more than $1,000 to sign up and several hundred dollars each year thereafter, with very little payoff. It turns out, very few of the samples are ever used down the line. Many are too small in volume to be used in trials. Even more are contaminated -- and mothers have described paying for years of storage only to find that bacteria had been found in the sample within weeks of banking, according to the Times. Cord blood itself has also been largely swapped out for stem cells from a relative's blood or bone marrow, which can be used for a number of the same purposes.

Anti-Abortion Activist's Influence Grows

A Wisconsin pastor and anti-abortion activist who operated on the fringes of politics for years is beginning to gain mainstream support, according to .

Once a self-professed gang member who burned down houses, Matthew Trewhella later founded a church and began using a 16th century Calvinist philosophy known as "the doctrine of the lesser magistrates" to lead extreme anti-abortion, gun rights, and election conspiracy movements. The philosophy holds that "lesser" government officials can and should defy any rules that go against the "law of God."

Trewhella's interpretation of these ideas can be found in his self-published book, but also in his endorsement of violence against abortion providers, rejection of women in government, and sermons about the sins of homosexuality, ProPublica reported. He's also encouraged churches to start militias and parents to arm their children. Central to his agenda are calls for sheriff's departments and counties, especially, to resist "tyranny" by refusing to follow laws or policies that are "immoral" under God.

For years, even anti-abortion groups condemned him, but his influence has grown, according to ProPublica. Montana lawmakers invited Trewhella to speak at the state's Capitol nearly a decade ago. And in recent years, he's met with the governor of Kentucky about abortion abolition, and with officials in Wisconsin, Missouri, and North Carolina about abortion and gun rights.

Last year, he spoke at a conference held by the National Sheriffs' Association, and with the pandemic, his language on "tyrannical acts" by the state have filtered into local meetings in Tennessee, Indiana, and other states, the outlet reported. Many of those who have associated with him, however, declined to acknowledge it publicly or said they were unaware of some of his more extreme stances.

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