Complaints filed against J. Michael Bailey for practicing as a clinical psychologist without a license

March 19, 2004: Andrea James opens complaint file with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation:

March 24, 2004: Andrea James and Lynn Conway file complaint with Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Investigative Office in Chicago:

March 28, 2004: Lynn Conway and Deirdre McCloskey file complaint with Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Investigative Office in Chicago:

April 5, 2004: Andrea James obtains formal results from the search of records by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Office in Springfield, Illinois:

April 6, 2004: Andrea James, Lynn Conway and Deirdre McCloskey file a new formal complaint with Northwestern University:

March 19, 2004: Andrea James opens complaint file with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation:

We are gathering evidence as part of an investigation of possible professional misconduct by Prof. J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University. With this letter we submit evidence that Mr. Bailey has practiced as a clinical psychologist in the State of Illinois without a license.

The evidence shows that Mr. Bailey interviewed and counseled several young transsexual women and wrote their letters of recommendation for sex reassignment surgery - between 1996 and 2002.

The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) oversees treatment of transsexual people worldwide, and has formal protocols requiring letters of recommendation be submitted to surgeons in order for transsexual clinical patients to undergo sex-reassignment surgery (SRS). See page 3 for the sections of the HBIGDA “Standards of Care” regarding mental health professionals’ qualifications and SRS letter writing, including licensing requirements.

A license is required to practice as a clinical psychologist in Illinois. However, the Springfield Office of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation has confirmed to us by telephone that Mr. Bailey was not licensed in Illinois at the time he wrote these SRS letters.

As personal mentors of the young women involved (who wish to maintain their privacy), we request that DPR investigate Mr. Bailey for acting as a clinical psychologist without a license. We also request investigation of Mr. Bailey’s release of confidential clinical information obtained during the SRS interviews. The evidence herein is submitted in support of these complaints.

Case 1: [see page 5] On April 10, 1996, Mr. Bailey wrote the primary letter for this young transsexual woman. He wrote the letter to Yvon Menard, M.D. in Canada. The woman subsequently had her surgery performed by Michel J. H. Seghers, M.D. in Belgium, using that letter as her clinical case recommendation for SRS.

Case 2: [see page 6] On December 7, 1997, Mr. Bailey wrote the primary letter for another young transsexual woman. He wrote this letter to Yvon Menard, M.D. in Canada too. This letter was followed by a “second” (non-primary clinician) letter on December 22, 1997 to Dr. Menard from Wanda Sadoughi, Ph.D., of Downers Grove, Illinois, who referred to her own letter as a “second evaluation” and referred to the earlier letter (from Mr. Bailey) as the “complete psychological evaluation” [see pages 7 and 8] .

A later note from Mr. Bailey to Dr. Menard responds to an inquiry from Dr. Menard as to whether Case 2 had met the time requirement for primary HBIGDA clinical counseling [see page 9]. This response to Dr. Menard’s query documents that it was evident to Mr. Bailey that Dr. Menard thought of Mr. Bailey’s letter as the primary clinical psychological letter. The woman subsequently had her surgery performed by Dr. Menard based on these two letters.

Case 3: [see page 10] On December 19, 2002, Mr. Bailey wrote the secondary letter for another young transsexual woman. He wrote this letter to Toby Meltzer, M.D., and the young woman subsequently had her SRS performed by Dr. Meltzer.

It is clear that Mr. Bailey held himself out to these clients and practitioners as rendering clinical psychological services, and that this may not have been for money, but for “other consideration,” namely for acquiring case history information that he revealed (without permissions) in a book published in 2003, or for sex, as alleged by one woman who states she received an “approval letter” and later performed a sexual favor for Mr. Bailey.

Please note that the young transsexual women who have come forward to provide these SRS letters wish their public identities to remain anonymous at the present time. Nevertheless, they are willing to be interviewed in confidence by State investigators, so as to report in person about their interactions with Mr. Bailey and otherwise assist in the DPR investigation.

We can be reached for follow-up at the e-mail addresses and phone numbers below. Ms. Conway can also coordinate local Chicago interactions between the young women and your investigators by arranging confidential meetings, phone calls and other interactions amongst them.

We are in the process of uncovering and interviewing more of Mr. Bailey’s clinical clients during the period from 1996 to 2002, and expect to submit additional evidence in the future.

Relevant sections of the HBIGDA Standards of Care regarding clinical competence and training for trangender care and re SRS letter writing.

IV. The Mental Health Professional

The Ten Tasks of the Mental Health Professional. Mental health professionals (MHPs) who work with individuals with gender identity disorders may be regularly called upon to carry out many of these responsibilities:

The Adult-Specialist. The education of the mental health professional who specializes in adult gender identity disorders rests upon basic general clinical competence in diagnosis and treatment of mental or emotional disorders. Clinical training may occur within any formally credentialing discipline -- for example, psychology, psychiatry, social work, counseling, or nursing. The following are the recommended minimal credentials for special competence with the gender identity disorders:

Two Letters are Generally Required for Genital Surgery. Genital surgery for biologic males may include orchiectomy, penectomy, clitoroplasty, labiaplasty or creation of a neovagina; for biologic females it may include hysterectomy, salpingo-oophorectomy, vaginectomy, metoidioplasty, scrotoplasty, urethroplasty, placement of testicular prostheses, or creation of a neophallus.

It is ideal if mental health professionals conduct their tasks and periodically report on these processes as part of a team of other mental health professionals and nonpsychiatric physicians. One letter to the physician performing genital surgery will generally suffice as long as two mental health professionals sign it.

More commonly, however, letters of recommendation are from mental health professionals who work alone without colleagues experienced with gender identity disorders. Because professionals working independently may not have the benefit of ongoing professional consultation on gender cases, two letters of recommendation are required prior to initiating genital surgery. If the first letter is from a person with a master's degree, the second letter should be from a psychiatrist or a Ph.D. clinical psychologist, who can be expected to adequately evaluate co-morbid psychiatric conditions. If the first letter is from the patient's psychotherapist, the second letter should be from a person who has only played an evaluative role for the patient. Each letter, however, is expected to cover the same topics. At least one of the letters should be an extensive report. The second letter writer, having read the first letter, may choose to offer a briefer summary and an agreement with the recommendation.

Source:

The Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's

February, 2001

http://www.hbigda.org/socv6.html

Subject: Publication of confidential clinical psychological case-history information by J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University.

We hereby submit textual and other evidence that J. Michael Bailey, while serving as a faculty member at Northwestern and practicing as a clinical psychologist (without a license), later published confidential case-history information about transsexual women he interviewed as a clinician, and that he published this information without the women’s knowledge or permission.

Mr. Bailey represented himself as a licensed psychologist competent to write the "SRS letter," that is, the letter that most surgeons require from a licensed psychologist affirming that the patient is psychologically prepared to change gender.

In his book The Man Who Would Be Queen, Mr. Bailey claims to have disguised the case histories taken from his clinical practice by using pseudonyms. Unhappily he did not take reasonable care to protect the women’s anonymity. He revealed factual details of places, relationships and events that would allow many members of the public to infer the women’s identities. For example:

The young woman named “Juanita”, who is a dear friend of ours, is described in his book:

"Juanita, who has been a successful prostitute before and after sex reassignment surgery” (p. 187); “Juanita’s most recent boyfriend confronted her after penetrating her for the first time. Her vagina is shallow, and he concluded that she is not a normal woman” (p 190) “However, in 1999 Juanita invited me to her wedding. Her engagement story was quite romantic, in an odd, transsexual sort of way….The wedding was small, touching, and hilarious. Juanita’s family – mother, father, three brothers and three sisters- all attended, and of course, they knew that Juanita used to be Hector. However, neither the groom’s parents nor his son from his fist marriage had any idea" (p.210).

It is a violation of the patient-psychologist relationship to reveal such details. Anyone who attended the wedding will know who is involved. Her relatives who did not know she was in the sex trade will learn it from Mr. Bailey. They will also learn intimate clinical details about her medical condition that never should have been revealed by Mr. Bailey.

Terese is not known as a former male. Her boyfriend, for example, does not know of her past. Mr. Bailey uses a pseudonym for Terese, but his book includes facts about her that could easily be revealed to a suspicious partner by her family history and her immigration status.

“Terese was born Jose Garcia in Mexico. His parents divorced when Jose was young, and he was raised by his grandparents. They moved to Chicago when he was XX” (p. 147). “In XXXX 19XX,, Terese (then XX) flew to Belgium and over a XXXX-day period, had sex reassignment surgery, learned to care for her new vagina, and recovered sufficiently to leave the hospital.”(p.150) [we use X’s here to avoid further propagating facts displayed in the book: they are accurate so far as we know.]

Bringing public attention to "Terese" is extremely dangerous. Many gender crossers have been murdered after such revelations. This example illustrates Mr. Bailey’s reckless disregard for the well-being of his patients.

Mr. Bailey initially spotted Kim on one of his “research field trips” to the Crobar (a night-club in Chicago), as he says in his book:

“I cannot decide whether Kim is transsexual, and in a tribute to her beauty, I decide for now not to approach her. If she is transsexual, I will have other chances to meet her, and I will probably also have the opportunity to find out from others without asking her directly. So I leave. (p. 142).

He later described Kim to his research subject Anjelica Kieltyka, indicating that he’d like to meet her socially. Anjelica reports that he asked if she knew this woman, and whether she was transsexual. She said yes to both questions. Sensing an opportunity to help Kim, Anjelica arranged for Kim to go see Mr. Bailey for clinical interviews for eventual approval for SRS surgery, as she had done for several other young transsexual women. Kim then met Mr. Bailey for clinical interviews on two occasions in his office at Northwestern University.

When reporting in his book on these meetings with Kim, Mr. Bailey does not point out that the meetings were clinical interviews, nor that he wrote letters for sex reassignment surgery for any of the women. Instead he refers to Kim as being interviewed for “the study we were conducting”.

“Sure enough though, when I told my transsexual informants about her they recognized the description and claimed Kim as one of their own. I arranged to interview her for the study we were conducting. When she came to my laboratory, my initial impression was reconfirmed. She was stunning. (Afterwards, my avowedly heterosexual male research assistant told me the he would gladly have had sex with her, even knowing that Kim still possessed a penis.)”(p. 182)

Mr. Bailey reveals that "Kim" was originally from “XXX” (a very small country – which we will not repeat here) and that he admired her during visits to Crobar, which is the real name of the club. Dr Bailey would have known that almost all of Kim’s friends and acquaintances call her “Kim from XXX”. Thus his book openly reveals the name she is widely known by, while identifying her as a transsexual woman who “still has a penis.” No reputable clinical psychologist would “out” their clients by such misconduct.

Anjelica Kieltyka, known as “Cher” in Bailey’s book, is the transsexual advocate who brought the young women to Mr. Bailey for clinical interviews regarding gender reassignment surgery. She also long served as Mr. Bailey’s research subject. Although open about her transsexual past with Mr. Bailey and with her transsexual friends, Anjelica nevertheless has kept much of her past confidential for personal safety reasons. Nevertheless, Mr. Bailey published in 2003 extensive intimate details of Anjelica’s sexual activities during her gender transition in the early 1990’s.

He also revealed her original male first name “Chuck” in the text, alongside the pseudonym “Cher” for her current female name. These revelations outed Anjelica in her own community as being the “sexual paraphiliac” person brutally caricatured in Mr. Bailey’s book. On pages 151 through 156 of his book, Mr. Bailey refers to Anjelica as “Chuck” repeatedly (about 46 times).

Mr. Bailey does not appear to understand the clinical case-management of transsexual women, nor was he professionally qualified to interview and recommend transsexual women for approval for gender reassignment surgery. His work had been on homosexuality, not transsexuality. He was not a member of HBIGDA, the professional society dedicated to the treatment of transsexualism and gender dysphoria, and that maintains the international standards for care of transsexual people.

Furthermore, the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation has recently confirmed that Mr. Bailey was not licensed as a clinical psychologist when he interviewed these young women and wrote their letters for surgery.

The women who came to him certainly thought he was a clinician, as did the surgeons to whom he sent the letters. He represented himself as having the competence to conduct psychological interviews and make decisions. He deceived the young women by posing as clinician conducting confidential clinical interviews, and he then deceived the science community by reporting in his book information gained during those interviews as deriving from "research subjects" in scientific “studies”.

Transsexual women face an epidemic of hate crimes. This is especially true for young minority women. The first three women mentioned above are Hispanic. For a full report on the issue you might consult the Winter 2003 Southern Poverty Law Center Investigative Report entitled:

By willfully revealing detailed clinical case-history information about the young minority transsexual women who came to him for help, Mr. Bailey has put them at increased risk of such hate crimes.

We regard Mr. Bailey's behavior as inconsistent with the humane, or indeed the legal, treatment of patients. Therefore, we wish to register a formal complaint with your office regarding the publication by Mr. Bailey of confidential clinical case history information.

Lynn Conway
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emerita
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Member, National Academy of Engineering
http://www.lynnconway.com

Deirdre McCloskey
UIC Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication
University of Illinois at Chicago
Tinbergen Gasthoogleraar van Wijsbegeerte, Economie, en Kunst- en Cultuurwetenschapen, Erasmusuniversiteit Rotterdam

See Also: “J. Michael Bailey performing unlicensed clinical therapy”, a complaint and evidence submitted by Andrea James and Lynn Conway to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, 28 March 2004. That complaint includes copies of three SRS approval letters signed by Mr. Bailey during the period 1996-2002, indicating that he indeed acted as a clinical psychologist during that period.

J. Michael Bailey does not now nor ever has held licensure as a clinical psychologist in Illinois.

Illinois Department of
Professional Regulation

Fernando E. Grillo
Director

Rod R. Blagojevich
Governor

C E R T I F I C A T I O N

April 5, 2004

ANDREA JAMES
5419 HOLLYWOOD BLVD C-142
HOLLYWOOD CA 90027

To Whom It May Concern:

I, Daniel E. Bluthardt, to hereby certify that I have been designated by the Director as keeper of the records and seal of the Department of Professional Regulation, a department of the government of the State of Illinois, and that a standard search of the available records of this office indicates the following:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY THAT JOHN MICHAEL BAILEY
DOES NOT NOW HOLD NOR HAS EVER HELD LICENSURE UNDER THE CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST LICENSING ACT.

Department records were searched based upon the exact name and profession, as provided. Any variation in the name or profession may produce different results.

The information above is the only certification information provided by this Department. If other information is needed, it must be obtained from the above-named individual or the agency or institution which initially generated the information. To expedite the certification process, the above format is the standard format prepared for all professions regulated by this Department.

[SEAL]

[SIGNED]
Daniel E. Bluthardt [initialed]
Deputy Director
Licensing & Testing Division

Respond to:

320 West Washington
3rd Floor
Springfield, Illinois 62786
217/785-0800
TDD 217/524-6735

www.dpr.state.il.us

James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph
Suite 9-300
Chicago, Illinois 60601
312/814-4500

To: C. Bradley Moore, Vice President for Research; Lewis J. Smith, Associate Vice President for Research; Timothy Fournier, Associate Vice President for Research Integrity, Northwestern University

Copy: Henry S. Bienen, President; Thomas G. Cline, Vice President and General Counsel; Daniel Linzer, Dean, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University

Re: Professor J. Michael Bailey of the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University performed unlicensed clinical therapy

We wish to file a formal complaint asserting that J. Michael Bailey has practiced as a clinical psychologist in the State of Illinois without a license.

We attach two complaint letters recently filed with the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation (DPR).

The first DPR complaint letter contains evidence that between 1996 and 2002 Mr. Bailey interviewed and counseled young transsexual women who believed him to be a licensed clinical psychologist. He wrote their letters of recommendation for gender reassignment surgery on Northwestern University letterhead. Copies of three such letters are attached to the first DPR complaint letter.

A license is of course required to practice as a clinical psychologist in Illinois. The Springfield Office of the Department of Professional Regulation has confirmed that Mr. Bailey was not licensed in Illinois at the time.

The second DPR complaint letter provides evidence that Mr. Bailey, while serving as a faculty member at Northwestern and after practicing as a clinical psychologist without a license, published confidential case-history information about transsexual women he had interviewed as a clinician, and that he published this information without the women’s knowledge or permission.

We are filing this complaint on behalf of the particular women involved, who wish at present to maintain their privacy. If the committee wishes we can arrange to have some of the women meet with it on a confidential basis. Please contact Ms. Conway on the matter.

We ask you to acknowledge receipt of this complaint and assure us that you will forward the complaint to the Bailey investigation committee.

Lynn Conway
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Emerita
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Member, National Academy of Engineering
http://www.lynnconway.com

Attachments:

1. Letter of 3-24-04 to Illinois DPR, “J. Michael Bailey performing unlicensed clinical therapy,” including copies of three SRS approval-letters written by Mr. Bailey.

2. Letter of 3-28-04 to Illinois DPR, “Publication of confidential clinical psychological case-history information by J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University," with detailed examples of confidential case-history information published in his book.

3. Letter of 3-19-04 from Illinois DPR to Andrea James regarding the opening of a case file on her complaint that J. Michael Bailey practiced as a clinical psychologist without a license.