Tag: health care

UK Biobank Failures Expose the Permanent Cost of Sharing Genetic and Medical Records

The genetic sequences, medical scans, and lifestyle records of half a million British volunteers spent days listed for sale on Alibaba before anyone at UK Biobank noticed.

Three academic institutions, since banned from the platform, had quietly walked the data out through a research system that was supposed to keep it under lock and key.

At least one of the three Alibaba listings appeared to contain the full dataset covering every one of the 500,000 participants who handed over their blood, their DNA, and decades of personal health information on the understanding it would be used for medical research.

The UK government confirmed the breach on Thursday. Technology minister Ian Murray told the House of Commons that Biobank had flagged the incident on Monday, and that the Chinese government and Alibaba had cooperated to pull the listings down before any purchases went through. Murray thanked Beijing directly for its “speed and seriousness” in taking down the data, a sentence that carries some weight given the three research institutions identified as the source are Chinese, though officials have declined to draw conclusions about intent.

Professor Rory Collins, Biobank’s chief executive and principal investigator, issued a statement saying the listings “were swiftly removed before any purchases were made.” He apologized to participants and confirmed that access to the research platform had been suspended while the organization installs file size limits designed to stop researchers from walking off with bulk datasets.

An automated checking system to vet outgoing files is not expected to be ready until late 2026.

The sales listing is not the scandal. The scandal is what the sales listing reveals about how often Biobank’s data has already been exposed and where it now sits.

Prof Luc Rocher of the Oxford Internet Institute has been tracking the problem and maintains a public record of known incidents. By his count, the Alibaba posting is “the 198th known exposure of UK Biobank data since last summer.” Rocher added that the data “is not just available for sale, it also remains available online for anyone to download today.” Researchers have repeatedly uploaded the dataset to code-sharing platforms by accident, and copies have since been replicated across the web. Taking down one Alibaba listing does nothing about the other 197.

Biobank’s response to this pattern has been to emphasize that the data is “de-identified” and that no participant has been knowingly re-identified. The reassurance rests on a technical claim that does not survive contact with the evidence.

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UK Biobank health data listed for sale in China, government confirms

Medical information of 500,000 participantsof one of the UK’s landmark scientific programmes, UK Biobank, were offered for sale online in China, the government has confirmed.

Technology minister Ian Murray said information of all members of the database was found listed for sale on the website Alibaba.

Murray told MPs the charity which runs UK Biobank had told the government about the breach on Monday. He said the information did not include names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers.

However he said it could include gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, and measures from biological samples.

The Biobank is a collection of health data offered by volunteers which has been used to help improvements in detection and treatment of dementia, some cancers and Parkinson’s.

It has collected intimate details – including whole body scans, DNA sequences and their medical records – from hundreds of thousands of volunteers for over two decades. The project has led to more than 18,000 scientific publications.

Participants were aged from 40 to 69 when they were recruited between 2006 and 2010.

UK Biobank said it was investigating the incident and thanked the UK and Chinese governments, as well as Alibaba, for support and cooperation.

“We understand that the existence of these listings, even temporarily, will be concerning to you,” Chief Executive Professor Sir Rory Collins said in a message to participants.

“We want to reassure you that all the data are de-identified; they do not contain any personally identifying information (such as names, addresses, dates of birth, and NHS numbers).”

Sir Rory told volunteers in his letter the data involved in the incident had been made available to researchers at three institutions.

He added the data was “swiftly” removed by Alibaba, following support from the UK and Chinese government, but the data’s appearance to a “clear breach of the contract signed by these academic institutions”.

“They, along with the individuals involved, have had their access suspended,” Sir Rory added.

Murray told MPs the government has been told no purchases were made from the three listings on the website.

Alibaba has been contacted for comment.

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‘Invidious racial discrimination’: AMA color-based scholarships vanish from website after complaint

The American Medical Association Foundation website no longer includes listings for race-based scholarships after a medical watchdog suggested the foundation should lose its tax-exempt status for racial discrimination.

Do No Harm, a watchdog group of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, aims to expose racial discrimination, transgender ideology, and other divisive practices in medicine. Do No Harm sent a letter to the IRS earlier this month, noting that multiple AMA Foundation scholarships explicitly state that only students of certain races qualify.

Last week, the scholarships disappeared from the AMA Foundation’s website.

“The AMA Foundation appears to have removed the discriminatory scholarships at the heart of our IRS complaint—a tacit admission that our concerns were warranted,” Dr. Kurt Miceli, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Do No Harm, told The Daily Signal.

“However, we believe the government is still obligated to investigate to confirm that these programs have truly been eliminated and not simply rebranded and reconstituted,” Miceli added.

The AMA did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

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Georgia Election Workers Charged for Years-Long Healthcare Fraud Scheme

Two Georgia elections workers and other Middle Georgia women have been charged for their role in a healthcare fraud scheme.

Tarshea Fudge-Riley, elections supervisor for Macon County and Lamonica Lakes, election clerk and deputy election registrar allegedly participated in a years-long scheme to commit healthcare fraud.

The women allegedly submitted fraudulent insurance claims for mental health therapy sessions that never even happened.

“Federal prosecutors believe Fudge-Riley, who is the Chief Macon County BOE Supervisor, and Lakes, an elections clerk at the Macon County BOE, as well as Childs, were paid by James Ellis to knowingly create fake therapy session notes that were submitted to health insurance providers for “pre-payment review,”” WGXA reported.

And these are the people we are supposed to trust with elections.

Fudge-Riley and Lakes reportedly still work in the elections office.

The women received millions of dollars after submitting fraudulent claims.

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Catholic nuns who look after dying patients lash out against New York gender rules which could see them jailed

Catholic nuns who have been looking after dying patients for decades have sued the state of New York over gender laws which could see the carers jailed.

The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne filed a lawsuit against Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday opposing a bill that requires facilities to assign rooms by gender identity, not biological sex – something the nuns said clashes with their religion. 

Hochul signed the bill into law in November, 2023, which states that long-term care facilities and their staff cannot discriminate against ‘any resident on the basis of a resident’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or HIV status.’

‘New York’s seniors should be able to live their lives with the dignity and respect they deserve, free from discrimination of every kind,’ Hochul said on the press release at the time. 

‘LGBTQIA+ and HIV-positive seniors are among our most vulnerable populations, and today we are taking steps to ensure that all New Yorkers- regardless of who they are, who they love or their HIV status – find safety and support in places where they need it most. Hate will never have a place in New York.’ 

However, the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne claim that the bill forces them to choose between their mission and faith and facing fines, license loss or jail time. 

The group takes patients into their care at the 42-bed Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, New York and ‘provide comfort and nursing care for patients who are poor or suffering from incurable cancer.’

‘We are consecrated religious Sisters and have one mission,’ Mother Marie Edward OP told Fox News. ‘It is to provide comfort and skilled care to persons dying of cancer who cannot afford nursing care.’

‘We do not take insurance or government funds or money from our patients or families. The care is totally free.’

Mother Edward went on to say that their work is supported by ‘the goodness of our benefactors,’ and it hasn’t discriminated against anyone on the basis of race, religion or sex. 

‘We do it because Jesus taught us that, when the least among us are sick, we should care for them, as if they were Christ himself,’ she told the outlet. 

The religious group claims that the law forces them to assign rooms to patients by gender identity and not biological sex, allow expression, relationships and identity practices, and use preferred pronouns. 

It also requires staff training in gender ideology, post a public notice of compliance with the law and allow opposite-sex bathroom access, a press release stated. 

‘We Sisters have taken care of patients from all walks of life, ideologies and faiths. 

‘We treat every patient with dignity and Christian charity. We have never had any complaints. We cannot implement New York’s mandate without violating our Catholic faith.’ 

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Fraud Task Force, DOJ Prosecute Half-a-Billion Dollars in Health Care, COVID Schemes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced three separate criminal and civil actions on April 7 seeking to hold two individuals and two companies accountable for schemes to steal more than $500 million from taxpayer-funded programs.

The defendants are two companies implicated in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) fraud scheme, a California man pleading guilty to medication reimbursement fraud, and a Nevada woman sentenced to prison for COVID-19 tax credit fraud, the department said in an April 7 statement.

The DOJ said its efforts support President Donald Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vice President JD Vance, which aims to clean up federal benefit programs.

“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, the Department, working closely with the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, is supercharging efforts to take down every fraudster and bring them to justice,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

“In one day, the Department prosecuted the theft of a half-billion in taxpayer dollars. All those ripping off the American people are on notice.”

Obamacare Scheme

One case involves insurance brokerage company AP of South Florida LLC (APSF), which is accused of fraudulently enrolling thousands of vulnerable people into fully federally subsidized ACA plans, also known as Obamacare. The scheme resulted in the federal government paying $141.5 million in unwarranted subsidies.

APSF targeted vulnerable, low-income people who were unemployed, homeless, or experiencing mental health and substance abuse disorders. Most of them did not meet the minimum eligibility requirements for ACA subsidies.

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Woke California lawmaker who backs transgender treatments for children squirms as brave young gay man shares how being railroaded into puberty blockers destroyed his life

A California lawmaker who supports youth access to gender-affirming care was confronted by a young gay man who testified that puberty blockers and hormone therapy negatively affected his physical development.

State Senator Scott Wiener heard from 23-year-old Jonni Skinner, who said the treatments Wiener backs have left him unable to achieve orgasms.

‘When I was young, I was a feminine child, and I discovered trans influencers online. They said, “Change your body and your life gets better. Don’t and it gets worse,”‘ Skinner said during a state Senate hearing on Tuesday.

‘Or, as my doctors told my mom, I would commit suicide,’ he continued. ‘The medical and mental health providers didn’t bother to ask why I felt the way I did. They poisoned my body with blockers and hormones, arresting my puberty and messing with my development. The result is I’m a 23-year-old gay man who’s never had an orgasm and may never experience one.’

Skinner was testifying against Senate Bill 934, which was introduced by Wiener. The measure allows people to sue licensed therapists for harms caused by ‘sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts’.

At first glance, someone like Skinner – who says he was improperly pushed by therapists and doctors toward transitioning into a female – might be expected to support the measure. 

But critics, including Skinner, argue that the bill is not intended to target medical professionals supportive of gender transition treatment.

The California Family Council said in a statement that the bill will ‘weaponize civil liability’ against counselors who tell children it might not be a good idea to switch genders at such a young age.

‘When the government cannot constitutionally ban speech outright, it sometimes turns to more subtle forms of coercion. By creating overwhelming legal risk, SB 934 seeks to make it practically impossible for counselors to offer certain viewpoints, even to clients who request them,’ the organization said.

The bill vastly expands the statute of limitations for filing claims, allowing people to sue therapists and doctors years or even decades after the alleged harm was done. 

On March 20, Wiener put out a statement explaining the bill’s intent, making it clear it would go after providers who try to convince people they are not LGBTQ.

‘Conversion therapy – the made up notion that you can convert a gay or trans person into being not gay or trans – was debunked long ago, and is now condemned by every major medical association as dangerous and ineffective,’ he said.

Greg Burt, Vice President of California Family Council, has said this amounts to viewpoint discrimination, and that the bill is trying to get around the landmark Supreme Court case, United States v. Skrmetti.

In that case, which was decided last year, a 6-3 majority ruled that state bans on gender-affirming care for minors is constitutional.

‘This is a desperate and vain attempt to pretend the Supreme Court didn’t say what it really did say. They can’t stop professionals from helping people who don’t want to identify as LGBTQ anymore,’ Burt said. 

Skinner filed an amicus brief in that case, where he revealed more about his upbringing and why he ended up on estrogen from the age of 13 until he was 20.

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Rising number of Americans refusing life-saving blood transfusions because they come from vaccinated donors

Health researchers are sounding the alarm after noticing more people refusing life-saving blood transfusions because they come from vaccinated donors. 

In a study out of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 15 patients or families of patients who needed blood transfusions rejected them because they requested blood from donors who were not vaccinated. 

The majority of patients were children or teenagers. 

The refusal led one patient to go into shock, another to develop anemia and others to have their surgeries delayed. 

Now, doctors involved say they fear more Americans, spurred by vaccine-suspicious health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, will follow.  

Over a two-year period, the researchers found requests for non-anonymous – meaning patients can choose specific donors for their transfusion – had increased because the patients specifically wanted blood from unvaccinated individuals. 

The patients had told doctors they wanted unvaccinated blood because they believed it was safer, but their exact safety concerns are unclear. 

Researchers noted that while the total number of these donations was small, the requests caused delayed care and could have contributed to complications of not receiving a timely blood transfusion, which can include organ failure, stroke and death. 

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Judge Rejects Anti-Marijuana Groups’ Motion To Block CBD And THC Medicare Coverage Plan, Setting Hearing For 4/20

A federal judge has denied a request from a coalition of anti-marijuana organizations that sought to immediately block the Trump administration’s initiative to cover hemp-derived CBD and THC products through Medicare from launching on Wednesday.

The groups’ overall lawsuit challenging the policy is still under consideration, however, with a hearing on their separate motion for a preliminary injunction scheduled for April 20, which coincidentally is known as the unofficial cannabis cultural holiday 4/20.

Judge Trevor N. McFadden on Tuesday rejected the request from Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) and nine other drug prevention groups to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the federal cannabis initiative, which is being facilitated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), from taking effect.

McFadden, in his one-page order, quoted case law holding that a temporary restraining order is an “extraordinary and drastic remedy” that can only be granted if a party makes a “clear showing that four factors, taken together, warrant relief: likely success on the merits, likely irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief, a balance of the equities in its favor, and accord with the public interest.”

“Having considered the arguments in Plaintiffs’ motion and at a motions hearing, the Court finds that Plaintiffs have not met this high standard,” the judge wrote. “The motion for a temporary restraining order is thus denied. The Court will consider Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction and motion to stay upon the completion of briefing.”

Defendants in the lawsuit—CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—now have until April 9 to file briefs responding to the prohibitionist groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs then have a reply brief due on April 13, a week ahead of the 4/20 hearing on the matter.

The lawsuit comes as CMS is set to start covering CBD and THC products under select federal health insurance programs as a Substance Access Beneficiary Engagement Incentive (BEI) beginning on Wednesday.

Under the BEI, patients enrolled in specific federal health insurance programs could have up to $500 worth of hemp-derived products covered each year. The CBD-focused plan will also allow a certain amount of THC in products, but the agency said that the rules are subject to change if federal hemp policy changes, as is currently expected under a law set to take effect later this year.

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US Immigration’s Expanding Gulag

The March 4, 2026, edition of the Arizona Daily Star put the facts succinctly:

“A Haitian asylum seeker held for four months at Florence Correctional Center died Monday at a Scottsdale hospital due to complications from an infected tooth.” It seems the infection spread from his tooth to his lungs, and he developed the pneumonia that killed him.

In other words, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) allowed a prisoner to die of a toothache. His name was Emmanuel Damas. He was 56 years old and the father of two.

And we can only expect medical treatment at ICE centers to deteriorate further. As Judd Legum at Popular Information reported in January 2026:

“ICE… has not paid any third-party providers for medical care for detainees since October 3, 2025. Last week, ICE posted a notice on an obscure government website announcing it will not begin processing such claims until at least April 30, 2026. Until then, medical providers are instructed ‘to hold all claims submissions.’”

Emmanuel Damas’s unnecessary death would be outrageous enough, were it the only one of its kind. In fact, 32 people died in ICE custody during 2025, the most in two decades. Another six died in January 2026 alone, among them Geraldo Lunas Campos, a Cuban father aged 55, at Camp East Montana detention center in El Paso, Texas.

Although ICE initially claimed Lunas Campos had attempted suicide, the American Immigration Council reports that “the El Paso County Medical Examiner ruled his death was a homicide arising from asphyxia due to neck and torso compression.”

Of course, it’s pretty hard to strangle yourself to death.

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