Tag: healthcare

Duke University Refuses Kidney Transplant To Dying Girl For Refusing COVID Vaccine

Two Christian parents, Chrissy and Lee Hicks, both North Carolina Army veterans, have 11 children, including a 14-year-old girl, Yulia, who is a rescued orphan from Ukraine.  Yulia has been shuffled around the US and transferred between caretakers several times and has been finally adopted by the Hicks, who feel a strong determination and sense of duty to give their daughter some stability and justice in life. Despite coming this far, Yulia is now being denied a critical organ transplant due to her vaccination status.

Tragically, Yulia’s health has been slipping due to a genetic kidney disorder.  The Hicks family has sought help and had been embraced and encouraged by Durham Duke medical staff for being a serious-minded family that cared well for Yulia and who followed all medical procedures and guidelines given to them, getting Yulia closer to the transplant process.

But on November 29, something went wrong for the family.

“To think that a committee can determine someone’s life is terrifying. This is, without a doubt, medical tyranny. What has become of the medical community? How does the refusal of a shot that is known to cause many health issues AND does NOT stop the spread of a disease deny a 14-year lifesaving therapy? How does that happen in America? Today we are sad. Tomorrow is a new day, and God is there with an answer for us,” Chrissy Hicks posted on Yulia’s website.  

The question on their minds is, what if they get the lifesaving surgery for Yulia, and she has complications from the vaccine? Chrissy Hicks shared her concerns with National File.

Up to the late November phone call between the Hicks and the Duke medical staff, the Hicks family believed the vaccination for Yulia was an option and that they could opt out and still get the surgery.

Lee Hicks wrote about the timeline of events that got them to the phone call.

” Oct 7, we had an 8-hour appt at Duke to talk to many doctors. Dr. Chambers was the biggest one pushing the vaccine. Dr. Chang said he highly recommended it, but it was not mandatory and that families had gotten transplants without it. 

Then we got an email from Catherine Thomas, a wellness coordinator, on Nov 9, stating what vaccines Yulia needed.

The First email was what they recommended. Then in a second email, the verbiage changed to what she must have or what was required. Yulia was presented to the committee on 10 Nov and denied because of a lack of the vaccine.“

During the uncomfortable conference call, the staff made it clear that without the vaccination, Yulia would not be considered for surgery. After skirting the issue, one medical staff answered decidedly when asked if the shot was a requirement, saying ‘yes’.

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Top epidemiologist slams federal health agencies for acting like ‘PR department’ for drugmakers

One of the nation’s top epidemiologists is blasting federal health agencies, saying science has proven they have been wrong about everything from vaccine efficacy to mask protections during the COVID-19 pandemic and have eroded their trust with the public by acting like a “PR department” for drug and vaccine makers.

Dr. Harvey A. Risch, professor emeritus at the Yale School of Public Health, told the “Just the News, No Noise” television show on Friday that agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration manipulated statistics to portray plausible theories as scientific fact through the coronavirus emergency.

“When you play fast and loose with statistics trying to be plausible, that’s not science,” he said.

The end result, Risch said, was that public health agencies’ proclamations have been proven wrong repeatedly, eroding essential trust with the American public.

“Where we ended up is that the government said, you know, ‘You won’t get the infection if you get vaccinated,'” he said. “That was untrue. ‘You won’t spread the infection if you get vaccinated.’ That was untrue. It said reasonably that you won’t get sick or die from the infection if you get vaccinated. That’s, as we are seeing, not true. The majority of people now dying from COVID are vaccinated.”

Risch said the latest hit to federal officials’ credibility came with a new peer-reviewed randomized study that found N-95 respirator masks — long portrayed as superior virus filters — provided no better protection from the COVID-19 virus than cloth surgical masks and that neither provided significant protection to patients or medical providers.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also claimed that retiring National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, whose flip-flops on masking led to mass public confusion early in the pandemic, couldn’t name any studies showing mask effectiveness in his recent deposition in state-led litigation against alleged federal censorship.

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Nationwide survey finds most medical schools have embedded DEI into their programs

A new survey completed by dozens of medical schools found they are committed to making DEI part of virtually every aspect of their programs, from promoting staff to treating patients.

More than 100 institutions took part in the Association of American Medical Colleges’ “Diversity, Inclusion, Culture, & Equity Inventory,” the first-ever report on DEI policies and practices at U.S. and Canadian medical schools, according to a November 10 AAMC news release.

“Major highlights” of the report include the finding that 100 percent of medical schools surveyed have admissions “that support a diverse class of students.”

Additional highlights are that 97 percent of schools have senior leaders “who show commitment to DEI in their personal actions” and communication, and 89 percent of medical schools say DEI is central to their school’s mission statement, the news release stated.

The AAMC is a nonprofit organization that lists as members 170 accredited medical schools, more than 400 teaching hospitals and health systems, and more than 70 faculty and academic societies, according to its website.

Report co-author and medical doctor Malika Fair stated the findings confirmed that existing DEI policies are effective and “doing well” and identified targets to integrate DEI deeper into the institutions, the group stated in its release.

However, Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, board chair of Do No Harm, an organization of medical professionals opposed to identity politics in medicine, criticized the AAMC’s priorities as “a real risk for the American people.”

“The AAMC has made it clear that they value diversity and the elements of critical race theory, including assuming that any deficits in educational attainment or disparities in health outcomes are the result of oppression of minorities,” Goldfarb told The College Fix in an email Wednesday.

“The public can now see how misguided the leadership of American medical education has become. Merit and complete commitment to caring for patients as individuals has given way to a focus on social justice, group identity, and diversity of the physician workforce. This emphasis poses a real risk for the American people,” he said.

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Mind-Controlled Wheelchairs: Study Shows Promising Possibilities For Paralyzed People

Promising work in the field of machine learning indicates that people with severe tetraplegia will have a new way to navigate the world with mind-controlled wheelchairs.

Researchers have found that tetraplegic users can navigate natural, and even cluttered, environments with a powered wheelchair using brain signals communicated to a brain-machine interface (BMI), SciTechDaily reported. The primary aim of the study was to demonstrate the reciprocal learning process between users and the BMI algorithm.

“We show that mutual learning of both the user and the brain-machine interface algorithm are both important for users to successfully operate such wheelchairs,” said José del R. Millán, the corresponding author of the study from the University of Texas at Austin. “Our research highlights a potential pathway for improved clinical translation of non-invasive brain-machine interface technology.”

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Ontario man says hospital pressuring him into assisted suicide

A man in Ontario claims that he is being pushed by hospital staff to end his life rather than continue receiving treatment.

Roger Foley suffers from cerebellar ataxia, a disease that attacks the brain and muscles, and has been bedridden for six years. The 47-year-old requires continual help in order to eat, wash and sit up.

“They asked if I want an assisted death. I don’t. I was told that I would be charged $1,800 per day [for hospital care]. I have $2 million worth of bills.” he told the New York Post. “Nurses here told me that I should end my life. That shocked me.”

Foley has filed a lawsuit against the Victoria Hospital London Health Sciences Centre, the health care network in London, Ontario responsible for his wellbeing. 

He claims in the lawsuit that not only has there been verbal pressuring to end his life, but that hospital staff have been neglectful and manipulative in a way that is trying to push him into assisted suicide.

“Mr. Foley was told by hospital staff that he had stayed at the hospital for too long and if he did not receive self-directed funding, he should apply for assisted death as an option,” the lawsuit claims.

Foley claims that, for a period of time, the hospital did not provide a Hoyer Lift or personnel to operate it. This machine is absolutely necessary to hoist him into a seated position so that he can eat, drink, and take medicine. For days at a time, he asserts that he was unable to eat and drink for days at a time, and almost died as a result.

Assisted suicide became legal in Canada in 2016, and now lead the world in medically-assisted deaths.

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Doctors Advised to Suggest Suicide to Patients as Canada Runs Out of Basic Painkillers

The Canadian healthcare system is experiencing an acute shortage of basic painkillers, particularly acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which are commonly used to relieve pain and fever in children during flu season.

Canada’s Association of Medical Assistance in Dying Assessors and Providers (CAMAP) chose this perhaps awkward moment to roll out a webinar for healthcare professionals that advised them to offer assisted suicide to their suffering patients.

As Canada’s National Post noted, doctors around the world are normally “explicitly prohibited or strongly discouraged” from bringing up the subject of euthanasia, even in jurisdictions where assisted suicide is legal.

Beginning with a “guidance document” published in 2019, CAMAP asserted that, on the contrary, Canadian doctors have a duty to begin the conversation about Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) with their patients rather than waiting for patients to ask about their options. MAID is a process by which healthcare professionals kill the patient.

A new MAID curriculum developed by the group and introduced via a webinar this week maintained that position, which critics find increasingly disturbing as MAID eligibility expands under Canadian law, far beyond the original concept of offering killing only to “those whose natural death was reasonably foreseeable.”

As the laws stand, there is “no legal restriction on who can raise the subject of MAID with someone with a grievous and irremediable illness, disease or disability, provided the intent is not to induce, persuade or convince the person to request an assisted death.”

Critics point out that given the “power dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship,” it is difficult for doctors to initiate such a discussion without the patient interpreting it as an encouragement to commit suicide.

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Woke pledge replaces Hippocratic oath: Minnesota medical students vow to ‘honor all Indigenous ways of healing historically marginalized by Western medicine’ and fight ‘white supremacy, colonialism, gender binary, ableism and all forms of oppression’

Incoming medical students at the University of Minnesota were forced to give a pledge vowing to ‘honor all Indigenous ways of healing,’ including those that have been ‘historically marginalized by Western medicine.’

The students also pledged to fight ‘white supremacy, colonialism [and] the gender binary’ at the school’s white coat ceremony on August 19.

In a video from the ceremony, Dr Robert Englander — the associate dean for undergraduate education — could be heard reading the pledge to the new students, donning their new doctor’s coats.

He begins by noting: ‘Our institution is located on Dakota land. Today many indigenous people throughout the state of Minnesota, including the Dakota and the Ojibwe call the Twin Cities home.

‘We also recognize this acknowledgment is not enough,’ Englander continued, adding: ‘We commit to uprooting the legacy and perpetuation of structural violence deeply embedded within the health care system.

‘We recognize inequities built by past and present traumas rooted in white supremacy, colonialism, the gender binary, ableism and all forms of oppression.

‘As we enter this profession with opportunity for growth, we commit to promoting a culture of antiracism, listening and amplifying voices for positive change.

‘We pledge to honor all indigenous ways of healing that have been historically marginalized by western medicine, [and] knowing that health is intimately connected with our environment, we commit to healing our planet and communities.’

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Newsom Signs Bill Allowing Doctors in California to Face Discipline for ‘Misinformation’

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Sept. 30 that allows the state medical board to discipline physicians for “misinformation” or “disinformation” related to COVID-19.

According to the law, misinformation means “false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care,” while disinformation is “misinformation that the licensee deliberately disseminated with malicious intent or an intent to mislead.”

Newsom gave his reasoning for signing the bill, AB2098, which was introduced by Democratic Assembly Member Evan Low.

“I am signing this bill because it is narrowly tailored to apply only to those egregious instances in which a licensee is acting with malicious intent or clearly deviating from the required standard of care while interacting directly with a patient under their care,” Newsom wrote in his signing message.

Newsom said AB 2098 only applies to physicians’ speech with patients during discussions directly related to COVID-19 treatment.

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This Biden Proposal Could Turn US into A “Digital Dictatorship”

Last Wednesday, President Biden was widely praised in mainstream and health-care–focused media for his call to create a “new biomedical research agency” modeled after the US military’s “high-risk, high-reward” Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. As touted by the president, the agency would seek to develop “innovative” and “breakthrough” treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and diabetes, with a call to “end cancer as we know it.”  

Far from “ending cancer” in the way most Americans might envision it, the proposed agency would merge “national security” with “health security” in such as way as to use both physical and mental health “warning signs” to prevent outbreaks of disease or violence before they occur. Such a system is a recipe for a technocratic “pre-crime” organization with the potential to criminalize both mental and physical illness as well as “wrongthink.”

The Biden administration has asked Congress for $6.5 billion to fund the agency, which would be largely guided by Biden’s recently confirmed top science adviser, Eric Lander. Lander, formerly the head of the Silicon Valley–dominated Broad Institute, has been controversial for his ties to eugenicist and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his relatively recent praise for James Watson, an overtly racist eugenicist. Despite that, Lander is set to be confirmed by the Senate and Congress and is reportedly significantly enthusiastic about the proposed new “health DARPA.”

This new agency, set to be called ARPA-H or HARPA, would be housed within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and would raise the NIH budget to over $51 billion. Unlike other agencies at NIH, ARPA-H would differ in that the projects it funds would not be peer reviewed prior to approval; instead hand-picked program managers would make all funding decisions. Funding would also take the form of milestone-driven payments instead of the more traditional multiyear grants.

ARPA-H will likely heavily fund and promote mRNA vaccines as one of the “breakthroughs” that will cure cancer. Some of the mRNA vaccine manufacturers that have produced some of the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines, such as the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, stated just last month that “cancer is the next problem to tackle with mRNA tech” post-COVID. BioNTech has been developing mRNA gene therapies for cancer for years and is collaborating with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create mRNA-based treatments for tuberculosis and HIV.

Other “innovative” technologies that will be a focus of this agency are less well known to the public and arguably more concerning.

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L.A. Schools Push Childhood Obesity In Bizarre Video Promoting Donuts As Healthy

The Los Angeles Unified School district promoted a video to encourage childhood obesity last week featuring a nutritionist who represents the processed food industry, according to the L.A. Parents Union.

The video, apparently published on the Human Relations page of the district’s Instagram account, aims to dismiss the idea of “bad” food no matter its nutritional value as “based on a false standard of ‘health.’” The clip, which no longer appears posted, begins with a woman offered a plate of iced donuts who recoils at their presentation.

“Those are so bad for you,” she claims, as her friend suggesting the sugary snack appears perplexed at the reaction.

“Oh no! Are they moldy? I mean, are they poisoned? Are you allergic?” the presenter asks while holding up the plate of dough and sprinkles. “Hm, you’re judging my food choices based on a false standard of health again, aren’t you.”

“Guilty.”

The conversation is followed by Kéra Nyemb-Diop, whom the video identified as the “Black Nutritionist,” encouraging students to abandon conventional standards of “good” and “bad choices.”

“Diet culture, fatphobia, and systems of oppression have created false hierarchies of food and show up everywhere,” says Nyemb-Diop. “Remember that you do not need to ‘earn’ food… Eat without guilt, regardless of what society says.”

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