“Of course, a sovereign country can decide whatever they want...” Yes, it's unethical, but I disagree that countries should do unethical trials without cost; otherwise, what's the point of international research ethics standards? www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/h... via @statnews.com

I think it matters that *in this case* he is right that Moderna should not have tested a new flu vaccine in people over 65 by comparing it to a sub-optimal dose of the comparator. These pharma clinical trial shenanigans should be called out. www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m... via @statnews.com

That's a straw man. Of course he's not *trying* to hurt people. No one is accusing him of psychopathy. He IS hurting people with his toxic self-confidence paired with ignorance that he can't see or acknowledge because it would challenge his self image. www.usatoday.com/story/entert...

"Now, dozens of doctors — mostly women — are speaking out against Dr. Attia..." Seriously? I hope male physicians are equally appalled by him, on both moral and medical grounds. He is a stain on the profession. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/10/w...

Lovely: “I’d always secretly thought I was kind of shallow, that I was all ambition. And to find out that shorn of that, I still liked being alive and still felt a lot of happiness? That was very sweet.” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/m...

“The brutality of U.S.A.I.D.’s closure … betrayed a vision of a crueler, meaner, more insular world — one in which America aspires not to any pretense of moral leadership but simply to naked power, dominance and extractive self-interest.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/o...

Interesting piece on how to address the fact that most psychadelics researchers are also users themselves. Should trial subjects be told this? How about journal editors? www.statnews.com/2026/02/02/p...

“… if A.I. is conscious, then we’re going to have to give it moral consideration. Well, really? Have we given moral consideration to one another? Have we given moral consideration to [animals] we eat? The answer is no…So we’re going to have to sort out the ethics.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/m...

"Drinking whole milk is portrayed as a sign of strength and genetic health. The ability to drink it is used to mock non-whites and ... sneers at the “weak” soy milk drunk by leftists and feminized men." Racism is a bundle of bizarre theories. bioethicstoday.org/blog/is-the-...

"Two dozen members of Congress are 80 or older, and 13 of them plan to run for re-election..." Holy cow. www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

“one doesn't have to be a physician to conclude that a person can't get skull fractures on both the right and left sides of their head and from front to back by running themselves into a wall…” www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...

"Slow codes do not reflect a collapse of professional integrity. They gesture at the persistence of ...an ethical framework fluent in the language of autonomy and agency, yet poorly equipped to respond when families cannot yet relinquish hope." www.thehastingscenter.org/whispered-co...

“For many Americans, being asked to name what they are grateful for now feels uncomfortably close to being asked to accept losses that were preventable: illnesses that should have been stopped, hunger that should not exist, hospitals that should not be closing.” www.statnews.com/2026/01/22/d...

Interesting story. Sounds like they made him secure his weapon, which is reasonable, safe, & not disrespectful. If you present as a patient then you are a patient, not a police officer, and patients don't get to carry weapons into the ED. abc7ny.com/post/nypd-de...

Here's a companion piece to the @nytimes.com essay today, from @jabarocas.bsky.social "Undermining harm reduction ... is an assault on an approach to health care that prioritizes evidence, compassion, and dignity — values that are central to the medical profession." www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Nice summary: "Research overwhelmingly supports the effectiveness of harm reduction, which prioritizes saving lives and reducing the risks of drug use over trying to get people to stop using drugs..." www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/o...

Good. The people of Guinea-Bissau deserve a say in whether their children are unwittingly enrolled in an unethical study of a vaccine already known to be safe and effective. www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...

Gotta respect the IDSA: "Withdrawing from the World Health Organization is scientifically reckless. It fails to acknowledge the fundamental natural history of infectious diseases. Global cooperation is not a luxury; it is a biological necessity. " www.idsociety.org/news--public...

Brave work by an unnamed independent medical examiner in Texas. It's sad to see that ICE seems to have decided to send subsequent cases for autopsy to the Army Medical Center, not the local medical examiner’s office. But if professionalism holds, it shouldn't matter. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/u...

"...shared decision-making as...an in-depth process merging clinician’s know-how and patient’s values. It was neither paternalism nor customer-is-always-right consumerism...This was autonomy buttressed by evidence and clinical acumen." www.statnews.com/2026/01/20/s... via @statnews.com

What role should our government play in the life and death choices we all face? Excited to be part of the return of PBS’s groundbreaking series! BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Matter of Life and Death premieres Jan. 20 at 9/8c. pbs.org/deadlock

“Though hospital staff are obligated to protect the rights of their patients, federal officers can argue that the people they are monitoring or questioning inside hospitals are a danger to society. Who prevails in that back and forth has largely been untested…” www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/u...

“The failure of both sides, of left and right, would be that they are letting their political calculator override their moral compass. They are asking, Who benefits if I condemn this?, instead of asking, What is wrong; what is right?” www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

They are not waiting for trials or evidence of safety, let alone regulations. The mindset is Silicon Valley, first-mover, get ahead of the curve... so they will move fast and break things. Maybe you. www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/c... via @statnews.com

Shocked. Shocked. www.statnews.com/2026/01/07/n... via @statnews.com

“Colorado’s vaccine guidance is rooted in decades of strong scientific evidence and real-world experience. Regardless of changes at the federal level, our priority is ensuring families and providers have trusted, evidence-based guidance...” coloradosun.com/2026/01/07/c...

There are good reasons why vaccine recommendations have been, until now, shielded from political influence and developed by independent scientists carefully vetted for COI and with extensive expertise. www.statnews.com/2026/01/05/c... via @statnews.com

“No school has removed vaccine instruction because vaccination became politicized; it remains because evidence supports it. The same logic must govern instruction on systemic racism, gender-affirming care, and health inequities” #TeachFacts jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

“…respondents were less comfortable with using income or zip code [in clinical care] than with using race, suggesting that replacement of race with other social determinants of health may not be seen as more trustworthy” jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Horrifying. Please, please, just get the vaccine this year. Yes, its not a great vaccine, only modestly effective. But a modest effect can make a difference. www.fox8live.com/2026/01/02/h...

“Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.” www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

“NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, announced a new emphasis on "geographic balance” in funding decisions, suggesting an end to the scientific meritocracy that has been critical for the U.S. to lead in research.” IOW: affirmative action is back. www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

“On a pedal bike, the chance of dying from an injury is about three-tenths of 1 percent,” Alfrey says. On an e-bike, the data indicated, it was 11 percent.” If those data hold up nationally, that’s shocking and will require intervention. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/m...

“We trained for years…to earn the privilege of serving the American people. We believe deeply in public health, in prevention, in science as a public good. We accepted lower pay, long hours, and relentless pressure because we believed the mission mattered.” www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

“…about half of young people believe that individuals who do their own research can know as much as a doctor. Nearly forty per cent say they’ve followed advice seen on social media instead of a medical provider’s…” www.newyorker.com/culture/2025...

The battle for the soul of conservatism is on, as “almost a third of Republicans under the age of 50 openly express racist or antisemitic views…” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/19/u...

A beautiful response to an act of terrible evil. www.nytimes.com/video/world/...

What a recipe for a health and trust disaster. Single-blind study of HBV vaccination, in a country with ~20% prevalence, with a nebulous endpoint ("overall health"), done by a Danish team with a poor track record for high quality work, but funded by the US CDC. www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

They celebrated the dismantling of USAID with cake and a party, then flew business class to visit affected sites to conduct exit interviews with people being fired... www.propublica.org/article/keny...

Register now for our next National Collaborative on Humanities & Ethics in Dentistry event! (And no - it's not about *that* Dr. Seuss.) And sign up for our mailing list here: ucdenver.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

“I fear the day when it’s only AI that’s checking AI...” www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/c... via @statnews.com

"Democracy scholars have long argued that extremes stay at the fringe in Australia because of mandatory voting and a nonpartisan election commission that defines districts without gerrymandering. Politicians here have little incentive to fan the flames of emotion..." www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/w...

I dont often agree with him, but he’s got this right: “Older Republicans who may doubt the rising prevalence of the blood-and-soil view should think again.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/o...

“… if this is the kind of talent we plan to cultivate in American medicine -- hubristic, fragile, belligerent, and unreceptive to feedback and growth -- our patients are in grave danger.” www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

Moral injury “stems from feelings of intense guilt or shame that can lead to a number of psychological problems, including an increased risk of suicide. It is amplified when the person feels betrayed by an institution or leader that they believed in.” www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...

"In this cohort study including 22.7 million vaccinated individuals and 5.9 million unvaccinated individuals, vaccinated individuals had a 74% lower risk of death from severe COVID-19 and no increased risk of all-cause mortality over a median follow-up of 45 months." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

What am I missing? Does anyone else think the #FightingIrish are acting like kindergarteners?

“…we have enough data points to know this is not a series of isolated missteps. It is a purposeful reshaping of CDC away from evidence-based practice and toward ideology-driven governance.” time.com/7338714/dr-d...

This came out in September, so I'm catching up, but it's a terrific piece about the role of apology for distant harms with contemporary implications. www.newyorker.com/news/the-wee...

@washingtonpost.com I have a question for you: Does Pete Hegseth know what ‘kinetic’ means, or does he just like saying it? The videos they have posted don’t look like kinetic missiles…