Free Republic

Kaiser Permanente nurses are protesting the healthcare giant’s plan to terminate at least one nurse who is caught in a monthslong delay renewing her immigration work authorization. The nurse was previously covered by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which grants temporary protections and work permits to immigrants who came to the country as children without legal status. But DACA-protected people, often called “dreamers,” are facing long renewal delays that are putting recipients’ jobs at risk. The nurse, who was granted anonymity under Hearst’s ethics policy because she fears being deported, filed her DACA renewal paperwork in December...

A groundbreaking Harvard study has found that AI systems outperformed human doctors in high-pressure emergency medicine triage, diagnosing more accurately in the potentially life and death moments when people are first rushed to hospital. The results were described by independent experts as showing “a genuine step forward” in the clinical reasoning of AIs and came as part of trials that tested the responses of hundreds of doctors against an AI. The authors said the results, published in the journal Science, showed large language models (LLMs) “have eclipsed most benchmarks of clinical reasoning”. One experiment focused on 76 patients who arrived...

ADVANCING MOST-FAVORED-NATION (MFN) PRICING: Today, President Donald J. Trump announced the 17th agreement with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer, Regeneron, to lower prescription drug prices that Americans pay for some of the world’s most innovative drugs, in line with the lowest prices paid by other developed nations (known as the most-favored-nation, or MFN, price). The agreement will provide every State Medicaid program in the country access to MFN drug prices on new Regeneron products, resulting in hundreds of millions in savings and continuing President Trump’s historic efforts to strengthen the program for the most vulnerable Americans.The agreement ensures foreign nations can...

In recent years, it has become something of a commonplace to say that American institutions are losing their sense of purpose. Universities, once understood as places for the disciplined pursuit of truth, now struggle to sustain genuine intellectual diversity. Professions that once carried an internal sense of vocation increasingly operate under external pressures—economic, bureaucratic, and ideological—that compete with their traditional ends. Medicine is no exception. By many measures, modern medicine is more powerful than ever, yet both patients and practitioners sense something amiss. Patients often feel managed rather than cared for. Clinicians, for their part, report rising rates of burnout...

It varies a lot by nutrient, form, dose, and whether the person is deficient, but the short answer is: some synthetic vitamins/minerals are absorbed about as well as natural ones, while others are less well utilized unless the form is chosen carefully.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih+2General ruleWater-soluble vitamins like vitamin C and many B vitamins are often absorbed well in synthetic form, and in human studies synthetic vitamin C has shown no meaningful difference from natural vitamin C at steady state.pmc.ncbi.nlm.nihMinerals can be absorbed anywhere from about 25% to 90%+, depending on the mineral and the chemical form; for example, calcium is often around...

In 2017, I took Cipro for just five days to treat a simple UTI. Since then, my quality of life has been steadily deteriorating. Over the past seven years, my condition has worsened to the point where I can barely walk, and I will soon need a wheelchair.

The DEI practices at America’s colleges and universities have been justly criticized for being anti-meritorious, unconstitutional, racist, and costly. However, a recent lawsuit against UCLA’s medical school suggests that its discriminatory admissions policies could potentially have negative public-health consequences, as well. That’s quite an indictment against what has long been regarded as a premier medical school. Last May, the groups Do No Harm and Students for Fair Admissions, as well as an unsuccessful white applicant, sued UCLA’s medical school, arguing that “various UCLA officials [had engaged] in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process.”...

The grieving parents of a 26-year-old man are speaking out against Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) laws, arguing the system failed to protect their “vulnerable” son from being euthanized, despite a history of mental illness. Kiano Vafaeian was euthanized on Dec. 30, 2025, in British Columbia. His family says he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age four and began struggling with mental health after a car accident at 17. His mother, Margaret Marsilla of Ontario, said his depression was often seasonal, yet he became “obsessed” with MAID after losing vision in one eye in 2022.

In its ongoing fight against identity politics in medicine, Do No Harm exposed the American Medical Association this week for content related to identity politics and diversity, equity and inclusion in its Continuing Medical Education courses. Do No Harm Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kurt Miceli told The Center Square: “The level of ideological bias documented in our report raises serious concerns about the integrity of these [Continuing Medical Education] offerings.” In order to maintain their license to practice medicine, medical professionals must continually keep up with their education – in varying degrees state by state – as explained by Do...

"Physician, heal thyself!” Jesus said to those gathered in the synagogue at Nazareth. The admonition was aimed at hypocrisy and moral blindness — a warning that those who presume authority must first examine their own conduct. Today, someone needs to repeat those words to health care professionals who have allowed Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) to corrode their ethics and professionalism. That warning applies just as much to nursing as it does to medicine. Nursing emerged as a modern profession in the mid-19th century under the leadership of Florence Nightingale. In 1893, the Nightingale Pledge codified the profession’s moral foundation, committing...

They welcomed a little girl into their family nine months later - but soon suspected that IVF Life - which operates as the Fertility Center of Orlando in Longwood - made a shocking error. Both Score and Mills are white, but the baby had the 'appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child,' according to the lawsuit against the clinic, per News6.

Florida nurse gives up license after saying he won’t perform anesthesia on MAGA patients A Florida nurse who said he would not “perform anesthesia” for “MAGA” patients has relinquished his license. “Effective today, Erik Martindale is no longer a registered nurse in Florida,” Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier wrote in an X post Thursday. “Healthcare is not contingent on political beliefs, and we have zero tolerance for partisans who put politics above their ethical duty to treat patients with the respect and dignity they deserve,” he added. In a since-deleted post on social media, Martindale said, “I will not perform...

Residents of a liberal city in Missouri have been complaining to officials that it stinks of cannabis everywhere they go. In Rock Hill, Missouri, a small city with a population of around 4,700 in the St Louis metropolitan area, the number of complaints about cannabis odor shot up in the second half of 2025. The city received 99 complaints about stinky weed between April and December of last year. Rock Hill's city administrator Garrett Schlett told the St Louis Post-Dispatch the number represents a significant uptick from previous years. Missouri legalized medical marijuana use in 2018, and recreational use was...

Surprise medical bills have bludgeoned most Americans. In fact, about half of insured Americans face unexpected charges every year. In 2020, Congress passed the No Surprises Act, which banned out-of-network billing rates for some services. It also entitled patients who aren’t using health insurance to a “good faith estimate” of out-of-pocket costs before receiving care. But there’s a catch that stacks the deck against patients and taxpayers: final bills within $400 of the original estimate are legally collectible. After stinging GOP losses in November, health care “affordability” is all the rage. Voters are frustrated that every other medical appointment brings...

Elon Musk just dropped a NUKE on medical careers (Jan 2026): “Don’t go into medical school.” Elon: “Yes. Pointless.” Prediction: → 3 years → Optimus robots > best human surgeons on Earth (at scale) → 4–5 years → Best medicine in the world = FREE & better than what presidents get today The moment he basically says goodbye to traditional medicine forever 👇 (1:19 clip) Abundance incoming… or mass white-coat unemployment?

THE WORDS “retirement community” summon up images of easy chairs, overcooked food and endless daytime TV. Latitude Margaritaville, a community being built near Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, quickly disabuses these. “There was a toga party this past weekend,” says Lynette, a resident. “There was a live band, and it was a riot.” Barbie, another of the community’s “ambassadors” (residents employed by the developers to help sell it to potential newcomers), compares living there to “starting college all over again”. There are, she says, “drinks on the driveway, cocktails on the concrete”. If Margaritaville’s residents are representative of their...

President Donald Trump signs an executive order to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule III drug SummaryPresident Trump signed an executive order on December 18, 2025, directing agencies to expedite the rescheduling of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act, facilitating expanded medical research while not legalizing it nationwide. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz announced that the CMS Innovation Center is launching models allowing millions of Medicare beneficiaries to access doctor-recommended hemp-derived CBD products at no cost starting as early as April 2026, provided products meet state and local quality/safety standards and come from legitimate sources. Patients...

President Trump on Thursday delivered the biggest federal policy win yet for marijuana reform advocates in signing a “common sense” order to no longer classify the drug as serious as heroin and LSD. The landmark action will move pot from “Schedule I,” the most restrictive Controlled Substance Act designation for drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medical value, to Schedule III alongside ketamine — but the change stops short of full legalization. Trump stressed the order doesn’t sanction recreational pot smoking, but rather opens the door for medical research for patients in pain. “I promised to...

A new review of more than 120 studies concluded that there is little evidence supporting the use of medical cannabis for a variety of conditions, including insomnia.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved cannabinoids, a chemical compound extracted from cannabis, for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting and seizures, among other conditions. Many patients use cannabinoids or other medical cannabis for other conditions, such as anorexia, insomnia, and chronic pain, either through off-label prescriptions or through state availability. A look at research published from January 2010 through September, though, showed that for many conditions, “evidence is insufficient,” researchers with the University...

Cannabis stocks jumped on Friday as the White House prepared to significantly ease federal restrictions on marijuana. President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order as soon as Monday that would allow for reclassification of weed, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. Such a move would allow cannabis companies to fall under different tax regulations and encourage investment.Cannabis stocks took a leg up in Friday’s midday trading following CNBC’s report. The Washington Post first reported on Thursday that Trump was expected to use an executive order to instruct federal agencies to reclassify marijuana as a less...