Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Olddiva's avatar
7dEdited

Trump’s tariffs and attacks on other countries’ leaders, seemed to have galvanized them. Meanwhile, our nation is crumbling: systems being thwarted or disbanded; science and research becoming extinct; citizens disappearing without recourse, and the co-opting of religious teachings. Soon, we will be identified as just another “shid hole country.”

Expand full comment
Margaret MacKenzie's avatar

A friend’s older brother just died. He had contracted measles as a 2 year old and suffered cognitive and physical damage due the severity of the disease. He was loved by his parents but because of the challenges he presented - he was non-verbal with very limited mobility - they consigned him to the State of California for care. His family, including my friend, visited this son every other weekend, driving hundreds of miles to the state hospital to spend a few hours with him, knowing in his own way that he knew he was loved. This ritual played out throughout my friend’s childhood and adolescence until his brother was moved to a closer hospital and eventually to a home care facility in the town where my friend lives.

Though one has to wonder what emotions, stimuli, reactions, and feelings this man experienced, for he could express none, his life had value. My friend grew to become more compassionate and more understanding of others, and fiercely defended those who cannot defend themselves. The irony is, his brother contracted measles in 1962. One year later, he could have received the vaccine, preventing this life-threatening disease and altering the entire trajectory of this family’s lives.

The arrogance, the lack of compassion and the disdain for science that has seeped into American public health practice and policy is an abomination. High and mighty RFK, Jr, a man whose own family history is wracked with tragedy, a man with no medical or scientific knowledge except what he imagines is “right”, is now potentially confining other families to the sadness, stress and loss that my friend experienced when his brother caught what is now a preventable illness. Yes, this brother was loved by others and well cared for by teams of dedicated professionals over the years, and his life was important, but wouldn’t it have been a happier outcome to have had a child live a full, healthy, long life unencumbered by disease?

Expand full comment
53 more comments...

No posts