Since becoming the nation’s top health official in February, Kennedy has filled the FDA and other health agencies with outspoken critics of the government’s handling of COVID shots, including Makary and Prasad. Under federal procedures, the FDA releases new guidance in draft form and allows the public to comment before finalizing its plans. The publication of Tuesday’s policy in a medical journal is highly unusual and could run afoul of federal procedures, according to FDA experts.
Between January 2023 and mid-March, more than 14,300 Black kidney transplant candidates have had their wait times modified, by an average of two years, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the transplant system. So far more than 2,800 of them, including Evans, have received a transplant.of a larger problem permeating health care.
used in medical decisions — treatment guidelines, diagnostic tests, risk calculators — adjust the answers according to race or ethnicity in a way that puts people of color at disadvantage.Given how embedded these equations are in medical software and electronic records, even doctors may not realize how widely they impact care decisions.“Health equity scholars have been raising alarm bells about the way race has been misused in clinical algorithms for decades,” said Dr. Michelle Morse, New York City’s chief medical officer.
Change is beginning, slowly. No longer are obstetricians supposed to include race in determining the risk of a pregnant woman attempting vaginal birth after a prior C-section. The American Heart Association just removed race from a commonly used calculator of people’s heart disease risk. The American Thoracic Society has urged replacing race-based lung function evaluation.The kidney saga is unique because of the effort to remedy a past wrong.
“Lots of time when we see health inequities, we just assume there’s nothing we can do about it,” Morse said. “We can make changes to restore faith in the health system and to actually address the unfair and avoidable outcomes that Black people and other people of color face.”
Black Americans are over three times more likely than white people to experience kidney failure. Of the roughly 89,000 people currently on the waiting list for a new kidney, about 30% are Black.As he did on Friday night, Walz praised his fellow Democrats for having the “courage” to keep fighting in a largely Republican state, where Democrats haven’t won a statewide election in about two decades and only hold one congressional seat — Clyburn’s.
“Damnit, we should be able to have some fun and be joyful,” Walz said. “We’ve got the guts and we need to have it to push back on the bullies and the greed.”who have been traveling to early-voting states, was expected to sound similar themes as a featured speaker as California Democrats gather in Anaheim on Saturday.
“We’re fired up to welcome Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to the Convention stage in Anaheim,” state chair Rusty Hicks said in a statement. “He’s a former teacher, a veteran, and a trailblazer who’s spent his career fighting for working families and standing up for the values we all share — fairness, dignity, and opportunity for all.”Democrats have been debating since Harris lost to Trump in November over which direction the party should take. That self-examination reflects