The hottest Medical Ethics Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Health & Wellness Topics

It is unethical to mandate kids to get the COVID shot. It's easy to show with math.

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 6 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Because COVID deaths in people under 20 are extremely rare, proving a vaccine is safer than the disease would require an enormous randomized trial—about 7.5 million children followed for a year—which was never done.
  2. Without that level of evidence, recommending or mandating the vaccines for healthy children lacked the necessary statistical and ethical justification and represents a failure of regulatory oversight.
  3. Some countries quietly scaled back or restricted pediatric vaccine recommendations, but authorities largely avoided openly admitting or taking accountability for the earlier decisions.

Do Small Pharmaceutical Industry Payments Really Influence Doctors?

Weight and Healthcare • 519 implied HN points • 16 Aug 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Medical Ethics
  1. Studies suggest that even small pharmaceutical industry payments can influence doctors' prescribing patterns
  2. The amount of money received from pharmaceutical companies correlates with increased rates of prescribing brand-name drugs
  3. Research shows that receiving payments from the industry is linked to higher prescribing costs and a greater proportion of branded medication prescribing

"Under the law he had no remedy." How Dr. Dan Hurley's legacy could lead to health insurance prior authorization reform

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 519 implied HN points • 04 Oct 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Dr. Dan Hurley fought against health insurance practices that often deny essential treatments, even after initial approval. His struggles highlight how complicated and frustrating dealing with insurers can be for patients.
  2. The law governing health insurance makes it hard for patients to challenge denied claims, leaving many without proper remedies for their disputes. This unfair system discourages people from appealing denied medical treatments.
  3. Hurley's legacy encourages the formation of advocacy groups to help patients fight against unfair insurance practices. His story inspires others to push for change in health coverage to ease the burden on families dealing with medical needs.

Does the UK’s liver transplant matching algorithm systematically exclude younger patients?

AI Snake Oil • 864 implied HN points • 11 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The liver transplant matching algorithm in the UK might favor older patients over younger ones, which raises serious ethical concerns. This can lead to younger patients, even if they are very sick, being overlooked for transplants.
  2. Using predictive algorithms in healthcare can be risky. They can have biases that might not be obvious, like wrongly estimating how long patients will live after a transplant based on a five-year cap.
  3. It's important for the public to have a voice in how medical algorithms are created and used. Better understanding and participation can help ensure fair and just treatment for all patients.

Are drugs good? Are side effects bad? It depends on what you're trying to do.

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 895 implied HN points • 01 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The good or bad nature of drugs really depends on what you're trying to achieve with them. It's important to consider the purpose behind using any drug.
  2. Different drugs can have different effects. For example, psychedelics can be helpful for depression but dangerous for someone who is unstable. It's all about context.
  3. Drugs should be viewed as tools that work in specific ways. We need to determine if those effects match what we want for our health or goals.
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Social Justice Encroachment into Medicine

Heterodox STEM • 206 implied HN points • 09 Aug 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The focus in medicine is shifting from just improving health to also addressing social justice issues. This change is influencing how doctors see their roles, making them more like activists.
  2. There's growing concern about how medical guidelines in gender care are established. Some recent textbooks promote a very one-sided view and may ignore crucial issues that need more research.
  3. Changes in policy around gender-affirming care show that discussions about healthcare are becoming more political and less focused on individual patient needs, which is troubling.

Why You Shouldn’t Put Your Kids On Diets – Full Interview

Weight and Healthcare • 539 implied HN points • 22 Apr 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Medical Ethics
  1. Body Mass Index is not a reliable measure of health as people at the same weight can have vastly different health statuses.
  2. Factors like genetics, social determinants, and health-supporting behaviors matter more to overall health than weight.
  3. Research shows that diets are ineffective, especially for kids, and can lead to negative outcomes like eating disorders and weight gain.

Breaking: Children’s Health Defense Hits AAP With RICO Suit Over Fraudulent Vaccine Safety Claims

Who is Robert Malone • 17 implied HN points • 22 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Children’s Health Defense filed a federal RICO lawsuit accusing the American Academy of Pediatrics of running a decades‑long scheme to promote the childhood vaccine schedule, alleging undisclosed financial ties to vaccine makers and incentives for pediatricians to hit high vaccination rates.
  2. The plaintiffs include parents who say their children were injured or died after routine vaccinations and doctors who say they were professionally punished for questioning AAP guidance; the complaint alleges suppression of contrary research and reliance on a theoretical 2002 paper to justify the schedule.
  3. The lawsuit seeks monetary damages and court orders forcing the AAP to disclose gaps in safety testing and stop making unqualified vaccine‑safety claims, and it compares the AAP’s conduct to Big Tobacco while highlighting ongoing legal battles over recent vaccine policy changes.

Bioethics and Freedom to Choose

Who is Robert Malone • 16 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Vaccine mandates violate basic bioethical principles like autonomy and informed consent because they use coercion instead of voluntary, informed choice.
  2. Mandates are scientifically questionable since immune responses and risks vary widely between people and natural immunity can also provide protection, so one-size-fits-all policies ignore biological differences.
  3. Mandatory vaccination represents institutional overreach and paternalistic control, so public health should balance community benefit with individual rights rather than imposing blanket requirements.

FDA Admits COVID Vaccines Likely Led To Deaths Of Multiple Children

Unmasked • 46 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. COVID vaccines have been linked to serious health risks, including the possibility of causing deaths in children. It's important for families to stay informed about vaccine safety.
  2. Public health measures, especially mask-wearing, have become common in daily life despite debates on their effectiveness. Many people still follow these mandates without questioning them.
  3. New leadership in health organizations is working to address past mistakes in handling COVID-19. This includes recognizing the differences in risk levels between age groups and the role of natural immunity.

Parents, doctors, and CHD sue AAP in one of the most important lawsuits in medical history

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 11 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Plaintiffs allege the American Academy of Pediatrics coordinated with vaccine manufacturers in a long-running scheme to misrepresent childhood vaccine safety and profit, and they are seeking injunctions, corrections, and treble damages.
  2. The core claim is that no cumulative outcome studies prove the full childhood vaccine schedule is safe and effective, that theoretical reasoning replaced required empirical testing, and that dissenting scientists and doctors were systematically suppressed.
  3. If the lawsuit succeeds it could force public corrections, damage the credibility of professional medical societies, and spur further legal challenges to vaccine policy, even though mainstream media coverage has been limited so far.

URGENT: mRNA Covid jabs should NEVER have been approved for children or young adults

Unreported Truths • 44 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. mRNA Covid vaccines may have serious side effects for children, and these concerns were known during the trials. It's important to be aware of these risks when considering vaccination for young ones.
  2. Some deaths, including a child's, occurred during vaccine trials, but this information was not fully shared with the public for years. Transparency in clinical trials is crucial for public safety.
  3. Data presented by vaccine manufacturers wasn't always accurate, leading to misleading conclusions about their effectiveness and safety for kids. Parents should approach such information with caution.

Sunday Strip: Just say No

Who is Robert Malone • 41 implied HN points • 30 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. It's important to say 'no' sometimes, especially when you see something is wrong. Dr. Frances Kelsey did this when she refused to approve the dangerous drug thalidomide.
  2. Standing firm in your beliefs can protect others from harm. Kelsey's refusal to approve drugs without proper safety testing saved countless babies from serious deformities.
  3. Dr. Kelsey's work helped change drug approval laws. She showed that patient safety comes first, and her courage led to better protections for everyone.

If You Visit a Sex Worker, Consider Using Carrageenan Lube

Viruses Must Die • 26 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Medical Ethics
  1. A lubricant made with carrageenan can reduce HPV infectivity, and a recent FDA‑supervised randomized trial found it safe and at least somewhat effective.
  2. Carrageenan is commonly used and generally regarded as safe in foods and cosmetics, but a product is treated as a drug only if it makes medical claims on its label.
  3. If you have sex outside a long-term relationship, it’s sensible to combine HPV vaccination, regular testing, and PrEP with using carrageenan lube as an extra layer of protection.

Advancing Health Obsequity

Bastiat's Window • 294 implied HN points • 16 May 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Advocating for health equity can sometimes hinder open discourse in the medical field.
  2. Scientific inquiry can be stifled by overcomplicated and rigid language guidelines.
  3. Encouraging individualized patient care and broad scientific exploration is essential for progress in healthcare.

Alter.systems AI is Refreshingly Different

Who is Robert Malone • 21 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Robert Malone is described as an early pioneer of mRNA vaccine technology who later became a vocal critic of how those vaccines were developed and deployed.
  2. His public warnings led to censorship and controversy, but he embraced the role of a dissenter, grew a large independent following, and gained positions like a CDC vaccine panel seat and an adjunct professorship.
  3. The piece praises Alter.systems as a new chat AI that claims to avoid institutional bias and censorship, recommending it as a freer alternative to mainstream models.

A Revolution in Vaccine Regulation and Approval

Who is Robert Malone • 35 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The FDA has found that at least 10 children died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, which raises serious safety concerns. This suggests that vaccine mandates may have caused more harm than good for young children.
  2. There is little reliable data showing that COVID-19 vaccines save lives in children, and the risks of vaccination may outweigh the benefits for this age group. The current situation calls for a reevaluation of vaccine approval processes and safety measures.
  3. The overall approach to vaccine regulation needs to change to prioritize evidence-based medicine. This includes better studies on vaccine safety and effectiveness, especially for young people, and being honest about the potential dangers of vaccines.

Normies Of The World, Unite!

Michael Shellenberger • 2066 implied HN points • 13 Feb 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Children are being rushed into gender-transitioning treatments without proper investigation, raising concerns about sterilization and medical abuse.
  2. Wokeism is compared to a powerful and dogmatic religion, uniting various social issues under one umbrella.
  3. There is a call for a united anti-Woke movement, bringing together liberal, libertarian, and conservative individuals to defend freedom of speech and reject harmful ideologies.

Here’s More Evidence That Youth Gender Medicine Researchers Might Be Hiding Unfavorable Data From The Public

Singal-Minded • 1823 implied HN points • 14 Apr 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Youth gender medicine researchers may be hiding unfavorable data from the public.
  2. Transparency in scientific research is crucial to ensure accurate findings and allow external critics to question results.
  3. Obtaining information through public records like Freedom of Information Act requests can be crucial to uncovering potential red flags in research.

NZ Herald (at last!) publishes an article which questions the use of puberty blockers.

A B’Old Woman • 439 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. An article in the NZ Herald challenges the use of puberty blockers, marking a shift in the media's approach to the topic. It highlights that previous articles may have had misleading information.
  2. Research and reviews from multiple countries, including New Zealand, question the safety and efficacy of puberty blockers for children. Some findings suggest serious health risks and a lack of improvement in mental health.
  3. There's concern about the increasing rates of puberty blocker prescriptions in New Zealand, as procedures and guidelines are becoming more accessible to children without extensive evaluations.

Jay Bhattacharya will help make America healthy again

The Dossier • 339 implied HN points • 27 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is a key figure in advocating for more sensible COVID-related policies, taking personal risks in his professional life to voice his beliefs.
  2. He has been instrumental in challenging the heavy censorship surrounding opinions that go against popular narratives about the pandemic.
  3. Bhattacharya's courage and qualifications make him a strong leader in efforts to improve public health and address the mistakes made during the pandemic.

VSRF LIVE TONIGHT: Episode 214: Tamara Ugolini

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 2 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Public health institutions in Canada often prioritize protecting institutions over protecting people, creating a pattern of regulatory capture and failing to deliver accountability.
  2. Transparency is being blocked by slow, heavily redacted information releases and a vaccine injury support program that is delayed and difficult to access, which prevents independent scrutiny.
  3. Specific controversies — including delayed acknowledgment of AstraZeneca-related injuries and a very permissive Medical Assistance in Dying regime — raise serious safety and ethical concerns.

The Transplantation Society Medical Guild (TTS), COVID, and the CCP

Who is Robert Malone • 11 implied HN points • 06 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The Transplantation Society acts like a powerful, closed medical guild that shapes global transplant science, ethics, and policy while operating with limited transparency or accountability.
  2. The Society’s close ties to pharmaceutical sponsors and Chinese health authorities led it to publicly endorse China’s claimed transplant reforms without independent audits, effectively giving the CCP reputational cover despite reported coerced organ procurement.
  3. During COVID the Society pushed vaccination as an ethical prerequisite for transplant access, producing de facto medical conditionality and reflecting a compliance-first ethic; fixing this requires radical transparency about financial and political conflicts.

An open letter to Harvard President, Alan Garber

Vinay Prasad's Observations and Thoughts • 268 implied HN points • 14 Dec 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Harvard should show a commitment to academic freedom by reinstating fired professors like Martin Kulldorff. This would help represent a wider range of ideas on campus.
  2. The COVID-19 vaccine mandate by the Biden administration had issues, particularly with not considering natural immunity. This raised questions about individual rights versus public health.
  3. The treatment of some faculty members during the pandemic raises concerns about political bias in academic settings. Harvard needs to correct its mistakes to ensure a true diversity of thought.

REVENUES OVER LIVES: health professionals' role in challenging the "medical-financial complex”

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 359 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The healthcare system in America is often driven more by profits than by providing good care to patients. This needs to change for the health of everyone.
  2. There are many ways to improve healthcare, such as making it affordable and accessible for all. Countries like the UK and Canada show that universal healthcare can work.
  3. Young health professionals can be the change-makers. They need to fight for justice in healthcare and challenge the current system that prioritizes money over lives.

Roots, Origins and Lies

Who is Robert Malone • 15 implied HN points • 16 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. A sudden novel coronavirus outbreak upended a quiet life and pushed experienced scientists and clinicians into intense, urgent work to model the virus, repurpose drugs, and help communities prepare.
  2. Public health agencies, big tech platforms, and mainstream media coordinated information controls that led to censorship and suppression of dissenting medical views.
  3. There is a strong call for transparency, open scientific scrutiny, protection for whistleblowers, and defense of free speech and democratic checks to prevent institutional overreach during health emergencies.

Prasad FDA Memo: Regulatory Implications

Who is Robert Malone • 18 implied HN points • 01 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. The memo discusses serious concerns about COVID vaccines, suggesting they may have caused more harm to children than saved lives. This recognition challenges previous beliefs about vaccine safety.
  2. Dr. Prasad's guidance could lead to major changes in how vaccines are regulated, including stricter requirements for showing safety and effectiveness. This might slow down the approval process for new vaccines in the future.
  3. There are implications for the entire vaccine market, including potential changes in how vaccines are mandated for children and pregnant women. These changes could affect vaccine companies and public health policies.

Bombshell Rasmussen Survey Released

Who is Robert Malone • 19 implied HN points • 21 Nov 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. About 36% of people who got the COVID vaccine report side effects. This means many felt some impact after receiving it.
  2. Many Americans think the vaccine could have caused serious health problems and even deaths. This shows there's confusion and concern among the public.
  3. There's a big difference between what the public believes about vaccine side effects and what health organizations report. This disconnect needs to be addressed.

Dr. Arthur Caplan: Will you help us stop the disinformation crisis?

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 6 implied HN points • 07 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Some record-level studies and analyses are claimed to show that childhood vaccinations do not reduce mortality and may be linked to higher infant deaths or SIDS, challenging mainstream claims that vaccines clearly save lives.
  2. Critics contend that many experts who warn about vaccine disinformation avoid open public debates with qualified dissenting voices, and a public challenge is being made to force that discussion.
  3. Open, transparent public debate is presented as the best way to stop disinformation and let people judge who is telling the truth.

The Pursuit of Parenthood

Asimov Press • 219 implied HN points • 24 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. In-vitro fertilization (IVF) has become widely accepted in society, with many people knowing someone who has used this technology. Just 50 years ago, it faced a lot of criticism from scientists and the public.
  2. The journey to making IVF mainstream involved many scientific breakthroughs and changes in public perception, starting from early experiments in the 1930s to the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978. This shows how challenging and slow scientific progress can be.
  3. Despite the success of IVF, there is a lack of federal regulation, which can lead to some issues like inflated success rates and high costs. Still, this absence of strict rules has allowed for a lot of innovation and diverse options for people seeking reproductive assistance.

Doctors and patients raise alarm about prior authorization

HEALTH CARE un-covered • 319 implied HN points • 01 Feb 23
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Prior authorization can cause major problems for patients, leading to delays or denials of necessary treatments. This can sometimes result in serious health issues or even death.
  2. A lot of doctors believe that the prior authorization process actually worsens care for patients. Most doctors say these requirements can make patients abandon their treatment plans.
  3. Insurance companies aren't really cooperating with doctors to fix these issues. This makes it hard for patients to access the care they really need.

Weight Loss Drugs – A Long Line Of Losers Part 1 Fen-Phen and Belviq

Weight and Healthcare • 359 implied HN points • 10 Aug 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Medical Ethics
  1. Pharmaceutical companies have profited off dangerous weight-loss drugs that harmed people and were eventually pulled from the market.
  2. Short-term data and misleading risk/benefit analyses have led to the approval of weight-loss drugs that caused serious side effects.
  3. Weight-related co-morbid conditions do not always originate from weight, and weight stigma in healthcare can lead to unjust risks for those with higher BMIs.

Were the COVID vaccines genocide?

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 9 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. There’s no clear evidence the vaccine campaigns were a centrally planned genocide, but secrecy, manipulation, and censorship during rollout made large-scale harm possible without explicit intent.
  2. Post-rollout data showed worrying signals like unexplained excess deaths, increased cardiac events in some groups, and reproductive or neurological problems that were often underreported or dismissed.
  3. Pharmaceutical companies and regulators acted with profit and protection motives, suppressing data and dissent in ways many view as a large-scale ethical and medical betrayal.

On the bizarre anger and meanness of our public health betters

Unreported Truths • 69 implied HN points • 09 Jul 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Some public health figures show anger and judgment toward people who disagree with them. They often seem to value their positions more than the people they serve.
  2. There are concerns about how some doctors prioritize their political views over patient care. This can lead to frustrating situations for both parents and children.
  3. Recent events highlight the disconnect between health professionals and the public. Sometimes they express a sense of superiority, making it hard for people to feel supported in their health decisions.

Why your eye surgeon wants you to get a multifocal lens that Medicare won't cover for your cataracts

Unreported Truths • 62 implied HN points • 16 Jul 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Doctors often recommend expensive multifocal lenses for cataract surgery because they make a lot more money from them compared to standard lenses covered by Medicare. Usually, patients pay thousands of dollars for these lenses, which some might not really need.
  2. The production cost of these multifocal lenses is pretty low, but doctors charge patients significantly more, leading to huge profits. This can create an incentive for doctors to push these lenses, even if they might not offer a huge benefit.
  3. Most patients trust their doctors to give them the best advice, but many doctors might not fully understand the technology or pricing behind the lenses they recommend. This gap can lead to unnecessary expenses for patients.

A simple suggestion for RFK Jr to end corruption in medicine

Vinay Prasad's Observations and Thoughts • 189 implied HN points • 23 Nov 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. RFK Jr. wants to fight corruption in medicine, especially the money doctors take from pharmaceutical companies. It's important to have honest practices to benefit patients.
  2. A proposed change is to limit the number of doctors in advisory groups who have received money from drug companies. This could start at no more than 60% in 2025 and end with 0% by 2028.
  3. By having fewer conflicts of interest, doctors might focus more on what's best for patients rather than just following drug company interests. This could lead to better healthcare decisions.

My email to Brown Professor Craig Spencer, M.D., MPH on his StatNews article

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 8 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. An open invitation asks a public health expert to have a civil, data-focused conversation about vaccine safety, aiming to stick to data and methods rather than rhetoric.
  2. The view that the medical community is simply 'correct and must earn trust' is challenged, with a key concern being that many credentialed experts refuse public, method-focused debates.
  3. Repeated attempts to engage prominent figures (including offers to Dr. Paul Offit and an instance where Peter Hotez reportedly declined to meet RFK) are seen as evidence that refusal to dialogue is the main barrier to finding the truth, and dialogue is promoted as the solution.

The true story of the Samoa measles outbreak

Vinay Prasad's Observations and Thoughts • 152 implied HN points • 24 Dec 24
🏥 Health Politics Medical Ethics
  1. Measles was introduced to Samoa in the 1880s and a significant outbreak occurred due to a combination of poor health systems and low vaccination rates. The outbreak was worsened by significant events, including the deaths of two children after a vaccination mistake.
  2. After the vaccine-related deaths, the Samoan government paused the vaccination program, leading to a sharp decline in vaccination rates. Many people turned to traditional medicine instead of seeking proper medical care when measles spread.
  3. The story of the Samoa measles outbreak highlights that the responsibility for the crisis is complex, involving multiple factors like poor health literacy and governance. Blaming any single person for the outbreak, like RFK Jr., oversimplifies the true situation.