The Narthex

An 18-year-old woman named Layla Jane was in the news recently with a heartbreaking story. Ms. Jane is suing Kaiser Permanente and another medical institution for performing a double mastectomy on her at the age of 13. (Her story has been covered by several national news organizations.) There was nothing…

At age 12, I was rushed home from camp with pain in my abdomen. The family physician drove to our house and palpated my innards. He was a general practitioner who could read signs of ill health in ridged fingernails, bags under the eyes, and a beefy red tongue. That…

A new article by Aleisha R. Brock and Simon Thornley, published at Science, Public Health Policy, & the Law (at publichealthpolicyjournal.com), re-analyzes data used in a CDC report and finds a high risk of miscarriage (also called spontaneous abortion) in early pregnancy after use of a COVID mRNA vaccine. A…

Employer mandates appear to be the next big thing in the pandemic-response saga. My 62-year-old sister, a registered nurse, had to have the jab to keep her job. She had no underlying illnesses, but within two months after getting vaxed she contracted near-death pericarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle). The…

A year and a half of COVID-time has passed, so it's time for a data update. All along some medical professionals have warned that the virus will be with us for a long time -- this much holds true. Putting aside the endless debates over lockdowns and masks, one cannot…