I recently visited Indigo in Savannah to see how he and others at Georgia's only LGBTQ+ center are pushing to expand affirming care, even as it contracts elsewhere. www.statnews.com/2026/04/20/t...
New: I've spent months getting to know Indigo, a 25yo trans guy who loves musicals & BTS. Even though gender-affirming care is completely legal for adults, he had to make appointments with four different surgeons over two years before he was able to get top surgery.
The authors of the HHS report on trans youth health care were chosen by the Manhattan Institute's Leor Sapir.
Now, a rule based on the controversial report could wipe out this care at hospitals.
Parents are begging the administration not to go through with it.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Much of this work can be chalked up to one mom, who set out more than 20 years ago to cure her son and didn't stop amid innumerable setbacks. He is now 29, older than most people with DMD. He went on Avidity's drug two years ago. It has changed his life
www.statnews.com/2026/04/08/d...
We're on strike! Don't visit propublica.org on April 8
We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today.
Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...
How groups like Children's Health Defense will leverage this week's ruling on conversion therapy for lawsuits re: telehealth regulation, Covid misinformation, and free speech: www.statnews.com/2026/04/03/c...
here is a story we reported this story two years ago that remains very relevant.
The Supreme Court just ruled 8-1 that a lower court should reconsider Colorado's ban on conversion therapy, an outcome that will likely lead to the ban being overturned. I wrote last year about the implications for queer people and health care regulation overall: www.statnews.com/2025/10/06/s...
In the first few months of 2026, the Trump administration has painted a dire picture: healthcare fraud is everywhere. Predators are swindling dollars out of the system and robbing vulnerable people of their care.
Is that true? Let's look at the data.
www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/m...
![Screenshot of a Morning Rounds newsletter item titled: AMA clarifies gender-affirming surgery comment (sort of)
Remember last month when Daniel Payne and I wrote about the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ new position statement about gender-affirming surgery for young people? The professional group generally recommended that procedures like top surgery be delayed until age 19. Soon after, a comment to reporters from the American Medical Association began circulating, which said that “in the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.”
But an AMA Board newsletter sent yesterday asserted that “while some media coverage characterized [the comment] as agreement with the ASPS statement, that phrasing did not come from the AMA.” I asked the AMA if it’s alleging that media outlets fabricated or otherwise messed up part of the comment, but the group did not respond to that specific inquiry. The AMA has requested a correction from The New York Times in particular, per the newsletter, and asserted there’s been no policy change and the comment was not an endorsement of the ASPS position. I wrote about this confusion back in February but didn’t receive a response from the AMA at the time.
Overall, the Board newsletter reiterated the AMA’s support for gender-affirming care, saying the intent of the comment was “to preserve — not diminish — access.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xdlkuqo5dgf3jdtwfnlsrvwx/bafkreibb6cf47owlc3ez5rwc6vnlkxstjaj4vdslxknszb56lqeshvq6rq)
Screenshot of a Morning Rounds newsletter item titled: AMA clarifies gender-affirming surgery comment (sort of) Remember last month when Daniel Payne and I wrote about the American Society of Plastic Surgeons’ new position statement about gender-affirming surgery for young people? The professional group generally recommended that procedures like top surgery be delayed until age 19. Soon after, a comment to reporters from the American Medical Association began circulating, which said that “in the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood.” But an AMA Board newsletter sent yesterday asserted that “while some media coverage characterized [the comment] as agreement with the ASPS statement, that phrasing did not come from the AMA.” I asked the AMA if it’s alleging that media outlets fabricated or otherwise messed up part of the comment, but the group did not respond to that specific inquiry. The AMA has requested a correction from The New York Times in particular, per the newsletter, and asserted there’s been no policy change and the comment was not an endorsement of the ASPS position. I wrote about this confusion back in February but didn’t receive a response from the AMA at the time. Overall, the Board newsletter reiterated the AMA’s support for gender-affirming care, saying the intent of the comment was “to preserve — not diminish — access.”
In its Board newsletter yesterday, the AMA addressed the hubbub around its comment on the ASPS gender-affirming surgery position statement. I wrote about it in STAT's morning newsletter, which, hey, you could subscribe to if you don't already: www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/n...
Medical schools are no longer required by the top accrediting body to teach health equity, @aniloza.bsky.social reports:
www.statnews.com/2026/03/27/m...
Breaking: A U.S. district judge in Oregon said he will vacate a declaration made late last year by health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that asserted gender-affirming care for young trans people does not meet medical standards of care. www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/j...
lots of jarring statistics and heartbreaking stories I could share from this story, but this particular anecdote made me tear up when @jonathanwosen.bsky.social first shared this story with me
For more details from our survey of ~1000 nih-funded researchers, read the report below
Multiple vaccines offer benefits beyond protecting the vaccinated individual from the disease the vaccine targets. Some protect fetuses in the womb, some protect people who are immunocompromised, some protect seniors. As vax rates fall, these benefits are threatened. www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/v...
Federal judge stalls health secretary RFK Jr.’s overhaul of vaccine policy
www.statnews.com/2026/03/16/k...
idk wtf is going on, but people are misgendering me more in the last few weeks, both in person and virtually, so just to make it explicitly clear:
My name is Rose. I'm a woman. I use she/her pronouns. If you don't know me, please address me as Ms. Broderick.
Federal judges have consistently quashed DOJ subpoenas on gender-affirming care, often using strong language to call the investigations an overreach executed “in bad faith.” Today, the DOJ got its first shot at an appeal against a small telehealth clinic. The stakes: www.statnews.com/2026/03/06/t...
Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s...
As transgender Kansans grapple with a challenging new reality today, and the rest of the nation watches what’s happening in the Sunflower State, here’s a thread of @kansasreflector.com stories and opinion pieces about SB 244. (1/15) #ksleg #trans #lgbtq
Jeffrey Epstein’s tissue samples ignited a furor in the Harvard lab of George Church, reports @mmolteni.bsky.social in this @statnews.com exclusive. 13 years later, the whereabouts of the sex offender’s skin cells are a mystery
www.statnews.com/2026/02/24/e...
ACOG released its first clinical guidance on diagnosing endometriosis Friday. Notably, the group recommended against any use of biomarker tests that analyze blood, urine, or other samples. More in today's newsletter: www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/h...
NEW: Pharma lobbyists are working to influence an agency once thought largely off-limits — the FDA.
How Trump-era politics are being injected into the agency tasked with regulating U.S. medicines:
w/ @lizzylawrence.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/2026/02/23/f...
This story was fun to write bc it’s mostly older trans guys being like “we used to bind uphill both ways in the snow”
But in all seriousness, binding used to be the wild west. Duct tape, electrical tape, ACE bandages. Now we have good products. But the FDA is cracking down on those. Read more:
UMass abruptly canceled bottom surgery appointments for hundreds of patients with no explanation. Some had surgery dates booked a year in advance, others were scheduled to get revisions done.
www.wgbh.org/news/health/...
Scoop: Top FDA official Vinay Prasad overruled the agency’s reviewers when he refused to accept Moderna’s application for a new influenza vaccine, STAT has learned.
www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...
A Christian group announces a potentially landmark legal settlement that the ACLU says could establish new federal protections for harm reduction services. www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/n...
also, some interesting and helpful historical context in this thread: bsky.app/profile/evan...
“I don’t know that this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back in any one scenario,” one expert told me re: the latest ASPS and AMA statements on gender-affirming surgery. “The pressure [medical institutions] are already facing is substantial.” www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/m...
