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This is a MedPage Today story. A new journal purports to improve the publishing process through open access and public peer review, but it was co-founded by researchers who challenged the U.S. response to COVID-19 — including President Trump’s pick to lead the NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD. Bhattacharya and Martin Kulldorff, PhD, have founded the Journal of the Academy of Public Health, where "good scientists can publish whatever their studies conclude," Kulldorff said in a post on X. Kulldorff reported the backdrop for launching the journal in a perspective, charging that commercial publishers have a corner on the market, with universities paying "an enormous amount of money for journals that contain articles that are both written and peer reviewed by their own scientists, which they provide to journals for free." "As a result, scientific journal publishers have huge profit margins reaching almost 40%," Kulldorff stated in the perspective. Unlike traditional publishing,…

This is a MedPage Today story. Cleveland Clinic officials fired back at a conservative organization’s "Woke Alert" attack ad that asked if the large health system was "the wokest hospital in America," saying the ad’s claims are "riddled with inaccuracies and lies." The ad, by Consumers’ Research, says clinic officials "prioritize care based on skin color, perform child sex changes, push transgender propaganda on vulnerable kids, insert DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] into everything they do, and spend millions on climate activism." The organization also seized on a sentence in a 2023 statement from clinic CEO Tom Mihaljevic, MD, in which he said "providing high-quality healthcare is only part of our mission." Consumers’ Research said Mihaljevic’s statement is evidence "the Cleveland Clinic is prioritizing woke policies over patients." The 30-second ad, titled "Exposed," is reportedly running on mobile billboards at the Ohio state capitol building, the Cleveland Clinic’s…

This is a MedPage Today story. Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to prescribe medications to patients — if a new bill makes its way through Congress. The proposed legislation, sponsored by Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to clarify that AI and machine learning technologies can qualify as a practitioner eligible to prescribe drugs if authorized by the state involved and approved by the FDA. The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in January. But Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, a hospitalist and director of AI programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, told MedPage Today that the technology is not nearly where it needs to be for this kind of prescribing. However, "[t]hings are accelerating so quickly," he added, "I don’t doubt that we will be having this conversation," at some…

This is a MedPage Today story. A German physician who was arrested last summer on suspicion of killing four patients is now suspected of killing 10, and in some cases he allegedly tried to cover up evidence by starting fires. (AP) Pediatrician Anita Damodaran, MD, has been accused of animal cruelty after a March 2024 incident in which a cleaning woman found a malnourished dog inside a plastic storage bin in an apartment. Damodaran was reportedly being evicted from the apartment at the time of the incident. (FOX 32) Ohio physician Andrew Campbell, MD, was accused of setting fire to another doctor’s home, and was placed on administrative leave from the University of Toledo Medical Center. (13ABC) Families involved in an ongoing investigation weren’t happy to learn that the Virginia neonatal nurse accused of harming infants was granted bond. (WRIC) A student has sued the University of California San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital over its internship program that supports…