u/ddx-me

▲ 270 r/medicine

25 states and DC sue the Department of Education for excluding certain health professional degrees from higher loan caps

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/lbpgyelqepq/05192026doe.pdf

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/democratic-led-states-sue-over-trump-administrations-student-loan-restrictions-2026-05-19/

The final rule published on May 1, 2026 excludes certain healthcare staff including PAs, APRNs, PT, OT, and SLP from higher loan caps because they are graduate degrees rather than professional degress (which includes MD, DO, JD, podiatry, and theology). I am neutral on this, but lifetime loan caps inhibit a lot of lower income folks from getting an education to become part of the healthcare system.

reddit.com
u/ddx-me — 19 hours ago

Medical Journalism

I'm super curious on the field, especially as an MD coming to dip into journalism. I see there are ones for reporting on clinical trials and being a medical writer, but also ones who perhaps probe more into the MAHA movement or into outbreaks/epidemic like Donald McNeil.

Curious on the environment.

reddit.com
u/ddx-me — 1 day ago

Ebolavirus outbreak in the Congo/Uganda sickened some Americans in the region including a physician.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/article/1-american-tests-positive-for-ebola-6-others-exposed-cdc-says-what-to-know-about-the-latest-outbreak-112950919.html

https://www.cdc.gov/ebola/situation-summary/index.html

The CDC is working to move exposed Americans in the Congo/Uganda to Germany for treatment and quarantine. There are no cases or exposures in the US as of May 18.

On top of the hantavirus situation, more attention is placed on the US decision to cut down their disease surveillance. Also notable they shut down USAID and then move Americans to Germany

u/ddx-me — 1 day ago
▲ 463 r/BlockedAndReported+2 crossposts

Ken Paxton and Texas Children’s Hospital settle; the latter must create country’s first clinic to reverse transgender care

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/15/texas-children-transgender-transition-settlement-attorney-general/

"This Detransition Clinic will help patients reverse the damage caused by ideologically-motivated physicians who harmed patients by performing dangerous medical interventions for the purpose of 'transitioning' them."

The settlement also means that Texas Children must provide such services free of charge for the first 5 years (ie free healthcare for conservative causes). And in a way is gender-affirming conservative views. Lastly, it's not lost on me that Ken Paxton is in a hot runoff primary against the incumbent US senator John Cornyn, set to happen in less than 2 weeks.

u/ddx-me — 5 days ago
▲ 275 r/medicine

Trump, Vance, and Oz place a 6-month pause on new providers enrolling in Medicare payments for home health and hospice

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-halting-medicare-enrollments-new-home-healthcare-hospice-providers-2026-05-13/

My previous post was on the administration pausing $1.3 billion Medicaid payments to California because California "did not aggressively pursue fraud". This one is more national affecting Medicare reimbursement especially for new palliative care clinicians needing to enroll in Medicare. It also doesn't address that existing organizations can still perpetuate fraud.

reddit.com
u/ddx-me — 6 days ago
▲ 1.0k r/medicine

French woman's symptoms chalked up to anxiety, now in the ICU with hantavirus pulmonary syndrome

"They were not thinking that these symptoms were compatible with hantavirus. Why? Because what she was telling [them] was [that she had] an episode of coughing some days ago that had disappeared, and what she was having at that moment was kind of like stress or anxiety or nervousness. So it was not catalogued [as hantavirus]."

Crazy how even hantavirus can't dodge the premature closure to anxiety in a woman with apparent flu-like symptoms.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/11/french-womandoctors-hantavirus-symptoms-hv-hondius

u/ddx-me — 8 days ago
▲ 148 r/medicine

Per HHS's Twitter on 17 American citizens being repatriated to the US: "One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus."

HHS through @ASPRgov and @CDCgov is supporting @StateDept in the repatriation of 17 American citizens from the MV Hondius cruise ship affected by the Andes variant of hantavirus.

All 17 are currently en route via @StateDept airlift to the United States, with two of the passengers travelling in the plane's biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution. One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus.

As of now, the airlift will transport passengers to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center/Nebraska Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska before taking the passenger with mild symptoms to a second RESPTC at its final destination.

Upon arrival at each facility, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive appropriate care and support based on their condition.

___

So what is "mildly positive"? Is that patient symptomatic? When did both of their symptoms start? Is there a non-Twitter source (eg an official government website)?

Per CBS, there will be a media briefing tomorrow morning featuring UNMC, CDC, and HHS

CBS: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/atlanta/news/americans-from-cruise-ship-linked-to-hantavirus-outbreak-monitoring-as-georgia-residents-remain-under-watch/
Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/10/one-cruise-ship-passenger-returning-to-the-u-s-showing-mild-hantavirus-symptoms-00913723?cid=apn
Twitter post: https://x.com/HHSGov/status/2053656580118216985

u/ddx-me — 9 days ago

In Mortal Kombat (1993), the American Heart Association recommends checking your cholesterol to ensure that the blood coming from the 33-year-old fatalities are as healthy as they can be in 2026

u/ddx-me — 9 days ago

In trying to defeat Ken Paxton, John Cornyn deleted this post faster than Ted Cruz flying to Cancún

u/ddx-me — 9 days ago
▲ 219 r/south_africa+1 crossposts

KLM flight attendant hospitalized with mild symtoms after contact with a hantavirus patient during boarding in Johannesburg

https://nltimes.nl/2026/05/07/klm-flight-attendant-hospitalized-contact-hantavirus-cruise-ship-passenger

The contact occurred on Saturday April 25 (almost 2 weeks ago) during boarding in South Africa to the Netherlands.

I am wondering about the nature of this interaction include (1) how symptomatic the patient was, (2) what the contact is, and (3) the flight attendant's risk factors for severe disease like comorbidities.

u/Prestigious-Wall5616 — 13 days ago
▲ 360 r/medicine

RFK Jr. pushes for deregulating tanning beds removing a proposed federal rule that would've required disclaimer about skin cancer risk with tanning bed use

https://www.aol.com/news/rfk-jr-clears-path-minors-100000018.html

MAHA is pro-skin cancer and pro-melanoma, claiming that people should just "build up their sun tolerance" rather than sunscreens. And tanning beds accelerate that with unnaturally high exposure to cancer-causing UV rays.

u/ddx-me — 14 days ago