A fleeting numbness in my right arm led me to seek physical therapy. After my first appointment, I was provided with a potential cause: thoracic outlet syndrome. For someone already handling a baffling illness like multiple sclerosis this is a pure win. What started as the usual tantrum of sensations possibly signaling relapse turned out to be something much simpler. What initially was intermittent was shown, by simple pressure on my right shoulder, to be a perfectly understandable condition.
Contrast this with the events of April 2nd, when ten scientists at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) were laid off. Among them was Steven Jacobson, the chief researcher for the Viral Immunology Section of NINDS. His lab focused on the role viruses play in progressive neurological diseases, multiple sclerosis in particular. No rhyme or reason was given to Dr. Jacobson’s firing, or the firings of any of the other ten scientists. For once, the actions of those around me made less sense than the mysteries of my body. HHS Secretary Kennedy did provide something that looks like an explanation. Ignoring for a moment that he speaks about those who lost their jobs as though he wasn’t the one who fired them, he makes clear that this is part of a “recalibration,” a, “realigning [of] HHS with its core mission.” Kennedy assures us most of all that “essential” health services will not be affected. The only conclusion, therefore, is that my health, and the health of anyone with multiple sclerosis or other neurological disorders, is not essential. Perhaps if times were better HHS would scrounge together a few pennies to help us stay alive, but we have a trade war to prepare for. While the nation tightens its belt, we are expected to do the same, though for us it is around the neck rather than the waist.
It would be easy to just accept the frequent insistence that cruelty is the point. If so, it is poorly done, for cruelty is a dish best served honestly. I would at least hope Secretary Kennedy would fully enjoy the fruits of his labor, the dismantling of research into chronic illness. I’m not naive enough to think pleading my case, arguing that, yes, I am, in fact, a human being, would be effective. Because if prevention is the focus, then those of us sick today are of no importance, and if researching the intricate causes of diseases like multiple sclerosis no longer aligns with the mission of prevention, then what could Secretary Kennedy possibly have in mind?
We might insert a joke here where Kennedy, shirtless, no doubt, recommends a vigorous regimen of raw milk enemas to ward off chronic illness, but the truth is Kennedy’s version of “prevention” is no laughing matter. And if this dark road must be slogged through by the sick and unwell yet again, he could at least be forthcoming. I’m not vain enough to expect a personal shout out, of course. A simple post on X would do. Just clearly state the message the sick and unwell receive every time their illness becomes their part time job: America would be better if you would just die already.
Because cruelty is not the point; death is. Medicine in America was already T4 in slow motion. Now that Kennedy is stepping on the gas, all that is left is a triumphant shout that once and for all, the useless eaters of this country will no longer stain our black and blue flag red. No longer will good, hard working Americans have to set aside some fraction of their tax dollars to fund research into diseases those others saddled themselves with. Instead, America can bask in the hollow glow of “prevention,” the assurance that those who are sick made themselves that way and those who are well must have been doing something right all along.
The sheer honesty of such a post would be a salve of sorts to the anxious minds of the unwell. Finally, after all the years knowing that medicine in America was functionally a prescription for a handgun, someone had the guts to admit that that is the point. If Secretary Kennedy found the work of Dr. Jacobson and the other NINDS scientists useful, he wouldn’t have fired them. He didn’t find them useful because “prevention” is just a self-congratulatory euphemism for eugenics. Why should able-bodied (read “real”) Americans spend their last dimes on disabled degenerates. Better to amplify the bureaucratic mire of medicine still further, and let the problem take care of itself on its own.
Prevention without rigorous medical research only makes sense if the causes of chronic illness are not really medical at all, but moral. What Secretary Kennedy really seeks to prevent is the hassle of pretending that he and the Trump Administration as a whole thinks the disabled are worth helping.