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“Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health.”
That is the headline of jaw dropping op-ed
published Monday in the NY Times about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. written by nine former heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.). These former C.D.C. chiefs—who served in Republican and Democratic administrations from Jimmy Carter to Joe
Biden to even Donald Trump’s first term--have dedicated their lives to public health.
They have now joined forces to offer offering a stark warning. Kennedy’s actions from undermining science to spreading misinformation to his cuts to vital health program are a threat to our health.
They are far from alone. Just last week four
senior C.D.C. officials resigned in protest—including one who wrote bluntly that Kennedy’s “desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
Yes, the death of children and the disabled!
These warnings, however, are not enough in my view to change Kennedy’s conduct. We need Democratic Attorneys General to make it clear that if people die in their states due to Kennedy’s lies, misinformation and other misconduct, they will open a criminal investigation
into whether his actions constitute manslaughter. I’ll lay out the legal basis below for such charges.
But let’s start with how Kennedy’s actions are knowingly endangering the health of Americans. Most recently, as the former C.D.C. heads lay out in their op-ed, Kennedy fired Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director last week because she refused “to rubber-stamp
his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members.” To Kennedy, you either embrace his lies or you are gone.
Worse, as they write, “Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he’s
focused
on unproven treatments while downplaying vaccines.” They add Kennedy has “severely
weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence and more.” This is building to the very ugly scenario as they write of, “Children risk losing access to lifesaving
vaccines because of the cost.”
Overall, they wrote what Kennedy is doing "is unlike anything we had ever seen at the agency and unlike anything our country had ever experienced.”
That is vitally important point. These former C.D.C. heads note that Kennedy’s actions are outside the bounds of what any medical professional who has worked in this space has ever seen. To that point they share, Kennedy has “replaced
experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views.”
We heard even more jarring warnings over the past few days from C.D.C.’s Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease,
Dr. Demetre Daskalaki who was one of the four who recently resigned in protest. Daskalaki—who has served at the C.D.C. since Trump’s first term in December 2020—wrote a stinging
resignation
letter that noted, “I am unable to serve in an environment that treats CDC as a tool to generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.”
He detailed how Kennedy’s changes to the adult and children’s immunization schedule
“threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people.” He added that Kennedy has not shared with the healthcare professionals at the C.D.C. the basis for these changes, writing,
“I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.”
Dr. Daskalaki also raised red flags about something he has seen first-hand that demands far more attention. He wrote, “We are seven months into the new administration, and no C.D.C. subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed
the Secretary.” He added alarmingly, “I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and
other reputable sources.”
WTF is going on?! It’s one thing to have Trump’s lackey’s listen to Fox News and Newsmax pundits about every day policy issues--but this is going to lead to people dying.
And in a truly bone-chilling passage, Daskalaki tells us that what is happening under Kennedy’s leadership is the embrace of “Eugenics”—the idea being the strong should survive and the weak should perish for the so-called good of society. While Daskalaki
does not mention this, this philosophy has been embraced by other far right regimes--most infamously by
the
Nazis.
To sum up these public health experts: Kennedy’s actions as head of HHS are not based on science but on politics and conspiracy BS that are going to cause Americans to die. That is why we need Democratic AGs to make it clear they will launch investigations
under state law if one of their residents dies due to Kennedy’s dangerous actions.
While each state’s laws vary, in essence
manslaughter is when a person “consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk” that results in the death of another. The defendant will face more serve penalties depending on the intent involved. For example, when “negligent behavior”
causes the death of another person it could lead to charges of second degree manslaughter.
But the crime of “murder in the second
degree, which carries a more serious penalty than manslaughter, requires the additional showing that a person acted with "depraved indifference to human life." In other words, the person knew full well that his or her actions could result in the
death of another but still intentionally took the action “with an utter disregard for the value of human life.” That is what we are seeing from Kennedy.
Glenn
Kirschner, who served for 24 years at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, backed this up. Kirschner explained that with Kennedy, we aren’t talking about a good faith dispute over policy. Rather as the experts note, Kennedy
has knowingly rejected silence. He explained that Kennedy could face charges if his dangerous actions cause the deaths of people.
My hope is that if Democratic AG’s announce that they are ready to pursue such an investigation it will impact Kennedy’s conduct before any deaths happen. My goal is to save the lives of children, the disabled and other vulnerable Americans before they are
lost. Since Kennedy is a lawyer, he understands that Trump can’t pardon him for a state law criminal prosecution. Perhaps it will induce him to reverse course.
But if not—and people die due to Kennedy’s rejection of science to make the MAGA political base happy--Kennedy must be charged with manslaughter or even murder. Trump might be above the law thanks to the corrupt GOP Supreme Court, but no one else is. And they
must be held accountable.
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