Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv

Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Surgery & Medical Ethics @bcmhouston. Maker of good trouble who is no longer posting here. @drmlb elsewhere, too.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

I can't do this anymore. Between the blatant disregard for truth from the owner and the increasing darkness that forced even @StephenKing to leave, I can't stay here. This will be my last post on @twitter.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

This is my first post since I stopped looking at Twitter months ago. If you follow me, please come join us on [Not green]sky... no algorithms, minimal (and quickly contained) trolling, humor, etc. Don't delete your account here (someone could take your handle), just say ...

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

@alisoncook Please, come join us on Bluesky!

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

Never more true than today.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

I can't do this anymore. Between the blatant disregard for truth from the owner and the increasing darkness that forced even @StephenKing to leave, I can't stay here. This will be my last post on @twitter.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

"It's the story of a normal man who tried to fight, even if he was in front of the biggest army of that time, in front of colleagues who could be traitors...It's the story of courage, of the love of his wife who wanted to know what happened to him..." https://t.co/wlrZl8b2uT

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

"When moods of defeat, despair, accidie and “So-what-ness” visit me (they are not infrequent!), I find a sense of hope and meaning in my patients, who do not give up despite devastating disease." Oliver Sack #HealingTheHealers https://t.co/vfyG3cmwLZ

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

We are a purple country... #LoveYourNeighbor https://t.co/8a5Jr5bXj5

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

@maggietarpley @StephenKing @twitter @drmlb.bsky.social

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

I can't do this anymore. Between the blatant disregard for truth from the owner and the increasing darkness that forced even @StephenKing to leave, I can't stay here. This will be my last post on @twitter.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

@maggietarpley @StephenKing @twitter @drmlb.bsky.social

[David Corn @DavidCornDC]

If you want an idea of how crazy RFK Jr. really is, give this a read. If he’s in charge of HHS, the nation will be in peril.

https://t.co/hzY1GxUFZx

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services:

“COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese”

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

🙂

[Houston Zoo @houstonzoo]

The Houston Zoo’s jaguar family has grown by a few spots! In the early morning hours of Nov., 6 Vida, our female jaguar, welcomed a baby boy jaguar. Mom and baby will spend time behind the scenes bonding before the cub makes his public debut: https://t.co/BBgnZNbOwT

[Protect Kamala Harris ✊ @DisavowTrump20]

Kerry Kennedy, sister of RFK Jr. and daughter of Robert Kennedy, on her brother:

"I am disgusted by my brother’s obscene embrace of Donald Trump. And I completely disavow and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant efforts to desecrate my father's memory."

[Dr. Annie Andrews @AnnieAndrewsMD]

I cannot overstate how dangerous and stupid this is.
https://t.co/Qp1YPRO8aE

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

If you think this is overstated, it’s not. This will be the reality for families all over the country.

[Wendy Hasson MD @WendyHassonMD]

Have you ever watched a baby die of pertussis? I have. Several.

This is what it looks like:
A newborn baby can’t stop coughing. They can’t catch their breath and they can’t eat. They get dehydrated and stop peeing. They sometimes have pauses in their breathing. Parents are terrified so they come to the ER.

In the ER, labs show they have a dangerously high white blood cell count. Their blood has become thick from the white blood cells and doesn’t travel through organs like it should. Less oxygen gets delivered to vital organs. They start to seize. Imaging reveals they had a stroke. They can’t pump blood to their lungs and body.

A breathing tube gets placed in their trachea. They get put on a ventilator. A plastic catheter is placed in their veins and arteries to give them medicine and measure blood pressure.

If they are lucky, they can make it to a #PedsICU that provides #ECMO, or full heart lung bypass. They are attached to machines that take over all their body functions.

But it’s too late. Their hands and feet turn black because they can’t perfuse their bodies. Their faces turn grey/green. They won’t stop seizing from the brain injury.

They are attached to too many machines to hold while alive and parents lay their bodies on top of them and cry until they fall asleep then cry again.

There is nothing to do but stop the machines. Antibiotics to treat pertussis were given but were no match for the infections effects on a newborn baby.

Parents finally hold their baby after the machines have turned off and their baby is cold and lifeless.

Is this what you want? This is what RFK Jr will bring to American families.

[Mary L. Brandt, MD, MDiv @drmlb]

Healers are resilient. It's the system that is broken. #HealingTheHealers https://t.co/ZhYfXlc8r3

[Julius Kim @Julius_Kim]

Matt Gaetz practiced law for two years at a private law firm. That is the extent of his legal career. He has been under legal investigation almost 10xs longer than he’s practiced law. This is not only a disgrace to all Americans, but the legal profession.

[Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken]

Oh look at that. One of the largest private equity owned ophthalmology practices just sold everything to a pharmaceutical company. How fun.

https://t.co/HsBSeOPq0c

[Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR) @HC_Richardson]

This is an absolutely must-watch. All of it. Five minutes. Imperative.

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Matt Gaetz used to walk around the cloakroom showing people porno of him and his latest girlfriend,” one former Republican lawmaker told me. “He’d show me a video, and I’d say, ‘That’s great, Matt.’ Like, what kind of a reaction do you want?” (The video, according to the former lawmaker, showed the hula-hooping woman.) https://t.co/JHstMTMUCq