01/27/2026
This week my heart is heavy. Like so many, I’ve been following the news of those killed during encounters with federal immigration enforcement — people who posed no imminent threat, whose deaths have shaken communities and raised urgent questions about accountability.
As a physician, my first commitment is to do no harm. In the Naturopathic Physician’s Oath, we pledge to care for individuals without discrimination, to protect human dignity, and to serve not only our patients, but the health of our communities. That responsibility does not end in the exam room…
We are trained and called to be helpers. To run toward suffering. To protect life.
What has stayed with me most in the public accounts of Alex Pretti is this: even in his final moments, we watched him help. Care was present. Humanity was present. And it was met with violence.
What is happening in the world affects me deeply, too. Fear and injustice live in bodies, nervous systems, and families. Medicine is inseparable from humanity. Public health is inseparable from safety, trust, and justice.
Silence is not neutrality. And care demands courage.
I will continue showing up for you, as a physician, as a helper, and as a human, committed to compassion, advocacy, and doing no harm regardless of race, ethnicity, immigration status, s*x, gender, age, abilities, religion, political beliefs, and so on. You get to be human and I will see you as such.
The only way out of this mess is through shared humanity.