Dr. Niran Al-Agba

The Orphans of Hahnemann University Hospital

This past summer, Hahnemann University Hospital—a teaching site for Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia—closed their doors. When Hahnemann closed, its’ residents were essentially “orphaned,” losing their jobs overnight. Residency refers to the post-graduate training period following medical school graduation compulsory for a physician to be licensed to practice medicine. After “matching” to an open residency position at a given teaching hospital, resident training begins across the entire nation on July 1st every year once a contract is signed with the employing organization.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T00:57:26+00:00October 28, 2019|Categories: Physician, Policy|Tags: Consolidation, Corporatization, Doctors in Training, Hahnemann, Hospitals, Medical Education, Northwest Family Medicine Residency, Residency|

Universal Care for Children: Are School-Based Health Centers the Answer?

Studies demonstrate that students with asthma who have access to SBHCs had fewer emergency room visits and lower hospitalization rates. Mental health services decrease school absences by as much as 50% among those with 3 or more absences in a six-week time period and an 85% decrease in school discipline referrals.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T00:58:48+00:00October 24, 2019|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: FQHC, Peninsula Community Health, Public Health, SBHC, School Based Health Centers, School Clinics|

Accad and Koka Episode 74: Can We Have a Reasonable Discussion About Vaccines?

Can We Have a Reasonable Discussion on Vaccines?

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T02:23:04+00:00September 2, 2019|Categories: Patient, Practice|Tags: Anti-Vax, Autonomy, Patient Empowerment, Patient Physician Relationship, Vaccinations|

Are Mass Shootings Caused by Firearm Access or Economic Inequality?

Gun violence has become a public health epidemic. Despite countless deaths in mass shootings over the last 2 decades, the Dickey Amendment—a provision inserted into the 1996 spending bill which blocked federal funding for research on gun violence—remains on the books. While every politician, media pundit, and policy expert “know” the solution, the answers are not that simple.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T02:23:49+00:00August 29, 2019|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Child Death, Child Safety, Dickey Amendment, Firearm Safety, Government Medicine, Gun Lobby, Gun Violence, Sandy Hook|

The Need to Protect Teenagers from Predators Too

Is the notion of adult males having sex with tweens considered quasi-acceptable by society at-large? After all, Epstein told the New York Post in 2011, “I’m not a sexual predator, I’m an ‘offender,’…It’s the difference between a murderer and a person who steals a bagel.” The pediatrician in me finds this notion reprehensible. The mother in me is scared beyond belief. Teenage girls are still children. It is high-time our society started seeing them that way. Bagels, however, will never quite be the same for me, again.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-26T02:24:38+00:00August 28, 2019|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Child Abuse, Child Rape, Child Safety, Hebephilia, Jeffrey Epstein, MeToo, Pedophilia, Prostitution, Sex Trafficking|

Do Not Turn Away from the Casualties of Immigration

Why did this picture seize our attention? Is it because Valeria’s’ tiny body is tucked inside her father’s shirt and we can vividly see her clinging to him as they drowned? Or is it because we know if they had made it across safely, the two would have been separated anyway? Or is it because every parent understands the desperation it took for a father to swim across a swirling river while carrying his 2-year-old daughter on his back?

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T01:12:58+00:00August 26, 2019|Categories: Equality, Policy|Tags: Border Patrol, Drowning, Illegal, Immigration, Internment, Oscar Ramirez, Racism, Valeria|

Is Racism at the Root of Health Disparities?

Structural racism is the biased societal approach to housing, education, employment, healthcare, and criminal justice. As scientists study racial health disparities in depth, a picture begins to emerge that there are bigger, stronger, and more insidious forces at play than economics alone. The psychological stress generated by unfair treatment may trigger a biological series of events that lead to worsened health outcomes in the long term.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-31T00:27:44+00:00August 25, 2019|Categories: Equality, Patient, Policy|Tags: Black Lives Matter, Health Disparities, Infant Mortality, Maternal Mortality, Racism, Structural Racism, Syphilis, Tuskegee|

Licensed to Live: An Insurance Company Tried to Destroy My Career with Dr. Niran Al-Agba

Disempowerment of Physicians. Defamation of Physicians. False Accusations against Physicians. Fight Back.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T01:17:59+00:00August 24, 2019|Categories: Physician, Practice|Tags: Defamation, Physician Autonomy, Physician Empowerment, Regence, TakeBackMedicine|

Measles Exemptions: The New Loophole in Washington State

While Washington lawmakers had good intentions, their actions were largely symbolic, because they overlooked a few issues that will interfere with this law having its’ intended effect. According to the Washington State Constitution, “absolute freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment, belief and worship shall be guaranteed to every individual…” And to that end, the new vaccine exemption form replaced the philosophical exemption with a new box for parent-initiated religious exemption.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T01:20:00+00:00August 24, 2019|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Anti-Vax, Measles, Patient Autonomy, Religious Exemption, Vaccine, Vaccine Exemption, Vaccine Law, Washington State|

Alabama is Not Pro-Life. Here’s Why

I will never forget her face. She was only thirteen. She had a significant cognitive disability, a result of a brain injury at birth. She found her way to my clinic one late Friday afternoon in July almost two decades ago. Her mother was a nurse and noticed her daughter had not had a period in the last two months. Her pregnancy test came back positive. I wanted to cry.

Niran Al-Agba2020-05-15T01:21:27+00:00July 5, 2019|Categories: Patient, Policy|Tags: Abortion, Alabama Abortion Law, Bias, Gender Equality, Pro Choice, Pro Life|

The Politics of Healthcare from the Front Lines