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1 week ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
In January 2016, a healthy 12-year-old patient died from a vaccine-preventable disease, Influenza A. Piper is the only patient of mine for whom I signed her birth certificate and her death certificate. I attended her delivery in an operating room at Harrison Medical Center in Silverdale nearly 21 years ago, yet I remember that moment like it was yesterday. The instant she was placed into my arms, I instantly fell in love.
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3 weeks ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Today, in the era of corporatized healthcare, most physician employment contracts allow “termination without cause.” Basically, the clause ensures hospitals can fire any physician without providing a specific reason for doing so. The best-known example is Dr. Ming Lin, an emergency medicine physician who suggested patients and physicians should wear masks in the hospital during March 2020.
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1 month ago | 
eu.kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Last weekend, the Port Gamble Theatre showed a movie to an audience for the first time since 1956. That movie they chose was the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz.” I had not seen that movie on the big screen since my History of Documentary and Film class during my senior year of college. My professor turned each classic film into a small history lesson, by placing the movie artistry into the larger world context.
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1 month ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Niran Al-AgbaColumnistLast weekend, the Port Gamble Theatre showed a movie to an audience for the first time since 1956. That movie they chose was the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz.” I had not seen that movie on the big screen since my History of Documentary and Film class during my senior year of college. My professor turned each classic film into a small history lesson, by placing the movie artistry into the larger world context.
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1 month ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Show Caption Hide Caption Trump says he doesn't know if he must uphold ConstitutionPresident Trump said, "I don't know," when asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if he must uphold the Constitution to execute his deportation strategy. As a pediatrician, I have spent a lifetime caring for children with the goal of giving them their best chance for success.
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2 months ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Niran Al-AgbaColumnistI have been following the Venezuelan deportation story for weeks now. I have a growing concern that our system of government, namely the checks and balances built into it, are beginning to falter. As I wrote in a previous column, there is little doubt that the 137 Venezuelans deported to El Salvador were denied due process.
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2 months ago | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Doctors make mistakes. No one physician is correct every time. That is why getting a second opinion is the cornerstone of medicine. It ensures a second set of eyes evaluates the patient when the diagnosis is uncertain, and has been shown to improve diagnostic accuracy. In Washington State, when child abuse allegations are made, parents are entitled to a second opinion from a physician of their choice to challenge those accusations.
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Mar 28, 2025 | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
Show Caption Hide Caption Tattoos used by officials to identify and deport Venezuelan migrantsAdvocates for Venezuelan migrants say immigration authorities are using tattoos to wrongfully tie them to the Tren de Aragua prison gang. Recently, my mom and I were talking about the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants. She was not as upset about it as I was, which surprised me. After all, my father — her husband for 50 years — was an Iraqi immigrant.
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Mar 1, 2025 | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
There was an era in American history when children did not gather at swimming pools, churches or movie theaters. It wasn't the recent COVID pandemic, but when parents a few generations ago feared their kids catching a highly contagious virus spread by contact with the feces of other infected people. It was polio. For every 100 children who contracted polio, 25 developed mild paralysis of their arm or leg, 15 developed severe paralysis, and five died.
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Feb 14, 2025 | 
kitsapsun.com | NIRAN Al-AGBA |Niran S. Al-Agba
As a physician, I believe medical decision-making is between a doctor and a patient. In some states, women no longer have a choice regarding their uterus. Medical freedom was eroded during the pandemic when some Americans did not have choice about getting vaccinated against COVID-19. And now, Washington state Reps.
