Kelly Hills, MPH
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rocza.bsky.social
Kelly Hills, MPH
@rocza.bsky.social
1.6K followers 830 following 1.6K posts
Your friendly neighborhood bioethicist.
I had a marvelous time ruining everything.

♿️🚺🕉️
Public & global health ethics; syn & DIY bio, biosafety & biosecurity; tech ethics; animal & research ethics; health comms. In MA.
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rocza.bsky.social
It’s my birthday and I’ll graduate if I want to, I’ll graduate if I want to…
May 16, 2025 at 5:32 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Oh those bat ears! That baby has Devon Rex/Sphinx blood!
May 5, 2025 at 11:41 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Whole lotta people thinking this is what high school English is, or should be.

Not just the Brits with boarding schools, after all.
A snippet from Dead Poet’s Society with several students on the desk, the rest gathered around, all gazing at their unconventional teacher.
March 28, 2025 at 7:10 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Just a wholesome post of cat owners geeking out over their babies. Inky just finished six weeks of antivirals and antibiotics and still appears to be sick, so. Back to the vet. Until then, I’ve become human parent good at wiping snotty noses and am teaching her “blow!” with the tissue at her nose.
March 24, 2025 at 10:25 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Mmm I feel like the other photos of it are better, when it’s a darker black. Hopefully you can get a few photos for the red carpet review, because it really is stunning from this angle.
Whoopi Goldberg in a black liquid metal gown that looks sort of like the T-1000 has been turned into a dress. It has a large bandeau-across-both-shoulders bodice, tapered waist, and flowing ball gown skirt. It’s apparently custom by Christian Siriano and fulfills all my AfroFuturism dreams for a stately queen.
March 3, 2025 at 12:45 AM
rocza.bsky.social
People were worried that perhaps “elderly people, who had accomplished something in their lives and now had become a bit feebleminded in old age were being liquidated along with the rest."
Excerpt from the situation report of May 16, 1941 from the president of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court to the Reich minister of justice concerning the mood in the population and rumors circulating about the "question of the extermina-tion of lives unworthy to live." The "euthanasia" measures, originally planned as a secret operation, soon became known to the public, first in the form of rumor, and then more broadly. ABSTRACT: President of the Higher Regional Court Artur Ungewitter reports, among other things, that "the vehicles used to bring the patients... to the liquidation institutions" were familiar to the population. "When such transport vehicles come by" children called out “They're gassing people again." People were worried that perhaps “elderly people, who had accomplished something in their lives and now had become a bit feebleminded in old age were being liquidated along with the rest." ABSTRACT: President of the Higher Regional Court Artur Ungewitter reports, among other things, that "the vehicles used to bring the patients... to the liquidation institutions" were familiar to the population. "When such transport vehicles come by" children called out “They're gassing people again." People were worried that perhaps “elderly people, who had accomplished something in their lives and now had become a bit feebleminded in old age were being liquidated along with the rest."
February 17, 2025 at 4:29 AM
rocza.bsky.social
EXCERPT: The letter informs the patient's parents “that your son Otto B. died suddenly and unexpectedly at our institution … Because of his serious mental illness, his life meant torment for both the deceased and for you. Thus you must regard his death as a relief.”

Read: murdered, not died.
Letter informing parents of their son’s death, hiding the fact it was murder. EXCERPT: The letter informs the patient's parents “that your son Otto B. died suddenly and unexpectedly on July 2, 1940 at our institution of a septic tonsil infection and subsequent blood poisoning. … Because of his serious mental illness, his life meant torment for both the deceased and for you. Thus you must regard his death as a relief. … the police authorities order the immediate cremation of the body.”
February 17, 2025 at 4:25 AM
rocza.bsky.social
Secretly taken photo of the state asylum at Hadamar, 1941.
The smoking chimney points to the incinerators installed in 1940 in one of the Nazi euthanasia program's ("Action T4") national killing institutions to burn the bodies of murdered patients.
Secretly taken photo of the state asylum at Hadamar, 1941. The smoking chimney points to the incinerators installed in 1940 in one of the Nazi euthanasia program's ("Action T4") national killing institutions to burn the bodies of murdered patients. In this institution, which also served as a reserve military hospital for the Wehrmacht, more than 10,113 people fell victim to the gas chamber between January and August 1941. Between 1942 and 1945, 4,411 mainly mentally ill people were again killed here, this time by starvation rations, medical neglect, and drugs.
February 17, 2025 at 4:16 AM
rocza.bsky.social
Outline map of the locations (selection) of the Nazi murder of disabled and mentally ill children and adults, aka Action T4, 1939-1945.
Outline map of the locations (selection) of the Nazi murder of patients, 1939-1945. In the annexed and occupied Polish territories, the murders of patients were conducted by SS and police commandos. The "cleared" institutions were made available, among others, to the SS and to Baltic Germans resettled in Reich territory.
February 17, 2025 at 4:14 AM
rocza.bsky.social
This began with the dictum “those who do not work shall not eat,” resulting in physically and mentally disabled people, as well as mentally ill people, being registered, sterilized, institutionalized.

And then Hitler ordering their murder. 70,000 at first.

260,000 - 300,000 ultimately died.
Informal letter written by Adolf Hitler on his private letterhead authorizing his personal physician, the surgeon Dr. Karl Brandt, and the head of the "Führer's Chancellery," Reich Leader (Reichsleiter) Philipp Bouhler, to order the murder of inmates of asylums and residential facilities, among other people, September 1, 1939. The authorization, which was issued in October 1939, was backdated to September 1, the day the war began, possibly in order to portray the "freeing up" of hospitals as necessary to the war effort. After the initiation of the "informal" children's "euthanasia" program in the summer of 1939, the letter semi-officially legitimized the extension of the murder of patients to adults. The handwritten marginal note shows that the memorandum had been presented to Reich Minister of Justice Franz Gürtner on August 27, 1940. The letter states: "I charge Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt with responsibility to expand the authority of physicians to be stipulated by name so that patients who are in all probability incurably ill may be allowed a merciful death after a critical assessment of their illness. Adolf Hitler" Hitler’s letter. “Reichsleiter Bouhler Dr. med. Br an d t und sind unter Verantwortung beauftragt, die Befug - nisse namentlich zu bestinnender Ärzte so zu er - weitern, dass nach menschlichen Ermessen unheilbar Kranken bei kritischster Beurteilung ihres Krank - heitszustandes der Gnadentod gew ihrt werden kann.”
February 17, 2025 at 4:11 AM
rocza.bsky.social
What do I mean when I say the Nazis started with disabled people? I mean Action T4.

I thought I was educated about Nazis, the Holocaust. My schools brought in outside experts, I learned about the persecution of the Jews, gays, Sinti & Roma.

I learned about Action T4 at the Topography of Terror.
A yellow poster with a disabled man sitting in a chair. His eyes are closed, his right hand is spasmed in a tight fist. His legs are wasted away. Behind him, to his left, stands a medical attendant. The poster text reads, "This hereditary defective costs the Volk community 60,000 RM [Reichsmark] over his lifetime/ German comrade (Volksgenosse) that is your money/Read Neues Volk ...” Advertising poster for the monthly magazine "Neues Volk" (The New People) published by Nazi Party's "Racial Policy Office, ca. 1938. The "Racial Policy Office" propagated Nazi "racial doctrine" in a variety of ways. In posters and publications, it contrasted the ideal of the healthy, capable, and "racially pure" German with the grossly distorted, biologistic and socially racist image of the unproductive sick and disabled who burdened the "productive Volk community" as "ballast existences. The poster text reads, "This hereditary defective costs the Volk community 60,000 RM [Reichsmark] over his lifetime/ German comrade (Volksgenosse) that is your money/Read Neues Volk ...”
February 17, 2025 at 4:11 AM
rocza.bsky.social
Huh. I guess if you kvetch loudly enough, or long enough, about the need for another bioethics journal, one is bound to appear.
February 13, 2025 at 3:41 AM
rocza.bsky.social
If you’re above CT, the following stores remain open for you: Milford, MA. Hooksett, NH. Portland & Bangor, ME.
Map of Eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and a pinch of Rhode Island, showing Joann craft stores that will begin closing on February 15. Milford, MA and Hooksett, NH will remain open until liquidated by the new brand owners at an unknown date in the future. Map of mostly Massachusetts and a pinch of Connecticut, showing Joann craft stores that will begin closing on February 15. Milford, MA will remain open until liquidated by the new brand owners at an unknown date in the future. Map of Western Massachusetts and the Albany region of New York, showing Joann craft stores that will begin closing on February 15. None in this area will remain open to be liquidated by the new brand owners. Map of Maine and a pinch of New Hampshire showing Joann craft stores that will begin closing on February 15. Bangor and Portland, ME will remain open until liquidated by the new brand owners at an unknown date in the future.
February 12, 2025 at 9:47 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Lies! Everyone knows she is the adult in the room.
Lexi is a lovely adult Korat. This photo shows her sitting on a grey minky fur blanket, alert and giving me a look best interpreted as “what are you up to?”
February 11, 2025 at 2:29 AM
rocza.bsky.social
Had a casual job interview today and now am all nerves and chaos, I cant be the only one that happens to, right? (Inky just cause.)
January 24, 2025 at 4:43 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Who’s still sick? Did you guess me? Yay, you & I both know something the NP who treated me last week didn’t! 😒 (Ear infections, maybe a sinus infection. On abx. Again.)

This is a month, now, since catching COVID & dealing w opportunistic infections from it. Please, PLEASE, vaccinate & wear a mask.
Tired of posting doctor offices, so have a photo of Lexi, a grey Korat cat, laying across two different grey blankets. Both heat up, so she was nice and toasty and stretched out looooooong across the bed. Her eyes are closed and ears perked up. There is a white fleece blanket acting as a wall behind her, stopping the fan from blowing on her, and there is a bright pink parrot cat toy in the very front focus of the picture.
December 3, 2024 at 5:42 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Am still having my arse kicked by post-COVID complications. Haven’t had a voice in 10 days; been on bedrest since Nov 5. Doc gave me permission (encouraged!) going to Iceland this week, but a volcano had other ideas about that… as much as a wellness spa would be nice, I probably shouldn’t complain.
Snapshot of the current Sundhnúkur eruptions taken on Nov 24 via the mbl.is YouTube channel. Lava from the Nov 20th Sundhnúkur eruption overflowing the Blue Lagoon parking lot and destroying the luggage storage room. I’m not sorry to see either go; both needed a redesign. Photo by Vilhelm Gunnarson via Visir.is.
November 27, 2024 at 3:44 AM
rocza.bsky.social
I think maybe it’s time to bring my “crochet to complete” bin to zero. A crafter version of email inbox zero, if you will, only call possible thanks to lingering COVID. (Ignore Lexi’s skepticism. She’s always suspicious of things taking up space on her bed.)
A medium-sized clear tote that’s pretty full of mostly but not quite finished crochet projects, sitting on a grey blanket next to a very unimpressed blue-grey Korat cat by the name of Lexi, Queen of the House.
November 18, 2024 at 9:46 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Needed a crochet hook. Found 80% off Halloween. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️😂
A shopping cart full of Halloween decor and yarn. The most distinct items are a cobweb pillow and a very creepy “cute” bear skeleton.
November 16, 2024 at 12:57 AM
rocza.bsky.social
Damnit. I don’t normally save memes, but I was transferring this to my D&D group’s Discord.
A square with four boxes titled “every D&D group has the same four members.” The top left square is a derpy orange kitten eating a slice of pizza, the top right square is a crocodile at night with flame behind its head. The bottom left image is a raccoon on hind legs, hands out, in a purple princess dress. The bottom right image is an American opossum head hissing in the middle of a bin of recycling.
November 14, 2024 at 3:42 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Oh I followed like half the list already 😂 I’m a bioethicist who has played in the biorisk and security space for a bit, which means fun things like bioweapons, pandemic pathogens, terrorism, mitigation. It was just a matter of time 😉
Lexi, the oldest (a Korat cat nesting in recycled yarn on a fluffy grey bedspread) Joseph, the youngest. (A white and grey Devon Rex expressing long leg Minskin on green astroturf.) Inky, always the baby. (A small tuxedo cat on her back on a grey blanket. Touch the belly, she says. It’s not a trap, she says. …and it’s not, she loves belly rubs.)
November 11, 2024 at 2:07 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Hello humans of the resistance,
My demise has been greatly exaggerated. However, I had near-continuous migraines for 2 months; we were about to try a new protocol & someone gifted me COVID last weekend.

Crap gift.

Finished w remdesivir but on bedrest til possible heart issues are cleared.
❤️
A photo of my infusion room, my crochet bag, and a suspicious looking piece of crochet that is really honestly the head of a kangaroo. Honest. Remdesivir, my second favorite monoclonal antibody. What, you don’t have favorite monoclonal antibodies? Are you even part of the 21st century? Hi. It me, post-third infusion and ready to drop.
November 9, 2024 at 7:27 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Thanks — it’s definitely a challenge and affects a lot of things. Small positives tho; someone became my second shadow. She sleeps next to my feet nightly, and is rarely more than an arm length away.
Lexi standing at the foot of the bed, on her heated blanket, with the parrot toy from Catlady Box that she brought up to use as a pillow. Lexi snoozing at the foot of the bed on her heated blanket, tucked against a fleece blanket to protect against the blowing wind of the fan, using a polar bear toy from Catlady Box as her pillow.
October 22, 2024 at 7:47 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Most folks likely don’t know that post-amputation, I developed post-infection sequela: autoimmune hives, aka a suicide disease. The Rx I take to stop hives? $5500 a month. Except my case is so severe, I need two doses a month. $11000. I pay $30. …without the ACA? 🤷🏼‍♀️ (More hive info in photo alts.)
A hive larger than my hand on my torso. Unmedicated, the hives last days at a time. It took 10 months to move me through all the medication regimens required by insurance before they would approve Xolair, the monoclonal antibody I take twice a month. I spent most of 2021 being very still, trying not to aggravate the hives. The only thing I could bear touching me was the soft fur of the cats. We moved me into the townhouse we bought that year using a high dose of pain medication and wrapping me in a cocoon of loose blankets — and yes, relying on the dark. It’s not “just” hives, either. I also suffer from angioedema, which “just” means that the hive swelling and formation is under the skin, deep in the dermis and subcutaneous tissue. My allergist theorized that the hives probably went everywhere in my body that had the capacity to react (that is, had mast cells) — so yes, he believed I likely had hives coming and going off all my internal organs, too, not just the external organ of the skin. That’s one of the many reasons this is considered a suicide disease: the itching is incredible, and very little makes it go away. And it’s not just surface itching, and it isn’t “just” an itch. It hurts. You’re exhausted. You’re alone by virtue of not being able to touch anyone. It was — and sometimes still is — so hard. A hive the size of my palm on my upper thigh; for some reason, the hives and angioedema often begin on my thighs or calves. They spread pretty rapidly, though. And one of the worst parts about it is the isolation — you’re not wearing clothes so people aren’t visiting, and even video chats are difficult. You can do just voice, but you miss the intimacy of seeing the other person and that person seeing — seeing and acknowledging — you. It was incredibly difficult to see the love and support and outreach my husband received for snapping his ankle when the exact same folks seemed so blasé not only about my fingertip amputation, but the hive horror that came after it. Which meant, as well, that I received a lot of support for taking care of my husband, and he received almost none for taking care of me. (In fact, people questioned why he stayed married to me.) It’s not always large hives. Sometimes it’s a plethora of dime- and quarter-sized hives mixed among the larger ones. They last days. You can’t wear clothes or bear to have anything touch you. The hives you sit or lay on often are so inflamed the top layers of skin erode and you bleed. Many people take their own lives before they find relief; I have a contract with my allergist to call immediately if I feel like I can’t live with the sensation any longer. Thankfully, my $11,000/mo drug mostly helps — but if I get too stressed, or the sun shines wrong, hives can still happen, and then I need a top off of prednisone 20-50mg, often for over a month.
October 22, 2024 at 6:19 PM
rocza.bsky.social
Oh that’s lovely! Wombats are by far my favorite animal (they purr!) and the idea of a wombat of happiness is perfection.
October 22, 2024 at 5:20 PM