Secretary Kennedy on His Letter to Germany on Medical Autonomy, Jan. 12, 2026
January 12, 2026 · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services · 0:03:55
Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube
What happened
HHS published Secretary Kennedy’s statement on January 12, 2026, announcing a letter to Germany’s Federal Minister of Health, Nina Warken. According to HHS’s description, Kennedy wrote that reports from Germany show a government sidelining patient autonomy and limiting people’s ability to act on their own convictions in medical decisions, and that Germany has the opportunity and responsibility to correct that trajectory and restore medical autonomy.
Why it matters
Medical freedom and patient autonomy are central to Kennedy’s stated HHS agenda; a formal letter to a foreign health minister extends that agenda into international health diplomacy.
Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ‘Secretary Kennedy’s Sends Letter to Germany,’ January 12, 2026 (HHS upload, embedded above).
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