The consequences of these digital deletions extend beyond inconvenience; many directly threaten health, and if removals continue, they could threaten lives. One lawsuit claims a Chicago doctor serving low-income families could not get access to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resources to address a chlamydia outbreak at a high school. Another physician, a researcher at the Yale School of Medicine, lost the ability to consult clinical treatment guidelines. The loss of climate models and historical data could lead to people being more vulnerable to extreme weather events.

A vast repository of critical public health information — developed to provide evidence-based guidance to health care providers, medical practitioners, researchers and the general public — is being systematically dismantled. This loss will have profound consequences: preventable deaths, unnecessary illness and deteriorating public health. The elimination of guidelines for marginalized groups can cause certain communities to effectively disappear from official health records, reinforcing discrimination and neglect. This informational void threatens to deepen health disparities and further fragment an already unequal health care system.

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