KFF Health News Oct 9 2025 In August, an 80-year-old woman walked into the emergency room at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. She was lucid but experiencing a stroke. Within minutes, doctors asked for permission to pull out the stroke-causing clot before any more brain damage could occur. She hesitated. The procedure was part of a clinical trial, and she'd heard about a federal freeze on research grants to UCLA. She wanted to know: Would this study be at risk, potentially affecting her care?