State Highlights: Iowa Governor Won’t Discuss Center’s Sexual Arousal Research On Disabled Residents; Oklahoma Judge Allows Transgender Inmate’s Lawsuit To Go Forward

The Associated Press: Iowa Governor Won't Discuss Center's Sexual Arousal Research
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds wouldn't comment Wednesday on accusations made against state officials in a federal lawsuit involving sexual arousal experiments performed on residents of a state n Iowa care center for people with intellectual disabilities. Two doctors and other former employees of Glenwood Resource Center filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Monday against a state agency and several officials alleging a conspiracy to silence complaints about sexual arousal research they claim exploited fragile and dependent residents. (2/12)

Kansas City Star: Lawsuit Claims Former KU Prof Used Disabled For Sex Research
More than 200 severely disabled patients at a state-run home in Iowa were used as subjects in research of sexual arousal that was led by a former University of Kansas assistant professor, according to a lawsuit filed this week. Jerry Rea, who had been a researcher at KU for 16 years, is accused in the suit of using “highly vulnerable” Glenwood Resource Center patients “as the subjects or ‘guinea pigs’ in research experiments.” (Williams, 2/12)

The Associated Press: Judge Rules Oklahoma Transgender Inmate Lawsuit Can Proceed
A transgender inmate can sue the state of Oklahoma and prison officials who she says stopped her hormone therapy because they thought she was faking her gender identity, a federal judge has ruled. A physician's assistant ordered an end to Glenn Porter's hormone therapy after a staff psychologist at Dick Conner Correctional Center suggested she was ‘masquerading as a woman,’ according to the complaint. (2/12)

Health News Florida: Restrictions Removed For New Disabled Facilities By Florida Legislature
After making community-based care a priority for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities, lawmakers are moving forward with bills that would make it easier for providers to open institutions. Members of the House Health Care Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday unanimously approved a measure (HB 1163) that would allow providers to build institutions to house people with developmental disabilities without first having to obtain approval from the state through the “certificate of need” regulatory process. The bill wouldn’t cap the number of new institutions that could be built nor is there an expiration date on the exemption. (Sexton, 2/12)

MPR: U Leaders Address Student Mental Health Needs
Addressing student mental health has been a priority for University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel since taking office last summer. This week, she’s unveiling the first step she’s taken toward that initiative, a comprehensive scan of programs and services the university offers to support the mental health and wellness of students on all the campuses. On Thursday and Friday, Gabel and the Board of Regents will review the report. It shows that while individual parts of the university are making good efforts to meet those needs, there are ways to make those services easier to access. (Roth, 2/12)

Kansas City Star: Dental Screenings At UMKC Dentistry School For Free Care
The School of Dentistry at the University of Missouri-Kansas City needs a few good — or not so good — mouths. Seniors at the school need patients for their clinical exams in March, preferably people who may not have been to the dentist in a while. The school will host free screenings for potential patients Saturday. Anyone chosen to participate will get their teeth worked on next month, also for free. (Gutierrez, 2/13)

Georgia Health News: Medical Marijuana Cards Show Big Rise In Georgia
The number of Georgians with cards allowing possession of medical cannabis has soared more than 70 percent in one year.Currently, 14,511 people in Georgia have permission to possess ‘‘low THC oil,’’ officials of the state’s Department of Public Health said this week. That’s up from 8,402 about a year ago. (Miller, 2/12)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Native Hawaiians Return To Their Agriculture, Wellness Traditions
National surveys have consistently ranked Hawaii, the 50th state to join the union, as among the healthiest in the nation, but these national metrics consistently miss the nuances and inequities of health in Hawaii, where disparities between Native Hawaiians and other groups are stark. Certain inequities, such as the higher rates of preventable diseases like heart disease among Native Hawaiians, are commonly regarded through narrow, simplistic metrics and incomplete understandings of complex sociocultural, economic and historical intersections. (Eleni Gill, 2/13)