Medical Board ‘Corrects’ Texas Doctor In Hydroxychloroquine Case
Dr. Stella Immanuel has been given a "corrective action" by the Texas Medical Board after she prescribed hydroxychloroquine to a patient with covid without explaining the health consequences. Meanwhile, in Montana, covid is again rising to be the third leading cause of death.
Houston Chronicle:
Texas Medical Board Takes 'Corrective Action' Against Dr. Stella Immanuel Over Hydroxychloroquine Prescription For COVID Patient
The Texas Medical Board last month took a “corrective action” against Houston’s Dr. Stella Immanuel after she prescribed hydroxychloroquine to treat a patient’s COVID-19 infection without adequately explaining the health consequences, according to medical board records. Immanuel, who gained national attention last year for pushing the drug as a “cure” for COVID, previously told the Chronicle that she used hydroxychloroquine to treat hundreds of patients. In numerous studies, COVID patients have experienced no meaningful benefit from the medication, and some research points to a greater risk of heart rhythm problems. (Gill, 11/1)
In other covid news from Montana and Michigan —
Billings Gazette:
COVID-19 Again Poised To Be 3rd-Leading Cause Of Death In MT
Calling deaths from COVID-19 “almost entirely preventable,” the state health department said Monday the virus was the third-leading cause of death in Montana last year. A new report from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services indicates 2021 will be the second year in a row COVID-19 is the third-ranked cause of death, following heart disease and cancer. The report also notes the disproportionate effect the pandemic has had on Montana’s Native population. The mortality rate for Natives was four times greater than white Montanans, and Natives also died younger than non-natives. The median age of death for Natives was 68, compared to 80 among whites, according to the report. (Michels, 11/1)
Detroit Free Press:
Michigan's New Top Doc On Pandemic Response: 'None Of This Should Be Political'
Born in India and raised in England and Ann Arbor, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian brings a global view of the coronavirus pandemic to her new job as Michigan's chief medical executive. Bagdasarian was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in September to temporarily replace Dr. Joneigh Khaldun as the state's top doctor in the midst of a pandemic that has killed about 5 million people globally and more than 22,000 in Michigan. She was living in Dubai when the first reports of an alarming novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. (Jordan Shamus, 11/1)
In news from Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina and California —
AP:
Illinois Governor Calls Gun Violence A Public Health Crisis
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared gun violence a public health crisis on Monday, saying $250 million in state and federal money will be directed toward the issue over the next three years. Public health experts and medical groups have called gun violence a public health crisis for years. Over the summer, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order declaring a “disaster emergency ” on gun violence in the state. (11/2)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
New Orleans Woman Loses Second Leg After Botched Evacuation Of Bob Dean's Nursing Homes
Lisa Renard worked with kids most of her adult life, first as a New Orleans school teacher, then as the director of a day-care center in the 7th Ward. To her nieces and nephews, she is their beloved Nanny Lisa. “I helped raise my sister's kids, cause I didn't have any,” Renard said. Renard took a medical leave from her day-care center, Fun For Life Learning Center, in the summer of 2020 due to complications from diabetes. Those complications ultimately led to the amputation of her right leg below the knee. Determined to return to work, Renard was fitted for a prosthetic leg. She was undergoing rehabilitation at the Marrero Health Care Center when Hurricane Ida took aim at southeast Louisiana. (Perlstein, 11/2)
The Baltimore Sun:
Maryland Association Of Counties To Push For Inclusion Of Health Officers In State Law Protecting Public Officials
A Maryland organization that advocates for county-level needs in the state legislature will push to include local health officers in a law that protects public officials from intimidation. Michael Sanderson, who directs the Maryland Association of Counties, told members of the Baltimore City Council on Monday that the current laws should be broadened to combat the barrage of intimidation tactics, hateful messages and threats directed at county health officers and commissioners, who have been tasked with steering their jurisdictions’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic since the coronavirus landed in Maryland early last year. (Miller, 11/1)
North Carolina Health News:
Afghan Refugees In NC Need Mental Health Support
Asheville, Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro and Raleigh are starting to see Afghan refugees, who were displaced from their home country in August, resettle in North Carolina. As they arrive, other Afghan residents already in this state have lessons in some of the mental health challenges that often accompany refugees fleeing turmoil who are suddenly thrust into a new life in a foreign place. (Dougani, 11/2)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. County Clears Homeless Encampment Outside VA Campus; Vets Offered Shelter Inside
A bulldozer roared outside GemBob Brookhyser’s tent Monday morning as he yanked on an extension cord caught in a tangle of his belongings. Half a dozen veterans in the Veterans Row homeless encampment along San Vicente Boulevard scrambled to get their possessions into bins and onto moving vans driven by volunteers. Tensions were high on moving day at the encampment, which sits along the perimeter of the historic Veterans Affairs campus near Brentwood. Roughly 4,000 veterans in the county are homeless, and about 40 have been living at the Veterans Row encampment for the last several months. (Solis, 11/1)
