New York Organization Apologizes For Its Role In Tuskegee Syphilis Study
The Milbank Memorial Fund covered funeral expenses — $100 at most — for black men who died in the U.S. government research project. To get the money, AP reports, widows had to consent to letting doctors perform autopsies on the men. “It was wrong. We are ashamed of our role. We are deeply sorry,” Christopher F. Koller, president of the fund, publicly acknowledged Saturday.
AP:
New York Fund Apologizes For Role In Tuskegee Syphilis Study
For almost 40 years starting in the 1930s, as government researchers purposely let hundreds of Black men die of syphilis in Alabama so they could study the disease, a foundation in New York covered funeral expenses for the deceased. The payments were vital to survivors of the victims in a time and place ravaged by poverty and racism. Altruistic as they might sound, the checks — $100 at most — were no simple act of charity: They were part of an almost unimaginable scheme. To get the money, widows or other loved ones had to consent to letting doctors slice open the bodies of the dead men for autopsies that would detail the ravages of a disease the victims were told was “bad blood.” (Reeves, 6/11)
In environmental news —
The New York Times:
Heat Wave Persists In Southwest As High Temperatures Set Records
Heat advisories and excessive heat warnings were in effect for more than 75 million people in the southern and central United States on Sunday, a continuation of a scorching heat wave that resulted in record high temperatures on Saturday in 16 cities from the Southwest to the Southern Plains, according to the National Weather Service. On Saturday, the temperature reached 114 degrees at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, tying a record set more than a century ago. (Chung, 6/12)
CIDRAP:
Backyard Poultry-Linked Salmonella Outbreaks Sicken 219 In 38 States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday said it and health officials in multiple state are investigating Salmonella outbreaks tied to backyard poultry that have sickened 219 people, 1 fatally, in 38 states. ... Interviews with sick patients about possible exposures revealed that 70% had contact with backyard poultry before they got sick. Others ate eggs from backyard poultry, and two ate meat from backyard poultry. The states with the most cases include Minnesota (15), Wisconsin (13), Pennsylvania (12), Illinois (11), Texas (11), and Iowa (10). (6/10)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
The CT Mirror:
Demand For Nurses Is Urgent. CT’s Colleges And Universities Can’t Keep Up.
This year’s nursing school graduates matriculated before the pandemic took hold, and over the course of their studies, they’ve seen the profession go through an upheaval. Waves of COVID-19 delayed students’ clinical rotations at patient care facilities. When they were allowed back into hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities, the work was more intense than many had expected. (Phillips, 6/12)
AP:
Troubled Iowa Center For Disabled Fined For Resident's Death
A troubled Iowa center for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities failed to monitor the fluid intake of a 30-year-old resident who died in February due to dehydration, state inspectors said in a report. The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has fined the Glenwood Resource Center $10,000 after inspectors found that center staff failed to ensure that the man received at least 101 ounces (3,000 milliliters) of fluids every day, as ordered by his doctor. (Beck, 6/10)
AP:
Judge: NC Health Plan Must Cover Transgender Treatments
The North Carolina state employee health plan unlawfully discriminates by excluding treatments for transgender people by refusing to pay for hormone therapy and surgeries, as it once did briefly, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs sided with several transgender people or their parents in declaring the refusal of coverage for treatments linked to gender confirmation violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on the basis of sex. (6/10)
AP:
Judge: Georgia County Can't Deny Gender Surgery To Deputy
A federal judge has found that a Georgia sheriff’s office was illegally discriminating when it denied gender reassignment surgery to a deputy. U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell ruled June 2 that Houston County cannot exclude surgery for the transgender woman from its health insurance plan, citing a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision finding that a Michigan funeral home couldn’t fire an employee for being transgender. (Amy, 6/11)
KHN:
States Fight Student Mental Health Crisis With Days Off
Linnea Sorensen falls into a funk whenever her girlfriend of four years leaves for her six-month stints with the Marines, and the high school junior has trouble concentrating on her class work. “I’m somebody who struggles with my mental health quite a bit,” said the 17-year-old, who attends school in this suburb of about 77,000 people northwest of Chicago. “When you’re in school and not fully mentally there, it’s like you’re not really grasping anything anyway.” Now Illinois is giving Sorensen and students like her a new option for dealing with mental health lows. The state allows K-12 students in public schools to have five excused absences per school year for mental health reasons, another example of the growing acknowledgment among lawmakers that emotional and physical health are intertwined. (Bruce, 6/13)
