State Highlights: Md. Hospital Launches Probe After Video Of Incapacitated Women Goes Viral; N.H. Officials Say Curbing Arsenic Levels In Water Isn’t Easy

The Washington Post: Video Shows Apparently Incapacitated, Half-Naked Woman Put Out In Cold By Baltimore Hospital
A Baltimore hospital said it was investigating Wednesday after video posted online showed an apparently incapacitated woman put out in the cold wearing nothing but a hospital gown. On Wednesday, a man who said he was a psychotherapist and a student at the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus posted a video of the woman being hustled out of the hospital by staff and left at a bus stop, her possessions strewn on the street. The woman appeared to have a wound on her forehead, and was wearing a hospital gown that was falling off. She grunted and shouted, and appeared to say at one point: “Please help me!” (Moyer, 1/10)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical System Investigating Incident After Viral Video Shows Woman Outside In Hospital Gown 
The video shows what looks like four security guards, one with a wheelchair, walking away from a bus stop outside the hospital on the outskirts of Mount Vernon. A woman is seen near the bus stop dressed in a gown and socks. Her belongings are packed in plastic bags that have also been placed at the bus stop. The video, which went viral, was posted to Facebook by Imamu Baraka, who is described in an online professional profile as a mental health counselor. (McDaniels, 1/10)

New Hampshire Public Radio: DES: Bill To Lower Arsenic Limit In N.H. Drinking Water Isn't Feasible
Legislators are considering sharply lowering how much arsenic New Hampshire allows in drinking water – but regulators said in a committee hearing Wednesday it'd be easier said than done. Right now, New Hampshire uses the federal arsenic limit of 10 parts per billion in drinking water. (Ropeik, 1/10)

The Star Tribune: Despite Progress, Ethnic Health Disparities Persist In Minnesota 
Minnesotans of many ethnic backgrounds might have similar words for a colonoscopy — it’s colonoscopia in Spanish and koloskopi in Norwegian — but they vary dramatically in the rates at which they seek this important medical screening. The state’s fourth annual health equity report, released Thursday by Minnesota Community Measurement, showed that, overall, 73 percent of adults ages 51 to 75 were up to date with colon cancer screening last year. But that rate dropped to 60 percent of Hispanics, 55 percent of American Indians and 27 percent of Somali natives. (Olson, 1/11)

The Associated Press: Resident Found Outside Nursing Home Dies Of Hypothermia
Authorities say a 76-year-old woman found dead outside the Ohio nursing home where she lived died of hypothermia.The Putnam County sheriff is investigating Phyllis Campbell’s death at the Hilty Home in Pandora, roughly 50 miles southwest of Toledo. (1/10)

Nashville Tennessean: Nashville General Hospital: Stakeholder Group Reconvenes Behind Close Doors To Discuss Hospital's Future
A controversial group convened by Meharry Medical College to make recommendations about the future of Nashville General Hospital met Wednesday amid criticism about its secretive approach to addressing the fate of the publicly-funded safety net hospital for low-income and uninsured patients. The secrecy of the group’s meetings has come under fire from one of its original members, Metro Councilwoman Tanaka Vercher, who stepped down in protest before the panel ever convened after learning that meetings weren’t going to be public. (Wadhwani and Garrison, 1/10)

Des Moines Register: Special Clinic Could Hold The Key To Helping Iowa's Foster Kids
Now a year old, the clinic is housed in the hospital’s STAR Center, which provides child advocacy, forensic interviews, services for drug-endangered children, and health and nutrition counseling for children failing to thrive. Formerly called the Regional Child Protective Center, the STAR Center long has been a place where child-protective workers could refer abused children for physical exams after they are removed. (Rood, 1/10)

The Associated Press: Sheriff Criticizes Mental Health System As Inmate Found Dead
A Virginia sheriff says an inmate who died in jail was mentally ill, and he’s criticizing the state’s mental health system. Sheriff Ken Stolle said in a statement that 69-year-old Joseph Sisson Jr.’s mental illness was the cause of his incarceration. He called Virginia’s mental health system “broken and ill-equipped to help all those who need it.” The Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that a deputy and a medical technician attempted to wake Sisson to administer medication Monday night, but he didn’t respond and resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. (1/10)

Houston Chronicle: Free Eye Screenings Expected To Help Low-Income Students Excel 
The Houston Health Department estimates up to 20,000 area students start school each year with unresolved eye or vision issues - a problem so pervasive that, in 2011, the agency and its nonprofit wing, the Houston Health Foundation, began offering free, full eye exams to 10 school districts. Most of the roughly 50,000 students who have since been treated through the temporary, makeshift See to Succeed clinics come from low-income schools and households, where access to proper health care is fleeting and parents can't always take days off work for private eye doctor appointments, Health Department officials said. (Downen, 1/10)

San Jose Mercury News: Stanford Blood Center Facing Critical Blood Shortage
A Stanford representative said the center has just a two-day supply of O-negative blood and is also in dire need of platelet donors. O-negative is a crucial — and rare — blood type because it is compatible with any patient. The blood center supplies blood to four local hospitals. (Kelly, 1/10)

Kansas City Star: Reported Gonorrhea Cases Spike In Johnson, Jackson And Douglas Counties
Reported cases of gonorrhea spiked in Kansas City-area counties in 2017 amid reports that the disease has become more difficult to treat. ...Kristin Metcalf-Wilson, the assistant vice president of health services and lead clinician at Planned Parenthood of the Great Plains, said the organization’s sexually transmitted diseases screenings have been steadily turning up more positives. (Londberg and Marso, 1/10) <div> </div>

Georgia Health News: Sex And The Georgia Teenager: Data Finally On The Way
This month, the Atlanta-based public health agency reported a surprise finding: Nationwide, the proportion of high school students who’d ever had sexual intercourse decreased, from 47 percent in 2005 to 41 percent in 2015. The overall drop was driven by declines among ninth- and 10th-graders. (Miller, 1/10)