How Nursing Homes Have Become ‘Dark Underbelly’ That Is Fueling Era Of Drug Resistant Bacteria
While much of the blame for the rise of drug-resistant infections has focused on the overuse of antibiotics, public health experts say that nursing facilities, and long-term hospitals, are a dangerously weak link in the health care system. The facilities are often understaffed and ill-equipped to enforce rigorous infection control, yet continuously cycle infected patients into hospitals and back again. In other public health news: immunotherapy, homelessness and mental health, sexual harassment in hospitals, scammers and the elderly, and more.
The New York Times:
A Breeding Ground For A Fatal Scourge: Nursing Homes
Maria Davila lay mute in a nursing home bed, an anguished expression fixed to her face, as her husband stroked her withered hand. Ms. Davila, 65, suffers from a long list of ailments — respiratory failure, kidney disease, high blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat — and is kept alive by a gently beeping ventilator and a feeding tube. Doctors recently added another diagnosis to her medical chart: Candida auris, a highly contagious, drug-resistant fungus that has infected nearly 800 people since it arrived in the United States four years ago, with half of patients dying within 90 days. (Richtel and Jacobs, 9/11)
The New York Times:
How Immunotherapy Might Be Used To Treat Heart Failure
A cutting-edge cancer treatment can also cure certain kinds of heart failure in mice, scientists reported on Wednesday. The treatment is a type of immunotherapy known as CAR-T, which has proved life-changing for some patients with blood cancers. CAR-T relies on engineered white blood cells — T cells — that seek out and destroy malignant cells in the body. (Kolata, 9/11)
Stateline:
'Gravely Disabled' Homeless Forced Into Mental Health Care In More States
Often, when she got high on meth, “Melanie,” who suffers from schizophrenia, would strip naked and run screaming straight into San Francisco traffic. Invariably, police would bring her to the hospital, where she’d undergo treatment. There, her psychotic symptoms would quickly subside. But by law, Melanie, who is homeless, couldn’t be held for longer than 72 hours without her consent, so back on the street she would go. Until she relapsed, and her drug use triggered yet another psychotic episode, and she ended up in the emergency room all over again. And each time, she got a little worse. (Wiltz, 9/11)
Stat:
Hospitals Starting To Address Sexual Harassment By Patients
At Mayo Clinic last year, a male patient groped a female doctor in the presence of several other staff members. She immediately notified hospital administrators using a new reporting system, and the patient was terminated from the physician’s practice within 48 hours. Before this reporting process was created in 2017, the renowned Rochester, Minn., hospital had no procedures for how to deal with patients who harass staff — or even language addressing the issue in hospital guidelines. (Corley, 9/12)
The New York Times:
We Know It Harms Kids To See Smoking On TV. What About Rape?
Recently, Netflix announced that it would not include depictions of smoking in any new programming aimed at younger viewers. In a similar vein, on the advice of medical experts, it has removed the suicide scene from the first season of its teen drama “13 Reasons Why.” These efforts to protect the physical and mental health of young people are commendable. But if we are reconsidering what gets set before adolescents in the context of entertainment, there’s a serious and striking omission in the announced changes: depictions of rape. (Damour, 9/12)
The New York Times:
Scammers Look For Vulnerability, And Find It In Older People
Late last month, Kathleen Eaton of Amelia Island, Fla., went online to buy a dog. She found a miniature black schnauzer named Holly at a site she thought was puppyspot.com. She emailed the company and was told she could get the dog for a discounted price of $750. She asked to pay with a credit card, but was told to wire the money to a Western Union in Oklahoma City. The company would then send her information about Holly’s flight the next day. (Ellin, 9/12)
Stat:
After Nearly Dying Five Times, A Young Doctor Learned To Treat Himself
Dr. David Fajgenbaum has nearly died not once, but five times. The cause each time was a rare disorder called Castleman disease, an affliction on the boundary between cancer and an autoimmune disorder. It caused his entire body to swell up. Previously a muscled college football player, he first became bloated, then very thin. Fajgenbaum, who was in medical school when he got sick, did something extraordinary. (Herper, 9/12)
The New York Times:
What Are My Long-Term Care Options?
We were so confused. My wife’s mother was going through medical issues that could potentially have left her needing long-term care. But we had never taken a hard look at our options if that happened. She lives 2,000 miles away, and we all had to start thinking about what the next steps would be if things did not go well with her. And we had no idea where to start. (Schwartz, 9/12)
The Washington Post:
Face Cream Containing Mercury Puts A California Woman In A Coma
A Sacramento woman went to the emergency room in July with numbness in her hands and feet, slurred speech and trouble walking. The 47-year-old mother of five wasn’t having a stroke or heart attack. She was suffering from mercury poisoning from a tainted anti-wrinkle cream imported from Mexico, KCRA-TV reported. She has been in the hospital since then, according to her son, who told KCRA he wished to remain unidentified. (Beachum, 9/11)
NPR:
Human Embryoids Can Now Be Mass-Produced
Scientists have invented a device that can quickly produce large numbers of living entities that resemble very primitive human embryos. Researchers welcomed the development, described Wednesday in the journal Nature, as an important advance for studying the earliest days of human embryonic development. But it also raises questions about where to draw the line in manufacturing "synthetic" human life. (Stein, 9/11)
Kaiser Health News:
In Search Of Age-Friendly Health Care, Finding Room For Improvement
A month ago, during a visit to her doctor’s office in Sequim, Wash., Sue Christensen fell to her knees in the bathroom when her legs suddenly gave out. The 74-year-old was in an accessible stall with her walker, an older model that doesn’t have brakes. On her left side was a grab bar; there was nothing to hold onto on the right. Christensen tried to pull herself up but couldn’t. With difficulty, she rearranged her clothing and, inching forward on her knees, exited the stall. There, she tried calling the front desk on her cellphone but was placed on hold by the automated phone system. (Graham, 9/12)
