Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Amid Legal Issues, Louisiana Nursing Home Magnate Lays Off 1,000 Workers
The Advocate: Nearly 1,000 Employees Laid Off From Bob Dean Nursing Homes As He Fights To Get License Back
Louisiana nursing home magnate Bob Dean has laid off nearly 1,000 employees as he awaits hearings that will determine whether he can reclaim the nursing home licenses that the state Department of Health revoked after finding widespread problems with how he evacuated residents to a warehouse for Hurricane Ida. In notices of mass layoffs filed with the Louisiana Workforce Commission, administrators for Dean’s seven nursing homes wrote that LDH’s decision to take away their licenses meant that “the nursing homes are unable to operate for the foreseeable future and the decision had been made to lay off all, or substantially all, hourly employees effectively immediately.” (Gallo and Mosbrucker, 10/28)
In updates from Texas, Oklahoma and Montana —
The New York Times: Texas Nurse Sentenced To Death For Fatally Injecting 4 Heart Patients With Air
A former Texas nurse was sentenced to death this week for injecting air into the arteries of four patients recovering from heart surgery, causing fatal brain damage, a court official said. A jury in Tyler, Texas, handed up the sentence on Wednesday in the capital murder case of the former nurse, William Davis, eight days after convicting him. (Vigdor, 10/28)
AP: Oklahoma Executes Inmate Who Dies Vomiting And Convulsing
Oklahoma administered the death penalty Thursday on a man who convulsed and vomited as he was executed for the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker, ending a six-year execution moratorium brought on by concerns over its execution methods. John Marion Grant, 60, who was strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber, began convulsing and vomiting after the first drug, the sedative midazolam, was administered. Several minutes later, two members of the execution team wiped the vomit from his face and neck. (Murphy, 10/28)
Oklahoman: Ex-Oklahoma Resident Talks About Getting Nonbinary Birth Certificate
An Oregon resident who was born and raised in Oklahoma made history this month when they successfully petitioned the state to amend their birth certificate to include a gender-neutral birth marker. As part of a legal settlement stemming from a lawsuit filed last year, Kit Lorelied, 46, is the recipient of the state's first gender-neutral birth certificate, where an "X" denotes their sex designation instead of a male or female gender marker. Lorelied, who is nonbinary, uses the pronouns they and them. Nonbinary people do not identify as strictly male or female. (Forman, 10/27)
Billings Gazette: Montana Marks 1st Flu Case In 18 Months; State Urges Flu Shots
A child in Flathead County has the first confirmed case of influenza in Montana in more than a year and a half, according to the state health department. The case was confirmed by the Flathead City-County Health Department, along with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. There hasn't been a confirmed flu case in Montana since April 2020, according to the state health department. Doctors in Montana have said the use of measures meant to slow the spread COVID-19, such as face coverings and distancing, also staved off the transmission of the flu over the last year and a half. (Michels, 10/28)
In news from Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky —
Macon Telegraph: Health Officials Are Investigating GA Fair E. Coli Cases
The state health department is investigating four cases of E. coli connected with the Georgia National Fair, the DPH announced Thursday. The DPH and the North Central Health District (NCHD) are working with fair staff to determine how four Middle Georgians who attended the annual event earlier this month became infected with the bacteria. “We are hoping we don’t see anymore cases, but we encourage anyone that feels like they may have been infected to contact their primary care physician,“ said NCHD spokesperson Michael Hokanson. (Perrineau, 10/28)
AP: Mississippi: 14K Pandemic Food Cards Mistakenly Deactivated
More than 14,000 low-income children in Mississippi had their pandemic food cards mistakenly deactivated, prompting an apology from state officials and a promise that new cards would be mailed to their families within days. Children with an apostrophe in their first or last names all had their cards deactivated Monday by a processing partner, the Mississippi Department of Human Services said in a news release. It said that department and the Mississippi Department of Education were notified of the error on Tuesday. (10/28)
Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville Council Dropped 2nd Review Of Sexual Assault Nurse Exams
The University of Louisville nurses who perform exams for sexual assault and domestic violence victims will not have their work go through an additional review by a physician, Louisville Metro Council decided Thursday. Each of the exams is already peer-reviewed by a nurse in the program before being given to police if the victim wishes to file a report. But a Metro Council committee had been considering a requirement that a randomly selected 3% go through an additional review. During a meeting last week, the committee dropped the physician review in favor of an annual report to Metro Council on that will include a complete review of the program's processes, peer review and exam outcomes. (Mencarini, 10/28)
