Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Copper: An Unlikely Weapon Against Hospital Infection
The Wall Street Journal: Paging Doctor Copper: Metal Wins Fans In Health Care
A burgeoning opportunity for copper producers relies on a simple premise: that the base metal is good for your health. Copper is used in everything from construction to electrical wiring, but it also has antimicrobial properties that kill 99.9% of bacteria on its surface within two hours, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. That makes it a potential weapon for combating the spread of infections in hospitals and public areas. (Yang, 7/25)
The New York Times: W.H.O. Weighs Dropping Transgender Identity From List Of Mental Disorders
The World Health Organization is moving toward declassifying transgender identity as a mental disorder in its global list of medical conditions, with a new study lending additional support to a proposal that would delete the decades-old designation. The change, which has so far been approved by each committee that has considered it, is under review for the next edition of the W.H.O. codebook, which classifies diseases and influences the treatment of patients worldwide. (Belluck, 7/26)
WBUR: Honey, I Shrunk The Nation! New Study Shows Americans Are Getting Shorter
Americans are shrinking -- not as individuals, but as a population. In 1914, American men were the third-tallest group in the world, and American women ranked fourth. Today they rank 37th and 42nd respectively. And the average heights have stopped increasing, with men peaking in 1996 and women way back in 1988. (Chakrabarti, 7/26)
California Healthline: Congressman Decries Olympus' Failure To Warn U.S. Hospitals About Tainted Scopes
A U.S. lawmaker is renewing his push for Congress to toughen requirements on medical-device warnings, calling Olympus Corp.’s 2013 decision against issuing a broad alert to U.S. hospitals about scope-related superbug outbreaks “despicable.” U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) said internal Olympus emails about that decision, detailed for the first time in a Los Angeles Times/Kaiser Health News article, were “incredibly disturbing” and the company officials involved should face questions at a Congressional hearing. At least 35 patients in American hospitals have died since 2013 after developing infections tied to tainted duodenoscopes. (Terhune, 7/27)
