Decades After Push For A-Bomb, Health Aftereffects ‘Haunt’ St. Louis
The report from AP examines the pervasive and lasting effects on the St. Louis region many decades after Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium in an effort to develop nuclear weapons during World War II. Other health news from around the country comes from Ohio, Nevada, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina, and New Hampshire.
AP:
Takeaways From AP's Examination Of Nuclear Waste Problems In The St. Louis Region
Uranium processing in the St. Louis area played a pivotal role in developing the nuclear weapons that helped bring an end to World War II and provided a key defense during the Cold War. But the cost to the region has been staggering. ... The government has paid out millions to former Mallinckrodt workers with cancer, or their survivors. Many people with rare cancers who grew up near the waste sites believe their illnesses, too, are connected to radiation exposure. (Phillis and Salter, 7/12)
AP:
How America’s Push For The Atomic Bomb Spawned Enduring Radioactive Waste Problems In St. Louis
Decades later, even with much of the cleanup complete, the aftereffects haunt the region. Federal health investigators have found an increased cancer risk for some people who, as children, played in a creek contaminated with uranium waste. A grade school closed last year amid radiation concerns. A landfill operator is spending millions to keep underground smoldering from reaching nuclear waste illegally dumped in the 1970s. (Phillis and Salter, 7/12)
In news on a surgeon who livestreamed procedures —
AP:
Plastic Surgeon Who Livestreamed Procedures On TikTok Banned From Practicing Medicine In Ohio
An Ohio plastic surgeon’s state medical license was permanently revoked Wednesday after a medical board determined she harmed patients while livestreaming their surgeries on the social media app TikTok. The Ohio Medical Board voted to ban Katharine Grawe — also known as Dr. Roxy in her plastic surgery practice “Roxy Plastic Surgery” and to her many TikTok followers — from ever practicing again in the state. (Hendrickson, 7/12)
Columbus Dispatch:
'Dr. Roxy' Loses Medical License For Livestreaming Surgeries On TikTok
Dr. Katharine Roxanne Grawe, a Powell plastic surgeon accused of injuring patients while livestreaming some procedures online, will never again work as a doctor in Ohio. The State Medical Board of Ohio on Wednesday voted to permanently revoke the medical license of Grawe, who also goes by "Dr. Roxy." Grawe's license had been suspended since Nov. 18, with further action pending a hearing that took place in May and a final decision Wednesday by the full medical board. (Filby, 7/12)
Other health news from across the states —
Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Doctor Charged With Giving Contaminated Fentnayl To Patients
A Las Vegas pain management doctor indicted in Southern California on charges of giving adulterated fentanyl to patients and scheming to defraud Medicare will go before the Nevada medical board to defend his license in December. Dr. David James Smith, who is licensed and has practiced in both states, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that also include over-prescribing fentanyl and other opioids. (Hynes, 7/12)
AP:
Tens Of Thousands Of Georgia Residents Removed From Medicaid In June, State Officials Say
Georgia has removed another 95,000 adults and kids from state insurance rolls as it continues to review who is eligible for coverage now that the federal government has ended a pandemic public health emergency, state officials announced Wednesday. The removals from Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance represent a little under half of the roughly 217,000 people who were due for renewal in June, the Georgia Department of Community Health said in a news release. (7/12)
St. Louis Public Radio:
Mo. Supreme Court Hears Case On State Health Regulations
The Missouri Supreme Court is considering a case that sharply curtailed the authority of local health officials to address public health emergencies. The high court heard arguments in the case Wednesday, most of which focused on the right of local governments to appeal the case even though they were not a party to the initial lawsuit. The court will issue its ruling at a later date. (Lippmann, 7/12)
The Washington Post:
Conjoined Twins Go Home After Doctors Separated Them In Rare Surgery
When Eliza and Ella Fuller were born in March, they were conjoined at the stomach. Doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston spent months planning a rare surgery to separate the twins so they could live independently. After a successful procedure last month, Eliza and Ella recovered in different rooms and learned to eat and sleep alone. On Tuesday, the twins hit another milestone. After spending their first 133 days in the hospital, Eliza and Ella were discharged and brought to their Center, Tex., home, where doctors expect they will grow up healthy. (Melnick, 7/12)
AP:
Arizona Woman Who Faked Being A Nurse Practitioner During Pandemic Gets 5-Year Prison Term
An Arizona woman who faked being a nurse practitioner during the coronavirus pandemic was sentenced Wednesday to five years in prison. State prosecutors said 58-year-old Pamela O’Guinn pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery and identity theft. (7/12)
AP:
Medical Marijuana Sales In Arkansas Could Set New Record
Medical marijuana sales in Arkansas are on track to set a new record this year, state officials said. From January through June, patients spent $141 million to buy a little more than 29,000 pounds of marijuana, according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. That’s up from $134 million in the first six months of 2022. (7/12)
NBC News:
Hazardous Chemical Polluted Air Weeks After Ohio Train Derailment, Analysis Shows
Soon after the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train in East Palestine, Ohio, a team of researchers began roving the small town in a Nissan van. It was February, less than three weeks after the disaster, and the van was outfitted with an instrument called a mass spectrometer, which can measure hundreds to thousands of compounds in the air every second. (Bendix, 7/12)
AP:
Giant Rabid Beaver Attacks Georgia Girl Swimming In Lake
A rabid beaver bit a young girl while she was swimming in a northeast Georgia lake, local news outlets reported. Kevin Beucker, field supervisor for Hall County Animal Control, told WDUN-AM that the beaver bit the girl on Saturday while she was swimming off private property in the northern end of Lake Lanier near Gainesville. (7/12)
North Carolina Health News:
Changes Could Be Coming To NC Dental Practice Laws
North Carolina’s dental profession sometimes gets blamed for being too reluctant to make any changes to laws defining who can practice dentistry in the state in order to keep a tight lock on who gets licensed to provide oral health care. Dental hygienists fought for years to have greater autonomy to practice without the direct supervision of a dentist on site until January 2020, when they gained some ground in that long-running scope of practice tug-of-war. (Blythe, 7/13)
New Hampshire Public Radio:
NH Hospitals And State DHHS Resolve ‘ER Boarding' Lawsuit
In a resolution released Wednesday, hospitals and the state of New Hampshire announced an agreement to resolve litigation around the practice of holding psychiatric patients in hospital emergency rooms, known as “ER boarding.” Under the terms of that deal, New Hampshire will have to eliminate waitlists for inpatient mental health care by May 2024. That deadline was originally set in an opinion issued by a federal judge earlier this year. (Cuno-Booth and Tuohy, 7/12)
