Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Federal Judge Declares AI Does Not Have First Amendment Rights
AP: In Lawsuit Over Teen's Death, Judge Rejects Arguments That AI Chatbots Have Free Speech Rights
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself. The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence. (Payne, 5/21)
Newsweek: Gen Z More Likely Than Boomers To Say People In Therapy Are 'Mentally Weak'
Despite often being seen as more progressive, Gen Z is surprisingly more anti-therapy than many of their elders. A new report from BetterHelp reveals a generational divide exists when it comes to the stigma of therapy, and perhaps not in the way you'd expect. Demand for mental health therapy has been skyrocketing in recent years. The number of U.S. adults who received psychotherapy went up from 6.5 percent in 2018 to 8.5 percent in 2021, according to a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry this year. (Blake, 5/21)
New Hampshire Public Radio: After Losing Her Sister, She Now Works To Help Other Moms Take Care Of Their Mental Health
Nearly 16 years ago, Heather Martin lost her sister to suicide. “It happened so fast, about three weeks postpartum,” Martin recalled. “She struggled with what we know now was postpartum psychosis.” As Martin has tried to figure out how this could happen to her sister — who seemed happy and healthy one moment, gone the next — she’s tried to use her family’s experience to prevent others from going through the same. (Liu and Furukawa, 5/21)
In reproductive health news —
The Hill: Wildfire Smoke Exposure Is Harming Pregnant Patients Who Have Limited Access To Health Care: Study
The U.S. health care system is ill-prepared to treat pregnant patients and their infants who have endured the impacts of wildfire smoke exposure, a new study finds. Many residents of communities prone to the proliferation of wildfire smoke lack geographic access to the treatments they might need, according to the study, published in the American Public Health Association’s Medical Care journal. “The smoke-plumes generated by wildfires can be transported over large distances and affect nearly every community in the U.S., even those far from fire activity,” the authors stated. (Udasin, 5/21)
CNN: ‘Baby Brain’ Is Real. 3 Things To Know About What’s Happening To Your Brain
Science has pretty well established that the brain isn’t static; it changes and adapts throughout our lives in response to life events in a process called neuroplasticity. Researchers are discovering this is especially true of female brains, which get remodeled significantly during the three Ps: puberty (as do the brains of adolescent males), pregnancy and perimenopause. (Kane, 5/21)
MedPage Today: Supplementary Contrast Imaging Techniques For Dense Breasts Better Than Ultrasound
Supplementary breast cancer imaging with abbreviated MRI and contrast-enhanced mammography detected more cancers than automated whole-breast ultrasound (ABUS) in women with normal mammograms and dense breast tissue, interim results from a randomized trial in the U.K. showed. (Bassett, 5/21)
CNN: Some Birth Control Users Go Years Without A Period — Is It Safe?
As social media becomes a hotbed for amateur medical advice and personal anecdotes, posts about getting off the pill and preventing pregnancy through nonhormonal methods rake in thousands of views daily on apps like TikTok. As influencers share their fears about infertility and the possible harms of suppressing your body’s natural processes, reproductive experts say myths and misinformation about hormonal birth control are on the rise. (Griesser, 5/21)
Also —
The New York Times: American Breakfast Cereals Are Becoming Less Healthy, Study Finds
Breakfast cereals, a heavily marketed, highly processed mainstay of the American diet, especially among children, are becoming less healthy, filled with increasing amounts of sugar, fat and sodium, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study also found that cereals’ protein and fiber content — nutrients essential for a healthy diet — have been in decline. (Jacobs, 5/21)
Fortune Well: Food Allergies Are Soaring, And Hundreds Of Moms Are Fed Up With 'Dangerous' Jokes About Them
Following a Saturday Night Live skit that mocked people with peanut allergies, suggesting they should just “take a Benadryl” and shut up, moms of the severely allergic have been speaking out on social media. Such jokes, they say, gaslight people with allergies and contribute to bullying that can turn deadly. “Satire is so powerful—it can highlight social flaws. But to us, there’s blind spot about food allergies to begin with, and this type of joke just magnifies it,” Lianne Mandelbaum, mom to a 19-year-old son with a deadly peanut allergy and founder of the advocacy nonprofit the No Nut Traveler, tells Fortune. (Greenfield, 5/21)
Iowa Public Radio: Midwest Weather: Humidity Could Be Bad For People's Health
Factors as far away as the Caribbean Sea and as nearby as the cornfields of Iowa can bring on that muggy, sticky feeling. For people with certain health conditions, it’s more than an annoyance. (Edgell and Grundmeier, 5/21)
