First Edition: December 20, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Democrats Debate Whether ‘Medicare For All’ Is ‘Realistic’
But with six Democratic debates to go in the primary season, the candidates also waded into topics that focused more on care: the startling racial disparities in maternal mortality rates and the treatment of those with disabilities. Andrew Yang, a businessman who is mostly running on his proposal to institute a universal basic income of $1,000 a month, noted that black women are 320% more likely to die in childbirth. That disparity has prompted calls to extend Medicaid coverage, ensuring many new moms are not kicked off their health care shortly after giving birth. (Huetteman, 12/20)
Kaiser Health News:
A Veteran Started Vaping THC To Cope With Chronic Pain. Then He Got Very Sick.
As vaping has grown more popular in recent years, the trend has been fueled by the habit’s pleasurable allure: Compared with smoking cigarettes or pot, vaping is discreet and less smelly. Vaping fluids come in hundreds of flavors. There’s no tar or other byproducts of burning. And vape pens are high-tech, customizable and sleek. But none of that mattered to Paul Lubell when he decided to try vaping. He wasn’t thinking about pleasure; he was trying to avoid pain. The retired Navy veteran turned to vaping marijuana, hoping it would help him cope with his chronic, debilitating musculoskeletal pain. (Harris-Taylor, 12/20)
Kaiser Health News:
California Attempts To Revive Compassionate Cannabis Programs
For years, Richard Manning knew what he needed to cope with his physical pain, rage and PTSD — much of which he traced to a career-ending knee injury he suffered while on a domestic security detail with the Marines.Cannabis may not have been a cure-all, but it was the closest thing he’d ever had to one. (Kreidler, 12/20)
Kaiser Health News:
Loophole Averted After Surprise-Bill Brouhaha In Texas
It appears Texas will get one of the strongest laws in the nation against surprise medical bills after all. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, wavered last month when the Texas Medical Board drafted the rules for its implementation. The board, made up of health care providers, tried to get a blanket exception to the law for virtually all nonemergency cases. (Lopez, 12/19)
Kaiser Health News:
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: ACA Still Under A Cloud After Court Ruling
The fate of the Affordable Care Act continues to be in doubt after a federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans. By a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel ruled that the “individual mandate” provision of the health law — which requires people to have health coverage — is unconstitutional now that Congress has reduced the penalty to zero. But the judges sent the case back to the lower court to determine how much else of the law can remain in light of that finding. (12/19)
The New York Times:
Democratic Candidates Go On The Attack, And Buttigieg Is The Target
Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., was repeatedly pushed onto the defensive in the sixth Democratic presidential debate on Thursday night, as several of his rivals challenged his political ascent by bluntly questioning his fund-raising practices and credentials for the presidency in a contentious and deeply substantive forum. Mr. Buttigieg has risen rapidly in the polls in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent months, after his persistent attacks on Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and her support for single-payer health care. (Glueck and Burns, 12/19)
The Washington Post:
Democrats Spar Over How To Combat Trump, A Roaring Economy And Impeachment
A pointed and personal clash over the corrupting influence of wealthy campaign donors dominated the Democratic presidential debate Thursday, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg tangled over each other's ability to govern with integrity. The confrontation, which ignited after weeks of simmering disagreements between the two, provided the biggest fireworks in a night filled with elevated voices, waving arms and some of the most aggressive exchanges of any of the debates this year. (Viser, Scherer and Wang, 12/20)
The Hill:
Sanders, Biden Spar Over Medicare For All
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden sparred over the Vermont senator’s signature "Medicare for All" proposal on Thursday night, highlighting a major rift in the presidential race. “I don’t think it is realistic,” Biden said of Sanders’s Medicare for All proposal during the Democratic debate. He pointed to its roughly $30 trillion cost over 10 years, also saying others have said it is closer to $20 trillion, a jab at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who also backs the idea, but with a somewhat lower price tag. (Sullivan, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Democratic Debate Brings Long-Simmering Rivalries Into The Open
“Put your hand down for a second,” Biden teased Sanders, as the Vermont senator waved to the moderators to get a chance to respond. “Joe’s plan” would “maintain the status quo,” Sanders said, rattling off details about how much American workers currently pay for private health insurance. “I’m going to interrupt now,” Biden replied. “It’s going to cost $30 trillion over 10 years.” He called Sanders’ cost estimates “preposterous.” “At least before he was honest about it!” (Mason and Pearce, 12/19)
The Associated Press Fact Check:
Examining Claims From 2020 Democratic Debate
BERNIE SANDERS, on Biden's proposed health care plan: “Under Joe’s plan we retain essentially the status quo.” JOE BIDEN: “That’s not true.” (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/19)
Politico:
The 5 Most Brutal Onstage Brawls From The Sixth Democratic Debate
Sanders, turning and pointing directly at Biden, retorted: “It is exactly true. You asked me how we are going to pay for [the plan]? … Under Medicare for All, that family will be paying $1,200 a year because we're eliminating the profiteering of the drug companies and the insurance companies and ending this byzantine and complex administration of thousands of separate health care plans.” Raising his voice above the moderators, Biden yelled, “I’m the only guy who hasn’t interrupted. I’m going to interrupt now.” The exchange then escalated to the point that Klobuchar, who was called on next to speak, jumped in saying, “Whoa, guys, hey!" Klobuchar dismissed both Sanders’ and Biden’s arguments, saying bluntly, “This fight that you guys are having isn't real. Your fight, Bernie, is not with me or with Vice President Biden. It is with all those bunch of those new House members.”’ (Bice, Cammarata and Weaver, 12/20)
The New York Times:
6 Takeaways From The December Democratic Debate
Ms. Klobuchar couched a disagreement with the Sanders single-payer health care proposal by saying that as president, she’d work to enact his legislation cracking down on the pharmaceutical companies. And Mr. Biden offered no real retort when Mr. Sanders brought up the former Delaware senator’s vote to authorize the Iraq war. The only people onstage who challenged Mr. Sanders were the moderators, by pushing him on questions about race, transgender rights, whether a woman should be president and if his health care proposal is realistic. (Epstein and Goldmacher, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Democratic Presidential Candidates Get Testy Over 'Medicare For All'
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren pitched her own plan to move Americans to a Medicare-for-all system, which includes transitional steps under which she vowed millions would be covered but private insurance would not immediately be eliminated. An opponent of Medicare for all, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, pointed out that the vitriol with which the Democratic candidates are attacking each other on healthcare could ultimately harm efforts to get more Americans covered. She noted that there is limited appetite in Congress, including among Democrats, for the plan Sanders champions. (Halper, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Pete Buttigieg, Strong In Iowa, Comes Under Attack From Democratic Rivals
In the final debate of the year, Democrats argued that regardless of low unemployment rates and other positive signs for the economy, too many working families have been left behind, struggling to afford medical bills and other costs. “Ordinary people are not growing,” said Mr. Biden, who has led in national polls throughout the race. “They’re not happy with where they are.” (Thomas, McCormick and Jamerson, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Buttigieg Vows To Compensate And 'Fast-Track' To Citizenship Children Separated At Border
When the topic in the Democratic debate turned to immigration, the candidates uniformly pilloried President Trump’s agenda of dramatically accelerating detainments and deportations. But one candidate went further. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg pledged that he would work to remedy the damage done to families separated at the border by providing payments to the children and moving them to the front of the line for American citizenship. (Halper, 12/19)
Politico:
Buttigieg Absorbs A Pummeling, And There's More Where That Came From
Before the Pete pile-on occurred, the PBS NewsHour/POLITICO debate at Loyola Marymount University was characterized by a policy-heavy first half devoted to a series of issues that hadn’t received much attention in the previous five Democratic debates. (Lizza, 12/20)
NPR:
6 Takeaways From The 6th Democratic Debate
Biden didn't dominate the debate, and, at times, he faded from view, but that's something of a win for him. The steadier he is, the fewer of Biden's supporters — and potential supporters — will be wringing their hands. (Montanaro, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
Transcript: The December Democratic Debate
Democratic presidential candidates met for the final debate of 2019 Thursday in Los Angeles. Below is a transcript of what they said. (12/20)
NPR:
'Medicare For All'? For Some? Or Private Insurance? Democrats Debate Health Care
Sheila Morrison was in Canada when she fell into her third diabetic coma. "My 90-year-old cousin thought we had a lunch date, and so she came with her daughter to pick me up," she says. "And I wouldn't answer the door." Her visitors were able to get inside and called an ambulance when they found her. Morrison remained in the coma for about a week. "When I woke up, they told me that another hour, too, and I wouldn't have survived," she recalls. (Blanchard and Shapiro, 12/19)
The New York Times:
Michael Bloomberg’s Health Care Plan: A ‘Public Option’ And Caps On Patient Fees
Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York unveiled a health policy proposal on Thursday that would create a government-run health insurance plan but not provide universal guaranteed coverage, aligning himself with the more moderate wing of the Democratic Party in the 2020 presidential primary. The plan, which he announced at a campaign event in Memphis, is among Mr. Bloomberg’s first policy rollouts. (Kliff, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
Bloomberg Health Plan Aims To Lower Costs, Cover More People
“It's in the Biden-Buttigieg world rather than Sanders-Warren,” said John Holahan, a health policy expert with the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank. Holahan reviewed an outline of the plan provided by the Bloomberg campaign. On health care, leading 2020 Democrats are divided between the step-by-step strategy favored by moderates like former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and the “Medicare for All” plan envisioned by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and seconded by progressives wanting a single, government-run system for all Americans. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has that as her ultimate goal. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/19)
Reuters:
Bloomberg Adds His Own 'Public Option' To Crowded Field Of Healthcare Plans
Bloomberg also would seek to cap out-of-network medical charges at 200% of Medicare rates, and work to ensure the government could negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies, capping prices at 120% of "the average in other advanced nations." A senior policy advisor for Bloomberg told reporters that it would cost about $1.5 trillion over 10 years to create a public insurance option and expand income-based subsidies for people beyond those created by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. (12/19)
Politico:
How Mike Bloomberg Would Expand Health Coverage
Bloomberg’s plan also takes aim at politically powerful health care providers, calling for an end to "surprise" medical bills by requiring hospitals to provide care to insured patients at their in-network rates, regardless of which doctors see them. He’d also limit what health care providers could charge insurers, pegging their out-of-network prices to just twice the typically lower rates that Medicare pays. Bloomberg also would boost resources devoted to rural health care by increasing federal grants to community health centers and requiring Medicare cover more telehealth visits, among other measures. (Diamond, 12/19)
The New York Times:
3 Legal Experts On What The Obamacare Ruling Really Means
Ever since Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas ruled a year ago that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional, the country has been waiting for the next arbiter — a federal appeals court — to weigh in on the fate of the landmark health law. On Wednesday, that ruling finally came. But it offered little clarity. The judges from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, ruled that one key element of the law — the mandate requiring people to have insurance — was unconstitutional. But they sent the rest of the case back to Judge O’Connor for what the dissenting judge called a “do-over,” asking him to give it another think on the question of whether other parts of the law should be struck down too. (Hoffman, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
What's Next In Legal Drama Over The Affordable Care Act?
The federal appeals court ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that people have health insurance left hanging key questions about what happens to other provisions of the law, like coverage for preexisting conditions. ... What happens next? It’s a bit uncertain. The appeals court told O’Connor to go over the ACA with a “finer-toothed comb” to determine which provisions of the legislation could be severed from the individual mandate, but Democratic attorneys general are weighing whether they want to appeal the case directly to the Supreme Court, which twice before has upheld the law. It’s a different court now, with a more conservative bent, but the same five justices who upheld the heart of the law in 2012 remain. (Santana, 12/19)
Politico:
7 Unanswered Questions Left By The Obamacare Ruling
What’s the impact on 2020 Democratic candidates? It’s mixed. Had the court struck down the entire law, Democratic presidential and congressional candidates would have been confronted with a crisis and likely pivoted from discussions about “Medicare for All” to promoting ways they’d fortify Obamacare. Wednesday’s decision gives them another opportunity to voice support for the law while continuing to debate how best to achieve universal coverage. Democrats no doubt are mindful of the big gains they registered in the midterm elections by bashing Trump and GOP efforts to undermine the law. (Bettelheim and Luthi, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
What Doesn’t Kill Obamacare Makes It Stronger
An apparent setback for the Affordable Care Act is actually a win for health insurers. The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, struck down the law’s requirement that most people carry health insurance or pay a penalty. That seems like a problem given that health insurers have flourished ever since what is commonly known as Obamacare became law in 2010. (Grant, 12/19)
Reuters:
U.S. Congress Approves Massive Funding Bills To Avert Government Shutdowns
The U.S. Senate, rushing to meet a looming deadline, approved and sent to President Donald Trump a $1.4 trillion package of fiscal 2020 spending bills that would end prospects of government shutdowns at week's end when temporary funding expires. By strong bipartisan margins and with White House backing, the Senate passed the two gigantic funding bills for government programs through Sept. 30. (Cowan, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
Big Spending Bill Wins Senate OK, Has Victories All Around
The legislation delivers Trump a victory on his U.S.-Mexico border fence and gives Democrats long-sought domestic spending increases and a repeal of Obama-era taxes on high-cost health insurance plans. It blends spending increases for both sides — reelection fodder for lawmakers — with tax and benefit add-ons that will mean a roughly $400 billion boost to the deficit over 10 years. (Taylor, 12/19)
The New York Times:
Congress Approves Raising Age To 21 For E-Cigarette And Tobacco Sales
The House and Senate have now passed a provision that would ban the sale of tobacco and e-cigarettes to anyone under 21, at a time when Congress and the Trump administration are facing public pressure to reduce the soaring rates of teenage vaping. President Trump has spoken in favor of increasing the age limit, and is expected to sign the measure into law as part of the overall spending package. Nineteen states and more than 500 cities and towns have already raised the age to 21. (Kaplan, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Raises Tobacco-Buying Age To 21
If signed into law, the new restriction would take effect in September. Altria Group Inc. and Reynolds American Inc., the two biggest U.S. cigarette manufacturers, both supported the age restriction, as did Juul Labs Inc., the startup that has been blamed by health officials for the rise in teenage e-cigarette use. President Trump also supported the measure. He first voiced support for it in November after backing away from a plan to pull from the U.S. market all e-cigarettes except for those that taste like tobacco. (Maloney, 12/19)
Politico:
Congress Sends Spending Deal To Trump, Ending Shutdown Threat
Although congressional leaders are months late in completing the fiscal 2020 bills, the deal came together with stunning speed in recent days. Top appropriators had only agreed in late November on how to divvy the funding among the dozen annual spending bills, leaving just over three and a half weeks for negotiating specific budgets and demands for the thousands of federal agencies and programs those measures fund. (Scholtes and Emma, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
House Passes North American Trade Pact With Bipartisan Support
The House of Representatives approved President Trump’s amended North American trade pact on Thursday in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion, a rare instance of legislative cooperation in an era of intense political divisions. The House approved legislation to implement the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, or USMCA, by a 385 to 41 vote, with 193 Democrats and 192 Republicans backing the pact. The Senate is expected to pass the legislation early next year, after which the president would sign it into law. (Mauldin and Andrews, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
North America Trade Pact Deals Rare Setback To Big Pharma
A revamped North American trade deal nearing passage in Congress gives both the White House and Democrats a chance to claim victory and offers farmers and businesses clearer rules governing the vast flow of goods among the United States, Canada and Mexico. But the pact leaves at least one surprising loser: the pharmaceutical industry, a near-invincible lobbying powerhouse in Washington. (Wiseman, Johnson and Freking, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
FDA Warns Of Breathing Risks With Popular Nerve Drugs
U.S. health regulators are warning that popular nervous system medications can cause dangerous breathing problems when combined with opioids and certain other drugs. The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it would add new warnings to packaging for Neurontin, Lyrica and generic versions, which are used to treat seizures, nerve pain, restless leg syndrome and other conditions. (Perrone, 12/19)
Reuters:
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval For Astellas, Seattle Genetics' Bladder Cancer Drug
U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it approved Astellas Pharma Inc and Seattle Genetics' experimental drug to treat advanced bladder cancer, about three months ahead of schedule. Shares of Seattle Genetics were up 6% at $119.05 after the bell. The drug, Padcev, is approved in the United States for patients with advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer, the companies said. (Martin, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Behind The Biotech Stock Rally: New Deals And Easing Political Worries
Shares of biotech companies have surged in recent months, boosted by innovation, a spate of deals and easing worries about political risks. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index has gained 22% so far this quarter, far outpacing the S&P 500’s 7.7% gain. The recent rally has helped the biotech index recover from a third-quarter decline, bringing its year-to-date performance to 25%, nearly in line with the broader index’s 28% advance. (Langley, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
Senate Republicans Seek Probe Of Organ Transplant System
Members of the Senate Finance Committee Thursday requested an in-depth examination of the nation’s organ recovery and transplant system, raising questions about suspected financial fraud and criticizing the system for its “poor performance.” The request to the Office of the Inspector General comes one day after the Trump administration announced a sweeping proposal to boost the number of organs collected for transplant by dozens of underperforming organ collection agencies and increasing federal payments to living kidney donors. (Kindy and Bernstein, 12/19)
Reuters:
Democrats Say Consumer Product Safety Commission Too Close To Companies
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), whose job is to assure products Americans buy are safe, is inappropriately deferential to companies it investigates, according to a report done for Democrats on the Senate Commerce Committee released on Thursday. Settlements reached by the Trump CPSC "are at odds with traditional recall agreements negotiated by the CPSC," the report said. (12/19)
The Hill:
Senate Democrats Slam HHS Reversal On Non-Discrimination Protections
Every Senate Democrat wants the Department of Health and Human Services to rescind a plan that would allow recipients of HHS grants and contracts to discriminate on the basis of religion and sex. The entire caucus, led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), signed onto the letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar. According to the senators, HHS annually awards more than $500 billion in taxpayer-funded grants and contracts. (Weixel, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Indian Health Service Effort To Protect Patients From Abuse Needs Work, Report Says
The U.S. Indian Health Service’s latest effort to protect patients from abuse falls short, federal inspectors said in a report to be released Friday, despite a rush to overhaul policies this year following a sex-abuse scandal. The new policies are too narrow and haven’t been implemented at some facilities, according to the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the health care agency. (Frosch and Weaver, 12/20)
Politico:
Senior House Democrat Calls For Verma's Ouster
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone is calling for CMS Administrator Seema Verma’s resignation, becoming the highest-ranking Democrat so far to urge her to quit. Pallone told reporters today that he agreed with Democrats, including some on his committee, who have called for Verma to lose her job over questions about her stewardship of taxpayer funds. (Cancryn, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Reaches Settlement On Undisclosed Chinese Funding Of Scientists
The U.S. escalated its efforts to counter Chinese government programs to draw on the skills of top scientists in the U.S., requiring a Michigan research institute to pay $5.5 million to resolve allegations it made false claims about the Chinese grants its researchers received. The novel settlement announced on Thursday—the first of its kind—is part of a growing U.S. effort to try new legal avenues to address what it sees as threats from so-called talent programs run by the Chinese government. U.S. officials say the programs create conflicts of interest and offer incentives to bring intellectual property back to China. (Viswanatha and O'Keeffe, 12/19)
Stat:
National Academies Outlines New Guidelines For Opioid Prescribing
As government agencies, medical groups, hospitals, and pharmacies have tried to cut back on opioid prescriptions, they’ve wrestled with how to best do so. Should they restrict the number of days a prescription lasts? Should there be a cap on the total strength of the dose? What kind of exceptions should be made? A new report issued Thursday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlines a framework for prescribers and others to develop their own plans for acute pain, without offering any direct recommendations itself. (Joseph, 12/19)
The New York Times:
Sackler Family Members Fight Removal Of Name At Tufts, Calling It A ‘Breach’
Two weeks after Tufts University became the first major university to remove the Sackler name from buildings and programs over the family’s role in the opioid epidemic, members of the family are pushing back. A lawyer for some of the Sacklers argued in a letter to the president of Tufts that the move was unjustified and a violation of agreements made when the school wanted the family’s financial help years ago. (Taylor, 12/19)
Modern Healthcare:
GAO: Drug Czar Fails To Deliver Drug-Control Policy Plan
A federal office tasked with managing U.S. drug-control policy isn't doing its job, according to a new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office published Thursday. The government watchdog found that the Office of National Drug Control Policy failed to deliver a strategic plan in 2017 or 2018, even though its core function is to oversee and coordinate the development and implementation the federal government's drug-control policies. That's worrisome because nearly 70,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, and there's no comprehensive plan to address it. (Brady, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Purdue Pharma Allowed To Retain Auditor That Worked For Sacklers
A bankruptcy judge gave Purdue Pharma LP permission to hire Ernst & Young LLP as its auditor, overriding objections from a Justice Department watchdog that raised concerns about the firm’s work for the drugmaker’s controlling family, the Sacklers. (Biswas, 12/19)
The New York Times:
C.D.C. Links Deadly Listeria Outbreak To Hard-Boiled Egg Plant In Georgia
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week warned distributors against selling hard-boiled eggs bought in bulk from a Georgia production plant that it said was the likely source of listeria contamination that had led to sicknesses in five states, including one death and four hospitalizations. Officials with the federal Food and Drug Administration discovered the strain during a routine inspection in February at Almark Foods in Gainesville, Ga. (Padilla, 12/19)
The New York Times:
What It Took For A Fox News Psychiatrist To Finally Lose His License
Late in 2009, a 28-year-old woman not long out of graduate school found herself in a stressful job at a Bronx hospital and decided it would be useful to talk to someone. Searching online, she came across the name of a psychiatrist, Keith Ablow. Dr. Ablow was familiar to her from his writing, both his journalism and the best-selling thrillers he turned out — “Denial,’’ “Projection,” “Compulsion,’’ “Murder Suicide.’’ She had read all of those, as well as “Psychopath,’’ a book about a psychiatrist who prods the interior lives of strangers only to kill them, baroquely obscuring the distinction between patient and victim. (Bellafante, 12/20)
Reuters:
U.S. Vaping-Related Deaths Rise To 54, Hospitalizations To 2,506
U.S. health officials said on Thursday two more deaths occurred since last week from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, taking the total toll to 54. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reported 97 more hospitalized cases from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories, as of Dec. 17. The number of people hospitalized now stands at 2,506. (12/19)
The New York Times:
Boys Born Small At Higher Risk For Infertility
Boys born small may be at risk for infertility in adulthood. Danish researchers examined birth and health records of 10,936 men and women born between 1984 and 1987. The study, in Human Reproduction, found that 10 percent of the babies were born small for gestational age. The health and behavioral characteristics of the mothers of low-birth-weight babies were similar to those of mothers of babies of normal weight, although they were more likely to be first-time mothers and to smoke and consume alcohol. (Bakalar, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Is Your Phone Or Watch Constantly Buzzing? It Could Be In Your Head.
Jay Antenen feels a soft vibration on his wrist during a weekend yoga class. It is his Apple Watch, alerting him to an incoming message. Sometimes, it is his imagination. “I’ll glance at it, but there’s no message,” he says. “Is this a widespread thing? I thought I was just crazy.” The phenomenon has, in fact, become so common that mental-health experts have named it phantom phone syndrome: Smartphone and smartwatch users so alert to incoming messages they sometimes feel devices vibrate when they don’t. Some people detect a buzz even when the devices are put away. (Hernandez, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
World's Languages Describe Emotions In Very Different Ways
Is the meaning of love truly universal? It might depend on the language you speak, a new study finds. Scientists who searched out semantic patterns in nearly 2,500 languages from all over the world found that emotion words — such as angst, grief and happiness — could have very different meanings depending on the language family they originated from. (Khan, 12/19)
The New York Times:
When The Surgeon Is A Mom
As a health care professional, Dr. Erika Rangel is trained to know when things are going wrong. That alarm went off one day in her fourth year of surgical residency. Her son, just 3 months old, had developed a fever. She couldn’t be late for her operating shift, but his day care wouldn’t accept him if he was sick. So she did what desperate mothers do and got inventive: She slipped liquid Tylenol into his bottle, in the hopes of lowering his temperature, and dropped him off. (Goldberg, 12/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Two Siblings Discover Each Other Through DNA Testing
Susannah Gilbard, 61 years old, always knew she was adopted. As far as she was concerned, her life was complete and there were no missing elements in her Queens, N.Y., upbringing. “From the beginning of time everybody asked [me], ‘Don’t you want to know where you come from? And don’t you want to find out your health issues?’ and, you know, this endless list of questions, and my answer was always, ‘no.’ I’m not interested at all because, frankly, I have really good parents. I was really lucky. Everything was fine.” (Cousens, 12/19)
ProPublica/Chicago Tribune:
Schools Aren’t Supposed To Forcibly Restrain Children As Punishment. In Illinois, It Happened Repeatedly.
The adults gathered in a hotel ballroom in Peoria — school employees, caregivers, health care workers — fell silent as their instructor, a muscled and tattooed mixed martial arts fighter, stared at them to demand attention. Over five days of training, the participants would learn how to physically control children who pose a danger to themselves or others. But first, Zac Barry focused on what he views as the most important lesson. (Richards, Cohen and Chavis, 12/20)
The New York Times:
New York Progressives Meet Immovable Object: A $6 Billion Budget Gap
For much of this year, it seemed that nothing could stand in the way of progressive activists’ agenda in New York. Not conservative backlash, not big money’s lobbying, not even Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s hesitations. Then came the $6.1 billion budget gap. The looming fiscal crisis, revealed by state officials last month, is New York’s biggest since the Great Recession. And more than any of the other political forces that progressives toppled this year, it threatens to derail their momentum. (Wang, 12/20)
The Associated Press:
Early PG&E Blackouts Forewarned Later Problems
The state senators grilling the CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. were upset — like millions of other Californians, some spent days in the dark when the nation’s largest utility shut off power during windstorms this fall. The lawmakers demanded that the executive explain why blackouts intended to prevent downed power lines from sparking deadly wildfires caused so much trouble of their own. (12/20)