First Edition: February 20, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Scalpels Out: Democrats Make Slashing Attacks On Health Care Plans
Top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination torched one another’s proposals to reform the health care system Wednesday, as the contest to unify behind a single candidate to defeat President Donald Trump took a bitterly divisive turn. Minutes after Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, warmed up the debate audience in Las Vegas by describing the party as a spirited but unified family, most of the candidates abruptly shifted into attack mode — and not just against Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and former New York City mayor making his first, belated appearance in the ninth debate. (Huetteman, Knight and Luthra, 2/20)

Kaiser Health News: Obamacare A Disgrace? Biden Highlights Bloomberg’s Negative Remarks About The Affordable Care Act.
Sparring over health care during the Nevada Democratic presidential primary debate, former Vice President Joe Biden took issue with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s record on the Affordable Care Act. “From the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace,” Biden said, a claim he repeated another time during the debate. Bloomberg sought to refute that charge, arguing that he defended the law and believed it should be expanded. (Luthra and Knight, 2/20)

Kaiser Health News: Sanders’ Claim That Buttigieg Is ‘Favorite Of The Health Care Industry’ Is Broad And Needs Context
As Pete Buttigieg gained momentum in the Democratic presidential primary race ― finishing second in the New Hampshire primary and a front-runner in the Iowa caucuses ― he has increasingly been on the receiving end of shade from his rivals. The campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for instance, distributed talking points that zeroed in on fundraising, saying that “Pete Buttigieg is a favorite candidate of Wall Street and the health care industry.” (Knight, 2/19)

California Healthline: Newsom: To Fix Homelessness, California Must Fix Mental Health
He also raised the controversial issue of involuntary treatment for people with behavioral health problems. While he criticized the historic practice of confining patients with mental illness to asylums, he said the state needs to make it easier for law enforcement, health care providers and families to get people into treatment. ”All within the bounds of deep respect for civil liberties and personal freedoms,” he added. (Bluth, 2/19)

Kaiser Health News: In Tornado Alley, Storms Are Even More Dangerous For People With Disabilities 
John High has diabetes, which led to his leg being amputated below the knee two years ago. He has been using a wheelchair since then and hasn’t gotten used to having to work out solutions to everyday problems — such as getting into and out of the shower in the small rental house he shares with his son in Norman, Oklahoma. And when he hears a tornado siren blaring out its high-pitched warning, he feels a spasm of fear and dread. He knows he’s on his own. “I just pray. That’s all I can do,” High said. “They expect people to ‘shelter in place,’ but I don’t have anywhere safe to go.” (Fortier, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Debate Night Brawl: Bloomberg, Sanders Attacked By Rivals
From the opening bell, Democrats savaged New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg and raised pointed questions about Bernie Sanders' take-no-prisoners politics during a contentious debate Wednesday night that threatened to further muddy the party's urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was once a Republican, was forced to defend his record and past comments related to race, gender and his personal wealth in an occasionally rocky debate stage debut. Sanders, meanwhile, tried to beat back pointed questions about his embrace of democratic socialism and his health following a heart attack last year. (People, Jaffe and Price, 2/20)

The New York Times: 6 Takeaways From The Democratic Debate In Nevada
After eight debates that had sparks of conflict but were relatively cordial, Wednesday night brought two hours of nonstop political battle. Every candidate got attacked. Senator Elizabeth Warren sometimes attacked almost everyone in a single breath. Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg found himself facing incoming fire within the debate’s first seconds and looked very much like the out-of-practice politician he was before his tardy entry to the presidential campaign in November. (Goldmacher and Epstein, 2/20)

The Washington Post: A Guide To The Most Biting Brawls Of The Contentious Las Vegas Presidential Debate
After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and stagnant poll numbers, Warren came to fight. She has been trying to carve out a space for herself as the unity candidate, someone who can bridge Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan with moderates who think it’s too radical. But that’s led to some confusion from voters about where she stands. So on Wednesday, she tried to differentiate herself by punching at almost every candidate on the stage for their health-care plans, which she labeled ineffective (Buttigieg: “paper-thin version of a plan”) or too short (Klobuchar: It can “fit on a Post-it Note”). Most notably, on health care, she said Sanders was not being a team player or realistic — echoing a thematic attack from Buttigieg. “His campaign relentlessly attacks everyone who asks a question or tries to fill in details about how to actually make this work,” Warren said of Sanders. “And then his own advisers say that probably won’t happen anyway.” (Phillips, 2/20)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Dems' Debate Flubs; Trump Untruths At Rally
ELIZABETH WARREN: Buttigieg's health care plan is "a thin version of a plan." PETE BUTTIGIEG: His own proposal "is the plan that solves the problem." THE FACTS: Warren, a Massachusetts senator, is quick to dismiss a plan that would cover virtually all U.S. citizens and legal residents. An analysis of health care overhaul plans by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found that an approach like the one advocated by Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, would reduce the number of uninsured people from 32 million to below 7 million, mainly people without legal permission to be in the country. (2/19)

Politico: Bloomberg Takes A Beating, Sanders Defends Socialism In Fiery Debate
“Let's talk about democratic socialism," Sanders said, adding: "We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now. The problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, 'We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.” Applause rang out. “When Donald Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury condominiums, that's socialism for the rich,” Sanders said. “We have to subsidize Walmart’s workers on Medicaid and food stamps because the wealthiest family in America pays starvation wages. That's socialism for the rich. I believe in Democratic socialism for working people. Not billionaires. Health care for all. Educational opportunity for all.” (Caputo, McCaskill and Naranjo, 2/19)

The New York Times: Warren Leads An Onslaught Of Attacks, Zeroing In On Bloomberg
There was little in the debate to suggest that Mr. Sanders, the national front-runner and the favorite to win Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, had been knocked off balance, and the pile-on against Mr. Bloomberg had the potential to work in Mr. Sanders’s favor by keeping the focus of hostilities elsewhere. But Mr. Sanders, too, was pressed to address some of the persistent questions about his candidacy, including whether he would release a fuller version of his medical records and why his candidacy appears to inspire uniquely vitriolic behavior by some of his supporters on the internet. Mr. Sanders, Vermont’s junior senator, insisted that nearly all of his online fans were good and decent people, but said he would “disown those people” who behave in deplorable ways. (Burns and Martin, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Debate In Nevada: The Moments That Mattered
Buttigieg and Sanders battle over curbing the online behavior of supporters. “I think you have to accept some responsibility.” —Pete Buttigieg. Why this matters: Mr. Sanders defended the online activity of his supporters, some of whom are referred to as Bernie Bros, after leaders of the Culinary Union said they had been attacked from some of the senator’s advocates online and by phone. Mr. Sanders said of his supporters that “99.9% of them are decent human beings,” but if any of them “make ugly remarks” or “attack trade union leaders, I disown those people.” Mr. Buttigieg suggested that Mr. Sanders hadn’t done enough to tamp down the actions of his own supporters, and challenged the senator to ask himself: “Why did this pattern arise? Why is it especially the case among your supporters?” (Thomas, 2/19)

Los Angeles Times: Bernie Sanders Faces Questions Over Supporters' Online Behavior
Women in the leadership of a Nevada union that opposes his healthcare agenda were swarmed last week with vulgar and threatening emails, phone calls and Twitter posts. In the days following, Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Michael R. Bloomberg all questioned Sanders’ commitment to curbing the provocations. (Finnegan, 2/19)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The Las Vegas Democratic Debate
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. claimed undue credit for being the “first” candidate to introduce a public option. This is exaggerated. Four candidates — Mr. Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Mr. Bloomberg — support a public option, which anyone can buy into but retains private insurance. The concept has been around for many years. (2/19)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking The Ninth Democratic Debate
“You know that from the moment from the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace.”— Biden. Biden gets this mostly right, but some context is required. In a speech in 2010, after the Affordable Care Act was passed, Bloomberg gave a speech at Dartmouth College. “We passed a health care bill that does absolutely nothing to fix the big health-care problems in this country. It is just a disgrace,” he said, according to a report by CNN. “The president, in all fairness, started out by pointing out what the big problems were, but then turned it over to Congress, which didn’t pay any attention to any of those big problems and just created another program that’s going to cost a lot of money.” He went on to say: “It’s really sad because they say they’ve insured or provided coverage for another 45 million people." (Kessler, Rizzo and Cahlan, 2/19)

NBC News: Fact Check: Did The Health Care Industry Make $100 Billion In Profits?
Sanders said Wednesday night that "the health care industry made $100 billion in profits." "Somehow or another, Canada can provide universal health care to all their people," he said. "U.K. can do it, France can do it, Germany could, all of Europe can do it. Gee whiz. Somehow or another, we are the only major country on Earth that can't do it. Why is that?" (Miranda, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Michael Bloomberg, In Debate, Draws Fire From Democratic Rivals
Tensions also rose between Mr. Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who are competing for the party’s center lane and who engaged in a series of testy, often personal exchanges. After Ms. Klobuchar pushed for a comprehensive immigration overhaul, Mr. Buttigieg interjected to attack her record, including her vote in 2007 to make English the official language of the U.S. “You voted to confirm the head of Customs and Border Protection under Trump, who was one of the architects of the family-separation policy. You voted to make English the national language,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “Do you know the message that sends?” (Siddiqui, Parti and Collins, 2/20)

Politico: Loathing In Las Vegas: Amy And Pete’s Resentment Boils Over
Politically, Buttigieg and Klobuchar are both hawking middle-of-the-road, tell-it-like-it-is personas, which they argue Democrats need to carry the Midwest, the region they call home. They are both competing to emerge as the main moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders, the current polling frontrunner. But the rivalry runs deeper than their political positioning. Klobuchar has regularly spoken about sexism on the campaign trail, explaining that she is willing to call out “double standards” for female candidates because “we have to grapple with the fact that some people think a woman can’t win” against Trump, she told POLITICO in January. (Schneider, 2/20)

Politico: Democratic Candidates, Trump Agree: Their Medical Records Are None Of Your Business
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ refusal to release more medical records, months after vowing to offer “comprehensive” details after his heart attack, is the latest reminder voters know relatively little about the health of the men and women seeking the most powerful job in the world — including some who would turn 80 in their first terms. None of the top dozen presidential candidates this cycle has released his or her “full” health records, instead offering doctor’s notes that paper over decades of medical trauma, ranging from heart attacks to brain surgery. (Diamond, 2/19)

Politico: Liberals Hope To Finally Oust Anti-Abortion Democrat
The ascendant Democratic left may have found the opening it needs to finally dislodge one of the party’s few anti-abortion House members in next month's Illinois primary. The effort to defeat Rep. Dan Lipinski, who represents part of Chicago and its southwest suburbs, is drawing presidential contenders and the state’s top Democratic leaders. And if liberals succeed in ousting the self-proclaimed moderate, it would leave just two House Democrats who oppose abortion rights. (Kapos, 2/20)

The Associated Press: China's New Virus Cases, Deaths Rise But Increase Is Lower
New virus cases in China rose by just 394 from the previous day, with a rise in the death toll of 114, the government said Thursday, as health inspectors went door-to-door to find every infected person in the worst-hit city. Mainland China has now reported 2,118 deaths and 74,576 total cases. While the overall spread of the virus has been slowing, the situation remains severe in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, where the new coronavirus was first detected in December. More than 80% of the country's cases are in Hubei and 95% of the deaths, according to data from China's National Health Commission. (Moritsugu, 2/19)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Live Updates: Cases Surge In South Korea As Daegu Mayor Tells Residents To Stay Indoors
Many international experts say the disease will continue to spread globally even as the Chinese government seeks to present the image that it is coming to grips with the epidemic. New cases inside China dropped again Wednesday, officials reported Thursday, after national authorities changed for the second time in a week the criteria for how cases are diagnosed and counted. (Shih and Armus, 2/20)

Reuters: China Lab Says Conspiracy Theories Hurting Efforts To Curb Virus
An outbreak of disinformation in China and elsewhere has hurt global efforts to combat the new coronavirus, said a specialist infectious disease lab located at the epicenter of the epidemic -- and at the heart of a number of conspiracy theories. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology said "internet rumors" had "received close attention from all walks of life" and "caused great harm to our research staff on the front line of scientific research." (Stanway, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Life In Coronavirus Lockdown: ‘We Can Make It Through This’
Beijing’s municipal government recently said that people returning to the capital after traveling outside the city must isolate themselves for 14 days, a sign that a return to normal life in the city of 21.5 million people remains elusive. Last Thursday and Friday alone, China’s National Health Commission added about 20,000 newly confirmed cases to its official count. More than 70,000 people were infected with the new coronavirus as of Tuesday. Amid this crisis, The Wall Street Journal spoke with Beijing residents both at home and on the largely empty streets about life in lockdown. (2/20)

Reuters: Trump: 'Confident China Is Trying Very Hard' In Handling Coronavirus Outbreak
U.S. President Donald Trump is confident that China is "trying very hard" in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, he said in a television interview late on Wednesday. China has reported a dramatic drop in new cases in the province at the heart of the outbreak, although the toll of more than 2,000 ranks the epidemic among the biggest global health emergencies of recent decades. (2/20)

Los Angeles Times: San Diego County Supervisors Affirm Coronavirus-Driven Emergency Declaration
As the number of people under self-supervised home quarantine across Southern California continued to grow, and the federal quarantine at Miramar air base neared an end, San Diego County supervisors Wednesday unanimously approved a local emergency declaration, shifting gears in a public health response that experts say may grind on for months. A few hours after the board’s vote, an extra bit of positive news appeared as UC San Diego Health announced that one of the two COVID-19 patients it has cared for since last week has been discharged home after several subsequent negative tests proved the person is no longer infected. (Sisson, 2/19)

The New York Times: Hundreds Released From Diamond Princess Cruise Ship In Japan
Hundreds of passengers walked off a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship Wednesday after getting the all-clear from the Japanese authorities, but the scene that greeted them as their feet touched solid ground for the first time in weeks suggested that some found the assurances less than reassuring. The taxi drivers who would ordinarily flock to meet arriving cruises were in short supply. There were yellow city buses to ferry passengers to airports and train stations, but their drivers were blocked off by plastic sheeting and tape. Even workers just walking around the terminal wore hazmat suits. (Rich and Yamamitsu, 2/19)

Reuters: Two Passengers From Coronavirus-Hit Cruise Ship In Japan Die As Public Criticism Grows
Two elderly coronavirus-infected passengers from a cruise ship moored near Tokyo have died and two more government officials have been infected, the Japanese government said on Thursday, as more passengers disembarked after two weeks' quarantine. More than 620 of the passengers on the Diamond Princess liner have been infected on the ship, which has been quarantined since Feb. 3, initially with about 3,700 people on board. (2/20)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Spread In Japan Brings Political Fallout For Shinzo Abe
For Japan’s government, it was another stinging critique of its handling of the outbreak, including what critics call sluggish responses in imposing border controls earlier this month and ramping up virus testing. In the past few days, the number of covid-19 cases — even outside the quarantined Diamond Princess — has more than doubled to 79, with many of the new cases not traceable to China. That has forced health officials to acknowledge that “local transmission” has begun and it’s now “impossible” to prevent the virus from spreading. (Denyer, 2/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Cruise Ship Will Set Sail Again In April—After A Thorough Cleaning
The $500 million cruise liner that became an incubator for the novel coronavirus will resume service again soon with its next group of holidaymakers, according to its operator, though only after a thorough cleaning. At its dock near Tokyo, the Diamond Princess still houses some passengers and crew under quarantine for the virus, two weeks after their voyage was scheduled to have ended. (Gale, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Can AI Flag Disease Outbreaks Faster Than Humans? Not Quite
Did an artificial-intelligence system beat human doctors in warning the world of a severe coronavirus outbreak in China? In a narrow sense, yes. But what the humans lacked in sheer speed, they more than made up in finesse. Early warnings of disease outbreaks can help people and governments save lives. In the final days of 2019, an AI system in Boston sent out the first global alert about a new viral outbreak in China. (O'Brien and Larson, 2/20)

Reuters: Speed Science: The Risks Of Swiftly Spreading Coronavirus Research
One scientific post suggests links between the new coronavirus and AIDS, a second says it may have passed to people via snakes, while a third claims it is a pathogen from outer space. The emergence in China of a new human coronavirus that is causing an epidemic of flu-like disease has sparked a parallel viral spread: science – ranging from robust to rogue  - is being conducted, posted and shared at an unprecedented rate. (Kelland, 2/19)

NPR: Hunt For New Coronavirus Treatments Includes Gene-Silencing And Monoclonal Antibodies
Viral infections can be very hard to treat. Just ask anyone who has a bad case of the flu. But that's not deterring research groups around the world from looking for an effective therapy against the new coronavirus, although they know it won't be easy. "Every virus is sort of like a dysfunctional family," says Dr. Mark Denison, a virologist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "They're dysfunctional in their own unique ways." (Palca, 2/19)

The Washington Post: How The New Coronavirus Can Kill People Or Sicken Them
No one knows exactly how or why the novel coronavirus leads to death in just a small percentage of patients — about 2 percent of those infected, according to preliminary numbers. Based on what we know about related illnesses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), experts hypothesize that the difference between a lethal infection and one that feels like a bad cold probably hinges on the interaction between the virus and a person’s immune system. (Johnson, 2/19)

The New York Times: Millions Of Americans Have Moved Off Assistance. Does Trump Get Credit?
President Trump likes to claim credit for the number of Americans who have stopped receiving food stamps since he entered office. In July 2018, he said 3.5 million had fallen from the rolls; the next spring, 5 million had. In his State of the Union speech this month, the number had grown to 7 million. Democrats say those figures only show Mr. Trump has pushed struggling Americans off public assistance by pressing to restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and other programs. (Tankersley and Fadulu, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: How The Drug Lobby Lost Its Mojo In Washington
The drug industry doesn’t pack the lobbying punch it once did, and one sign is something rare in the capital today—a dose of bipartisanship. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) joined Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) to write a bill last July to regulate prescription-drug prices, an idea the industry has bottled up since the 1960s. Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) sponsored a bill in May to block drug companies from using patent laws to delay lower-priced drugs. (Mullins and Armour, 2/19)

The Associated Press: California Governor Makes Homelessness Top Issue In 2020
Tossing aside tradition, California's governor on Wednesday devoted his biggest platform to a single issue: solving a homelessness crisis that has overwhelmed the nation's most populous state in an era of unprecedented prosperity. Governors typically use their annual “State of the State” speeches to touch on dozens of priorities because they are guaranteed an audience of lawmakers from both political parties as well as statewide media coverage. (Beam and Thompson, 2/19)

Reuters: California To Make State Buildings Available To House Homeless
"Let's call it what it is, a disgrace, that the richest state in the richest nation ... is failing to properly house, heal and humanely treat so many of its own people," Newsom said. California's homeless population soared 16% last year to around 151,000 with a statewide scarcity of affordable housing one of the root causes despite government spending. (2/19)

The New York Times: California Governor Declares Homeless Crisis ‘A Disgrace’
Vulnerable to the charge that the problem has exploded under Democratic rule in California, Mr. Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, pleaded with — and at times admonished — legislators to take action. “The hard truth is for too long we’ve ignored this problem,” Mr. Newsom said. “We turned away.” Homelessness has become pervasive in California, from the rural North to the sun-kissed coastal cities, and it has exposed the stark inequality in the state, whose economy would rank as the world’s fifth largest if it were an independent country. (Fuller, 2/19)

Los Angeles Times: California Homelessness Crisis 'A Disgrace,' Newsom Says In State Of The State
Careful to say that homelessness cannot be fixed overnight, Newsom nevertheless made ambitious promises to work with state lawmakers to tackle the problem. “I don’t think homelessness can be solved — I know homelessness can be solved,” Newsom told lawmakers. “This is our cause. This is our calling.” The Democratic governor called for all new shelters and supportive housing to be exempted from a key environmental law that has been used to restrict development, similar to a pilot project underway in Los Angeles County. (Willon and Luna, 2/19)

The Associated Press: 80 Is Not The New 70: Age May Bias Heart Care, Study Finds
People are more likely to buy things when prices end in 99 cents rather than rounded up to the next dollar, or cars with mileage under 1,000 instead of past that mark. Now researchers say something similar might be happening with age perception and heart surgery. A U.S. study out Wednesday finds that heart attack patients who turned 80 within the previous two weeks were less likely to get bypass surgery than those who were two weeks shy of that birthday, even though the age difference is less than a month. (2/19)

Reuters: Turning 80 Lowers Odds Heart Attack Patients Will Get Bypass Surgery
That, in turn, translated to a higher death rate among the 80-year-olds over the 30 and 60 days following their heart attacks, according to the report in The New England Journal of Medicine. Doctors "are arbitrarily classifying the two groups of patients as young versus old instead of treating them as two groups who are basically the same age," coauthor Dr. Anupam Jena, an associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. (2/19)

Stat: How Psychology Of A $4.99 Price Tag May Affect Doctors' Decisions 
Health economists aren’t generally known for their humor. There’s something about Medicaid that’s just deeply unfunny. Make a joke, and the punch line may well be deadly. As one quip goes: What do affordable health care and sarcasm have in common? Most Americans just don’t get it. (Boodman, 2/19)

Stat: Scientists Turn Organs Transparent And Capture 3D Pictures Of What’s Inside
Scientists in Germany have turned human organs transparent and captured pictures of the complex cellular architecture inside, the latest advance in an effort to develop a new way to see inside our tissues. The new work involved a three-pronged approach: stripping the pigment and fats from organs; capturing images of entire organs with a specially designed, larger microscope; and developing an algorithms to analyze those images and spit out maps labeled with specific cellular structures. (Thielking, 2/20)

The New York Times: Macrolide Antibiotics Early In Pregnancy Tied To Birth Defects
Taking certain antibiotics early in pregnancy may increase the risk for birth defects, a new study reports. British researchers studied more than 180,000 children whose mothers were prescribed either penicillin or one of the macrolide antibiotics — such as erythromycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin — during or up to a year before pregnancy. Macrolides are often prescribed for people allergic to penicillin. (Bakalar, 2/19)

The Associated Press: Claws Of Health? Lobster Blood Could Play Role In New Drugs
Maine lobsters have long delighted tourists as the state's most beloved seafood. But one company thinks the crustaceans can save human lives by providing their blood for use in new drugs. The effort, involving a longtime lobster scientist, wouldn't be the first example of coastal invertebrates being used to aid human health. Horseshoe crabs are harvested because their blood contains a protein used to detect contamination in medical products. (2/19)

NPR: Some Injection Drug Users Can Be Trusted With IV Antibiotics At Home
Two mornings a week, Arthur Jackson clears space on half of his cream-colored sofa. He sets out a few rolls of tape and some gauze, then waits for a knock on his front door. "This is Brenda's desk," Jackson says with a chuckle. Brenda Mastricola is his visiting nurse. After she arrives at Jackson's home in Boston, she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure. Then she changes the bandages on Jackson's right foot. His big toe was amputated at Brigham and Women's Hospital in November. A bacterial infection, osteomyelitis, had destroyed the bone. (Bebinger, 2/20)

Reuters: Deaths, Amputations Due To Blocked Leg Arteries Down Among U.S. Veterans
A growing number of older U.S. military veterans with blocked leg arteries are getting procedures to restore blood flow, and a new study suggests deaths and amputations are declining as a result. Researchers looked at a decade of data on almost 21,000 veterans hospitalized for "critical limb ischemia" - badly blocked arteries that can lead to infections, gangrene and amputation. Left untreated, the condition can quickly become fatal. (Rapaport, 2/19)

The New York Times: Michigan Says It Is Investigating If Team Doctor Abused Students
The University of Michigan said Wednesday that it was investigating whether one of its doctors had assaulted patients across several decades, becoming at least the third Big Ten university to reckon with allegations of sexual misconduct by longtime members of its medical staff. In a statement, Michigan said that “several individuals” had described sexual misconduct by Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who worked for the university for more than 30 years and died in 2008. Although Michigan did not detail the allegations, which it said included episodes as far back as the 1970s, the university’s president, Mark Schlissel, said that the accusations were “disturbing and very serious.” (Blinder and Witz, 2/19)

The Associated Press: University Of Michigan Investigates Doctor Sex Abuse Claims
“It is our understanding from the police investigation that there were rumors and some indication that U-M staff members were aware of Dr. Anderson’s inappropriate medical exams,” said spokesman Rick Fitzgerald. Robert Julian Stone told The Associated Press that Anderson assaulted him during a medical appointment at the university’s health center in 1971. Stone said he alerted university officials last summer, inspired by the national #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. (Karoub, Householder and Foody, 2/19)

The Washington Post: Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office Scrambling To Fill Jobs As Homicides, Drug Deaths Fuel Need For Autopsies
The Maryland Medical Examiner's Office is scrambling to fill persistent and new vacancies that are threatening its ability to handle a crushing load of cases stemming from the long-running opioid epidemic and a stubbornly high pace of homicides in Baltimore. Compounding the problem, the state’s well-regarded, longtime chief medical examiner left the office at the end of 2019, citing the challenges the office faces in coping with the overdose crisis. An assistant is serving as acting chief examiner while a search is underway. (Cohn, 2/19)

The Associated Press: Hundreds Urge Lawmakers To Keep Religious Vaccine Exemption
Hundreds of parents who are skeptical about the safety of vaccines turned out in force Wednesday, hoping to squash the latest proposal to end Connecticut’s religious exemption from certain childhood vaccines. But members of the medical and science community urged members of the General Assembly not to be swayed by the large numbers of advocates who turned out with young children in tow and stickers that read, “In God we trust.” (Haigh, 2/19)

Reuters: Exclusive: SmileDirectClub’s Top Dentist Risks Losing License In California Crackdown
The top dentist and public face of SmileDirectClub is at risk of losing his California license following a two-year state dental board investigation, records reviewed by Reuters show. The California disciplinary process underway against dentist Jeffrey A. Sulitzer, SmileDirectClub’s chief clinical officer, is the latest threat facing the high-flying tele-dentistry firm, which promises to straighten Americans’ teeth without a visit to an orthodontist’s office for costly treatment. (2/19)

Los Angeles Times: Legal Marijuana Use Still Costs People Jobs. A New California Bill Takes On The Issue
California voters legalized pot in 2016. But for many seeking jobs in state government, cannabis use has become an obstacle to getting hired. Now, a spike in the number of job applicants disqualified by state agencies after failing tests for marijuana use has spawned calls for new legislation and debate over whether employment rules should be relaxed given more widespread acceptance of the drug. (McGreevy, 2/19)