First Edition: January 23, 2020

Kaiser Health News: In-Home Teeth-Straightening Business Is Booming ― But Better Brace Yourself
Though Anna Rosemond, now 33, had braces when she was young, a couple of years ago she noticed her teeth were again starting to crowd. So when she saw a Groupon deal for SmileDirectClub, she jumped on it. “I thought, ‘This looks like a really cool way to do braces,’” said Rosemond, who made her own teeth impressions with putty and used a “smile stretcher” ― a device that pulls apart the lips and cheeks ― to take pictures of her mouth. A few weeks after she submitted the items, plastic aligners arrived in the mail, beginning what the company describes as Rosemond’s “smile journey.” (Appleby and Knight, 1/23)

Kaiser Health News: Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families
“I’m not anti-hospice at all,” said Joy Johnston, who relocated to New Mexico years ago at age 40 to care for her dying mother. “But I think people aren’t prepared for all the effort that it takes to give someone a good death at home.” Surveys show dying at home is what most Americans say they want. But it’s “not all it’s cracked up to be,” said Johnston, a caregiver advocate and writer from Atlanta. (Farmer, 1/23)

The New York Times: Trump Opens Door To Cuts To Medicare And Other Entitlement Programs
President Trump suggested on Wednesday that he would be willing to consider cuts to social safety-net programs like Medicare to reduce the federal deficit if he wins a second term, an apparent shift from his 2016 campaign promise to protect funding for such entitlements. The president made the comments on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Despite promises to reduce the federal budget deficit, it has ballooned under Mr. Trump’s watch as a result of sweeping tax cuts and additional government spending. (Rappeport and Haberman, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Battle Over Social Security Spills Into 2020 Campaign As Democrats Spar And Trump Weighs In
Speaking with CNBC from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said tackling entitlement spending is “the easiest of all things” and seemed to suggest higher economic growth would make it simpler to cut spending on those programs. Those comments come amid a heated debate in the Democratic presidential primary over former vice president Joe Biden’s record on Social Security, just days before the Iowa caucuses. “At the right time, we will take a look at that. You know, that’s actually the easiest of all things, if you look,” Trump said. He later added when asked about entitlements: “Well, we’re going — we’re going to look. We also have assets that we’ve never had. I mean, we’ve never had growth like this.” (Stein and Viser, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Trump Suggests He May Be Open To Entitlement Cuts In Future
Early in his presidential campaign, Trump said he was a different sort of Republican, one who would not cut Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid. The Medicaid promise was ultimately abandoned. The unsuccessful Republican drive to repeal “Obamacare” would have also limited future federal spending on that federal-state health insurance program for low-income people. More recently, Trump’s 2020 budget called for deep cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Madhani, 1/22)

CNBC: Davos 2020: CNBC's Full Interview With President Trump
President Donald Trump returned to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, touting sustained growth in the American economy as well as his his recent trade agreements with Mexico and Canada, and China. On Wednesday, the president, who is undergoing an impeachment trial in the Senate, sat down with CNBC’s Joe Kernen to discuss trade, the U.S. economy and much more, including the president’s persistent complaints about the Federal Reserve’s rate policy. (Calia, 1/22)

Politico: White House Prepared Short List To Shake Up HHS Leadership
White House officials drew up a short list of potential replacements for Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Medicare chief Seema Verma at the height of their contentious feud in case either was forced out late last year, three people with knowledge of the exercise told POLITICO. The officials developed the list days after the increasingly personal clash between Azar and Verma spilled into public view following a Nov. 26 POLITICO report that first detailed their rift. Two people with knowledge stressed that the names were not shared with President Donald Trump and that Azar and Verma are expected to remain in their roles through at least the rest of Trump’s first term. (Diamond and Cancryn, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Trump Administration Restores Women’s Health Funds To Texas
Eight years after Texas lost federal dollars over barring Planned Parenthood in a women’s health program, the Trump administration Wednesday allowed the state to resume getting as much as $350 million in another reversal of an Obama-era decision. Texas can receive the money over the next five years while still excluding Planned Parenthood from a state program called Healthy Texas Women that offers family planning and health services, such as pregnancy tests and breast cancer exams, to low-income families. (Weber, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Trump To Become The First President To Speak In Person At March For Life
President Trump announced Wednesday that he will attend Friday’s March for Life, the annual gathering of antiabortion protesters to commemorate the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court’s landmark abortion decision. While other presidents have addressed the annual rally by phone or sent video greetings, Trump would be the first to speak to the crowd in person. (Bailey, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump To Speak At Annual March For Life
Mr. Trump, who has spoken to the group via video in past years, said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon: “See you on Friday...Big Crowd!” The White House confirmed he would attend. “We are so excited for him to experience in person how passionate our marchers are about life and protecting the unborn,” said March for Life President Jeanne Mancini in a statement. “President Trump and his administration have been consistent champions for life and their support for the March for Life has been unwavering.” (Lucey, 1/22)

The Washington Post: For Some At March For Life, Antiabortion Views Drive Their Personal Spending — On Health Care, Investments, Even Starbucks
The Rev. Bjorn Lundberg will escort busloads of his parishioners to Washington on Friday for this year’s March for Life. They won’t be stopping at Starbucks on the way. The coffee giant is not aligned with their cause, Lundberg says. As a Catholic priest who leads a 9,500-member parish in Winchester, Va., he stopped patronizing Starbucks when he learned the chain matches its employees’ charitable donations, including to Planned Parenthood and other nonprofit groups that support abortion access. (Zauzmer, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Democrats Start Effort To Loosen Abortion Laws In Virginia
Virginia Democrats on Wednesday began to dismantle abortion restrictions erected by Republicans over the past decade, pushing an omnibus bill to the House floor on a 12-to-9 party-line vote. The bill would expand the categories of health professionals who can perform abortions, remove requirements for ultrasounds and waiting periods and eliminate rules that made some clinics ineligible to perform the procedure. (Sullivan, 1/22)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Deaths Are So Far Mostly Older Men, Many With Health Issues
When the man finally went to a hospital, he had been sick for a week. It was Dec. 26, and Mr. Zeng, 61, was weak with a cough. He got worse. A day later he was transferred to intensive care and on Dec. 30 he was put on a ventilator to help his deteriorating ability to breathe. He was moved to another hospital and attached to another machine that oxygenated his blood. Still he got worse, and on Jan. 9, his heart stopped. Mr. Zeng, who the authorities have only identified by his last name, became the first confirmed death from the new coronavirus that emerged in the central city of Wuhan and has spread around the country and beyond. (Ramzy, 1/23)

The New York Times: Scale Of China’s Wuhan Shutdown Is Believed To Be Without Precedent 
In closing off Wuhan, a city of more than 11 million people, China is deploying a centuries-old public health tactic to prevent the spread of infectious disease — this time, a mysterious respiratory infection caused by a coronavirus. Experts said the stunning scale of the shutdown, isolating a major urban transit hub larger than New York City, was without precedent. (Levenson, 1/22)

Reuters: China Orders 'Unprecedented' Lockdown Of Two Cities At Virus Epicenter
China is putting on lockdown a city of 11 million people considered the epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak that has killed 17 and infected nearly 600, as health authorities around the world scramble to prevent a global pandemic. Health officials fear the transmission rate will accelerate as hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home and abroad during week-long holidays for Lunar New Year, which begins on Saturday. (Chen and Lee, 1/23)

The Washington Post: Travel Ban Goes Into Effect In Chinese City Of Wuhan As Authorities Try To Stop Coronavirus Spread
All outbound trains and bus services from Wuhan — larger than any city in the United States — were suspended starting at 10 a.m. Thursday, causing chaos for some of the 400 million people hitting the road for the Lunar New Year holiday, which officially begins Friday. Armed police guarded the entrance to Wuhan's biggest railway station, less than a mile from the market where the virus originated, to stop people trying to get onto the last trains out of the city. (Fifield and Sun, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Here’s How The Unprecedented Quarantine Of One Of China’s Largest Cities Could Play Out
The quarantine comes at a troublesome time for the roughly 400 million people who are traveling in China for the Lunar New Year festival, which begins Saturday. Almost 25 million passengers were expected to travel through the three main stations of China Railway’s Wuhan branch, and the number of flights to and from the airport were expected to increase from 600 to 800 each day. Even before the quarantine, authorities had required people to wear medical masks in public places. Many stores had sold out on Wednesday. (Iati and Thebault, 1/22)

The New York Times: China Silences Critics Over Coronavirus Outbreak
The SARS disaster was supposed to drag China into a new era of openness and responsibility. The deadly disease rippled across the world 17 years ago, abetted by a Chinese government that covered up its spread. As the scope of it became clear, China’s journalists, intellectuals and other critics helped shame Beijing into opening up about the problem. “SARS has been our country’s 9/11,” said Xu Zhiyuan, then a young newspaper columnist and a fierce critic of the government’s handling of SARS, in a 2003 interview with The New York Times. “It has forced us to pay attention to the real meaning of globalization.” (Yuan, 1/22)

The Washington Post: A Coronavirus Spreading In China Is New. But Efforts To Stop It Began Nearly 20 Years Ago.
A new coronavirus that has killed at least 17 people in China and spread to several other countries is already putting global measures designed to fend off epidemics to the test. The looming question is whether the international community will try to stem its spread by implementing what it learned during the deadly outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, between 2002 and 2004, which also began in China. At the time, China denied the existence of the SARS virus, even as it spread across the country and abroad, eventually killing more than 770 people worldwide. (Noack and O'Grady, 1/22)

Reuters: Chinese Listed Companies Ramp Up Virus Efforts After President's Call
A number of Chinese listed companies - ranging from biotech firms, drugmakers, mask producers and thermometer manufacturers - announced efforts in response to a national call to fight the outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus. The new, flu-like virus, first discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed 17 and infected nearly 600 people. Cases have been detected in other major population centers, including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as overseas, triggering a public scramble for face masks and flu medicines. (1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Virus Sparks Chinese Panic Buying, Travel Cancellations And Social-Media Misinformation
Surgical masks flew off shelves, travelers canceled plans and rumors flooded social media as the number of confirmed infections of a new, pneumonia-causing coronavirus topped 500 cases across China. In drugstores and at airports, and on the online marketplaces increasingly at the heart of Chinese commerce, fear and confusion manifested themselves in shortages or long lines for suddenly scarce products promising protection from the deadly but still largely mysterious respiratory disease. (Wernau, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Investors Rattled By China’s Coronavirus Look To Past Epidemics For Clues
Investors fixated on the mysterious pneumonia-causing virus that originated in China are looking to past viral outbreaks to assess how bad the damage could be on the economy and markets this time around. Seventeen people have died, with more than 500 confirmed cases of the coronavirus that authorities say is spreading between people primarily through the respiratory tract. Federal health officials said Tuesday a man in Washington state has the first case to be confirmed in the U.S. (Russolillo and Chiu, 1/22)

Stat: WHO Postpones Decision On Whether To Declare China Outbreak A Global Public Health Emergency
The World Health Organization on Wednesday delayed a decision on whether to declare the ongoing outbreak of a novel virus that originated in China a global health emergency, with agency officials saying they needed more information to reach a consensus.Following a meeting of a WHO emergency committee, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he had asked the committee to continue the discussion Thursday. “This is an evolving and complex situation,” said Tedros, as he is known. He said declaring the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, was a decision “I’m only prepared to make with appropriate consideration of all the evidence.” (Joseph, 1/22)

The Washington Post: U.S. Readiness For A Viral Outbreak Has Improved, But There’s A Long Way To Go
A Liberian man walked into a Dallas emergency room in September 2014, at the height of the West African Ebola epidemic, complaining of high fever, abdominal pain and other symptoms of the fearsome virus. He was sent home with acetaminophen and a diagnosis of a sinus infection. Two weeks later, Thomas Eric Duncan was dead, two nurses who attended him were infected with Ebola and the shortcomings of U.S. preparations for a viral epidemic were vividly exposed. (Bernstein and Sun, 1/22)

The New York Times: A Scramble To Retrace The Steps Of The First Wuhan Coronavirus Case In The U.S.
Health officials scrambled on Wednesday to contact more than a dozen people who may have been exposed to the United States’ first case of the Wuhan coronavirus, even as regulators sought to assure the public there was little risk from an illness that has rapidly spread across Asia, killing at least 17 people. The patient, a man in his 30s who fell ill after traveling to China, has cooperated in helping public health workers trace his path from the Wuhan region of China to his home in Snohomish County, Wash., north of Seattle, health officials said. (Baker, 1/22)

The Associated Press: People Who Had Contact With Man With Virus To Be Monitored
Health officials said Wednesday they are actively monitoring 16 people who came into close contact with the traveler to China who became the first U.S. resident with a new and potentially deadly virus. The man, identified as a Snohomish County, Washington, resident is in his 30s, was in good condition and wasn't considered a threat to the public. (1/22)

Politico: 4 Things To Know About The China Coronavirus
Health workers are being told to be on the lookout for new cases and to ask patients whether they’ve traveled to China recently — or come into contact with someone who has. Advisories are being sent through electronic medical records, internal hospital newsletters and daily huddles before shifts begin, according to Nancy Foster, the American Hospital Association’s vice president of quality and patient safety. (Ehley, Roubein and Owermohle, 1/22)

Reuters: Explainer: Global Airlines On High Alert As Virus Outbreak Spreads
Airlines and passengers are on guard against a new flu-like virus that originated in Wuhan, China. Here's an explainer on the airline industry's response to the outbreak so far and its potential financial exposure compared to SARS in 2003, which killed nearly 800 people. (Freed, 1/23)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Concerns Lead Virginia Middle School To Cancel Visit By Chinese Exchange Students
A Northern Virginia middle school canceled a seven-day visit by 21 Chinese students and their chaperones on the day they arrived in the United States because of fears over a new coronavirus circulating in China, according to a school letter emailed to parents Wednesday afternoon. (Heim, 1/22)

Stat: The New Pneumonia-Causing Virus Needs A Name. It May Be Tricky
The pneumonia-causing virus, which is spreading rapidly in China and beyond, is currently being identified as 2019-nCoV, shorthand for a novel or new (i.e. “n”) coronavirus (CoV) that was first detected in 2019. The disease it causes doesn’t yet have a name, either, though Wuhan SARS or Wu Flu are among of the options being thrown around on the internet. None of these is likely to be the virus’ or the disease’s permanent name. They almost certainly would be unacceptable to the Chinese, and to the World Health Organization, which discourages the use of place names in the naming of diseases. As for the virus, the longer it spreads the less novel it becomes. 2019-nCoV is a bit like calling a daughter “the girl born in 2019.” Given that another daughter might be born in 2021, a name that might more easily distinguish between the two is probably in order. (Branswell, 1/23)

The New York Times: Major Insurers Pledge $55 Million To Try To Lower Generic Drug Prices
A major group of insurers said it would invest $55 million to create cheaper versions of expensive generic drugs for which there is little competition, in a further sign of dissatisfaction with the pharmaceutical industry’s price-setting practices. The decision by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and 18 of its member organizations, which insure about 40 million people, is part of a partnership agreement with Civica Rx, a nonprofit that is already selling drugs used in hospitals to health systems around the country. (Thomas, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Health Insurers Take On Big Pharma, Plan To Manufacture Their Own Drugs
The move — the latest salvo in the escalating battle to control drug prices — highlights the failure of the Trump administration and Congress to deliver relief for millions of Americans struggling to afford their medications. The announcement also comes as the state of California is exploring its own drug manufacturing plan. Neither effort would affect the high price of branded pharmaceuticals, which is the largest driver of U.S. drug spending. (Levey, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson Posts Higher Sales, Big 4Q Profit Jump
Higher prescription drug sales and lower legal costs drove Johnson & Johnson's fourth-quarter profit 32% higher. The world's biggest maker of health care products on Wednesday reported net income of $4.01 billion, or $1.50 per share. That's up from $3.04 billion, or $1.12, a year earlier. (1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson’s Profit, Sales Rise
J&J’s fourth-quarter adjusted earnings topped Wall Street estimates, but its sales fell just short of expectations. J&J shares declined 1.1% to $147.63 in morning trading Wednesday. Alex Gorsky, chief executive of the New Jersey-based health-products company, told analysts on a conference call the company’s performance was strong in 2019, especially in light of challenges including “today’s litigious environment”—a reference to lawsuits against J&J over the safety and marketing of various products such as opioids and baby powder. (Sebastian and Loftus, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Critics: Consumers Should Be Wary Of Short-Term Health Plans
Consumers who bought short-term health insurance thinking they had found a better deal than “Obamacare” during the open enrollment season may be in for a shock when they show up at their doctor’s office this year. The low-cost plans aren't required to cover basics such as prescription drugs or maternity care. (Kennedy, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Migrant Parents Separated From Kids Since 2018 Return To US
Nine parents who were deported as the Trump administration separated thousands of migrant families landed back into the U.S. late Wednesday to reunite with children they had not seen in a year and a half. The group arrived at Los Angeles International Airport from Guatemala City in a trip arranged under the order of a federal judge who found the U.S. government had unlawfully prevented them from seeking asylum. An asylum advocate confirmed the nine parents were all aboard the flight. (1/23)

Politico: What Happened After An Appalachian Town Got Shamed Nationally
Over a decade ago, Huntington, West Virginia, endured a dose of civic fat shaming when the city was labeled the most obese in the nation. Forty Five percent of the almost 49,000 residents were considered overweight. A hundred percent of the town was appalled at the title. It didn’t help the reputation of the city when a British celebrity chef turned up to lecture the public schools on their lunchroom fare and quiz children who could not identify basic vegetables. But in the end, it wasn’t an outsider’s intervention that turned the city around. (Dawson, 1/23)

Politico: How Mike Bloomberg Got New York To Eat Its Veggies
A Columbia University study published in 2014, found that Green Carts provided high quality fresh produce to neighborhoods with low consumption and availability and created an “economically viable and sustainable program.”Ester Fuchs, a professor of international and public affairs and political science who co-authored the study, concluded that the carts were penetrating the targeted population—it was serving low-income people for a lower cost, and they were eating more fresh produce. A subsequent 2015 city study found that the number of adults who reported not eating fruits or vegetables the previous day had decreased from 2002 to 2012, which “may be in part to due to the Green Carts.” (Dawson, 1/23)

The New York Times: Smokers Should Quit At Least 4 Weeks Before Surgery, W.H.O. Says
It goes without saying that cigarettes and surgery are not a winning combination. Scores of studies have shown that patients who use tobacco have poorer post-surgical outcomes. But many doctors give smokers conflicting advice on the ideal length of time they should go cold turkey before their operations. A new report released this week by the World Health Organization seeks to provide some clarity. Patients who quit smoking at least four weeks before an operation, the study found, have substantially improved outcomes, with fewer post-surgical infections and a reduced probability that they will have to return to the hospital for additional care. (Jacobs, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Unusual Study Details Woes Among Veterans Of Foster Care
Americans who have spent time in foster care are far more likely than other adults to lack a college degree, health insurance and a stable health care provider, according to a new federal analysis that is unprecedented in its scope. One striking finding in the report: Less than 5% of men who have been in foster care hold bachelor’s degrees, compared with 31% of other men. (Crary 1/22)

The Associated Press: Why Tech Has Been Slow To Fight Wildfires, Extreme Weather
For three years running, California’s wildfires have sent plumes of smoke across Silicon Valley. So far, though, that hasn't spurred much tech innovation aimed at addressing extreme-weather disasters associated with climate change. It's true that tech companies from enterprise software-maker Salesforce to financial-technology firm Stripe have pushed to dramatically reduce their climate impact. (1/22)

The New York Times: Ancient DNA From West Africa Adds To Picture Of Humans’ Rise
In October 2015, scientists reconstructed the genome of a 4,500-year-old man who lived in Ethiopia. It was the first time that anyone had created a complete genetic snapshot of an African from an ancient skeleton. Since then, other researchers have recovered DNA from skeletons unearthed in other regions of the continent. Now researchers have found the first genetic material from West Africa. On Wednesday a team reported that they had recovered DNA from four individuals in Cameroon, dating back as far as 8,000 years. (Zimmer, 1/22)

NPR: Survey: 3 Out Of 5 Americans Are Lonely
More than three in five Americans are lonely, with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out, poorly understood and lacking companionship, according to a new survey released Thursday. Workplace culture and conditions may contribute to Americans' loneliness. And loneliness may be on the rise. The report, led by the health insurer Cigna, found a 7% rise in loneliness since 2018, when the survey was first conducted. (Renken, 1/23)

The New York Times: Having Children, Breastfeeding May Cut Risk Of Early Menopause
Pregnancy and breastfeeding are associated with a reduced risk for early menopause, new research suggests. Menopause before age 45 has been linked to osteoporosis, depression, dementia, cardiovascular disease and premature death. It affects about 10 percent of women in the United States. (Bakalar, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Republican State Lawmakers Push Bills To Restrict Medical Treatments For Transgender Youths
Republican state lawmakers have filed a wave of bills that would ban medical professionals from treating transgender teens with hormones and sex reassignment surgery, reigniting a polarizing national debate over the rights of transgender youths and the government’s reach into doctors’ offices. More than half a dozen statehouses are considering bills that would penalize medical professionals — and, in at least one case, parents — who give young people access to puberty-blocking medicines and other treatments. (Wax-Thibodeaux and Schmidt, 1/22)

The Washington Post: South Dakota Bill Restricting Medical Treatment For Transgender Youth Passes First Major Vote
A proposal to ban doctors from prescribing hormones or performing sex-reassignment surgery for transgender youth in South Dakota cleared a committee vote on Wednesday, the first state to take action on a wave of bills that restrict medical interventions affecting young people’s gender expression. The bill makes it a misdemeanor for doctors to provide puberty blockers or other treatments affecting gender expression to children under the age of 16, carrying a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,000. (Wax-Thibodeaux and Schmidt, 1/22)

Reuters: California Governor Seeks Free Surplus Federal Land To Help House Homeless
California Governor Gavin Newsom, stepping up his bid to enlist U.S. government help to combat homelessness, has urged the Trump administration to open up surplus federal property for construction of more low-cost housing across the state. Newsom's request came in a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, who rejected pleas from California in September for more money to fight homelessness but has since adopted a more cooperative stance on the issue. (1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Meet The Woman Who Runs L.A.'s Massive, Annual Homeless Count
The hand-drawn thermometer on the wall had just jumped to 7,100, assuring everyone in the command center that this year’s homeless count would have enough volunteers. But for Clementina Verjan, in charge of every count since the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority began conducting them in 2005, that didn’t mean all was well. She knew it would be next to impossible to spread that many people across Los Angeles County in an even manner. Some locations would have too many volunteers and some would have too few. (Smith, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Virginia Senate Approves ‘Red Flag’ Law Allowing Temporary Seizure Of Guns From Someone Deemed A Threat
The Virginia Senate on Wednesday passed a "red flag" law that would allow authorities to temporarily seize the firearm of someone deemed a threat, a measure that was strongly opposed by gun rights advocates who swarmed the streets around the state Capitol on Monday. The bill passed on a party-line vote of 21-19, with every Democrat in favor and every Republican against. Debate grew unusually sharp as some GOP senators suggested that the bill would violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. (Schneider, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: SUNY Downstate Accused Of Retaliating Against Whistleblower Surgeons
Two surgeons have accused a New York state-run university and its medical school of retaliating against them for reporting concerns to senior management about patient safety and deaths in the institution’s heart-surgery and organ-transplant programs. The accusations, made in lawsuits filed in December and January in state court in Brooklyn, name as defendants the State University of New York and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. (West, 1/22)