First Edition: July 17, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
I’m A CPAP Dropout: Why Many Lose Sleep Over Apnea Treatment
CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure, is often one of the first solutions doctors suggest for sleep apnea. With this disorder, a person’s breathing stops and starts so frequently during the night that it can lead to or exacerbate health problems. The National Sleep Foundation estimates that more than 18 million American adults have sleep apnea. A CPAP machine blows a stream of air into the back of the throat to let people breathe easier. It prevents muscles in the back of the throat from narrowing, which can constrict the airway, causing snoring or disturbed sleep. Yet Frances Faulkenburg quit using her CPAP and went back to feeling sleepy and tired all the time. (Knight, 7/17)
Kaiser Health News:
‘An Arm And A Leg’: Journalist Learns The Hard Way That CPAP Compliance Pays
When Eric Umansky discovered that the machine that helps him breathe at night was “transmitting” his sleep habits to his insurance company, he was not happy. He was also less than pleased to learn that his insurer wanted to use that information to avoid paying for the treatment his doctor prescribed. Irked, Umansky — who’s a journalist — recruited an investigative reporter in his newsroom to get to the bottom of the story. Later, both men spoke with podcast host Dan Weissmann. (Weissmann, 7/17)
Kaiser Health News:
A ‘No-Brainer’? Calls Grow For Medicare To Cover Anti-Rejection Drugs After Kidney Transplant
On Wednesday, Alexis Conell will mark seven years since she received the kidney transplant that saved her life, but the 53-year-old Chicago woman isn’t exactly celebrating. Although the federal government paid most of the costs for her 2012 transplant, a long-standing Medicare policy halted coverage three years later for the drugs that keep her body from rejecting the organ.So when Conell lost her job suddenly last September, she also lost her health insurance — and her ability to afford the 16 daily medications she needs to survive. (Aleccia, 7/17)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: Opioid Trial In Oklahoma Wraps Up
Did drugmaker Johnson & Johnson create a “public nuisance” that led to the opioid epidemic? That’s the question a state judge in Oklahoma is weighing after the country’s first trial against opioid manufacturers wrapped up Monday. The state is asking for $17 billion in damages. Jackie Fortier of StateImpact Oklahoma has covered the trial from start to finish for NPR and Kaiser Health News. This account of the seven-week trial’s closing arguments aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Tuesday. (Fortier, 7/17)
The New York Times:
Planned Parenthood Ousts President, Seeking A More Political Approach
Planned Parenthood on Tuesday removed its president after less than a year in the job, seeking new leadership at a time when abortion rights have come under increasing attack from statehouses and Republicans in Washington. The sudden ouster reflected a widening disagreement between the president, Leana Wen, and the board of directors over her management style and which direction to steer one of the nation’s leading women’s reproductive rights groups. Her departure followed a series of negotiations that appeared to end acrimoniously on Tuesday. (Goldmacher, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
Planned Parenthood President Forced Out After Only 8 Months
Wen, in a Twitter post, said she learned that Planned Parenthood's board "ended my employment at a secret meeting." She indicated the board wanted more emphasis on political advocacy, while she sought to prioritize Planned Parenthood's role as a provider of health care services ranging from birth control to cancer screenings. "We were engaged in good faith negotiations about my departure based on philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood," Wen said. "I am stepping down sooner than I had hoped." (7/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
President Of Planned Parenthood Is Ousted
In a statement, Dr. Wen said she had significant philosophical differences with the leaders of the organization’s board. “I believe that the best way to protect abortion care is to be clear that it is not a political issue but a health care one,” she said in the statement. (Hackman, 7/16)
Reuters:
Head Of Planned Parenthood Groups Departs, Cites Differences Over Abortion
Dr. Leana Wen, the first physician in nearly 50 years to lead the federation and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said she took the job last September intending to advocate for a broad range of public health policies, not just abortion. The federation's board, however, decided to "double down" on making abortion rights a key priority as the group engages in legal and political battles after some states passed severe restrictions women's ability to terminate pregnancies, Wen said. (7/16)
Politico:
Planned Parenthood Ousts Head Amid Heightened Attack On Abortion Rights
Planned Parenthood said in a statement it had named Alexis McGill Johnson acting president and CEO of both the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its political arm, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She had served on both boards and has long been involved with the organization. Planned Parenthood said it would start searching for a new permanent CEO next year. “Alexis is a renowned social justice leader, lifelong political organizer, and a tireless advocate for reproductive rights and access to quality, affordable health care,” Planned Parenthood board chair Aimee Cunningham and Action Fund chair Jennie Rosenthal said. (Kenen and Ollstein, 7/16)
Bustle:
Who Will Be Planned Parenthood's New CEO? Alexis McGill Johnson Is Leading The Organization
"Having been part of the Planned Parenthood family for nearly a decade, and having spent my career working in movements for social justice, I can’t think of a greater honor or more weighty responsibility than leading an organization like Planned Parenthood in this moment," Johnson tweeted. (Darrough, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood Ousts Leader After Less Than A Year
The ouster occurred at one of the most difficult moments in the group’s history. The organization faces growing financial peril from a Trump administration rule that took effect Monday barring federally funded family planning clinics from providing referrals for abortions. It is also under attack by antiabortion lawmakers at the state and federal level and is threatened by the prospect that the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion could be overturned by the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority. (Bernstein, Cha and Goldstein, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
Planned Parenthood To Defy Trump Abortion Referral Rule
Federally funded family planning clinics, including Planned Parenthood, are defying the Trump administration's ban on referring women for abortions, drawing a line against what they say amounts to keeping patients in the dark about legitimate health care options. "We are not going to comply with a regulation that would require health care providers to not give full information to their patients," Jacqueline Ayers, the group's top lobbyist, said in an interview Tuesday. "We believe as a health care provider it is wrong to withhold health care information from patients." (7/16)
The Washington Post:
Family Planning Groups Forgo Federal Money Over Abortion Referral Rule
Two family planning organizations announced Tuesday that they will stop accepting money from the government program that pays for reproductive health services, the first exodus after the Trump administration told health clinics that they can no longer receive the federal funds if they give patients referrals for abortions. The decisions, by Maine Family Planning and Planned Parenthood of Illinois, came less than 24 hours after the Department of Health and Human Services issued a notice late Monday that it was immediately enforcing the contentious new rule for the half-century-old family planning program. (Goldstein, 7/16)
Politico:
Exclusive: Trump To Order Drive For Improved Flu Vaccine
President Donald Trump is readying an executive order that would direct HHS to overhaul the development of flu vaccine and encourage more Americans to get vaccinated, say nine people with knowledge of the plan and according to internal documents reviewed by POLITICO. The move represents a significant reversal from a president who spent years attacking the safety of vaccines prior to taking office. However, it would largely codify work that's already underway at HHS, and budget officials and Congress have yet to sign off on additional funding, said four individuals with knowledge of the strategy. (Diamond, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Nurses Are Teaching Doctors How To Treat Anti-Vaccine Fears And Myths
It’s late on a Tuesday night during the worst measles outbreak in decades, and doctors, nurses and other health-care providers are gathered at a medical center to learn better ways of talking to parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their children. Blima Marcus, an oncology nurse, leads the two-hour session on how to do a better job listening to and responding to parents’ questions — and, in the process, cultivating their trust. The key, she says, is hearing people’s questions about the science behind vaccines, and addressing those directly. (Sun, 7/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
In Iowa And Beyond, Older Voters Are Key To 2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination
The math is simple: Voters 50 and older are expected to make up more than half of Iowa caucus-goers in 2020, and more than three-quarters of the Democratic field is on hand to court them in the first state on the nomination calendar. AARP, the largest advocacy group in the U.S. for people 50 and older, is flexing its muscles by bringing 19 of the Democratic candidates in front of its members for five different forums this week across the Hawkeye State. Several of the candidates are also pushing out policy proposals on health care, drug prices, Medicare and other issues of special importance to older voters, timed to coincide with the gatherings. (McCormick, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
Biden Plan Seeks To Boost Rural America Through Investments
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday sought to build on his appeal to rural voters with the release of a broad plan to revitalize rural America through investments in agriculture, rural economies and infrastructure. ... It also includes a $20 billion investment in rural broadband infrastructure, a commitment to prioritize the poorest rural counties for federal investments and a promise to create a federal working group to help rural communities figure out how to apply for federal funds and resources. And it features a raft of policies aimed at bolstering rural health care access, including doubling the funding for community health centers and expanding the use of telehealth services and rural medical residency programs. (7/16)
The Washington Post:
Sanders Hits Harder At Biden
Bernie Sanders, the self-described political revolutionary who has struggled to expand his support base in a crowded Democratic presidential field, offered his most comprehensive critique yet of rival Joe Biden on Tuesday — a reflection of the candidates’ increasing eagerness to challenge the primacy of the former vice president. The senator from Vermont, in an interview with The Washington Post, criticized Biden on his health-care plan, his foreign policy record and his ability to win crucial voters in the Upper Midwest states that were carried in 2016 by President Trump, calling Biden an enabler of the “deregulation of Wall Street” that led to “incredible pain” for many Americans. (Sullivan and Costa, 7/16)
The Hill:
Insurance Lobby Chief Confronts Storm Over Medicare For All
At the first Democratic presidential debates last month, the threat to private health insurance was stark, with multiple leading candidates indicating they would eliminate it entirely in their quest to provide universal health care. It’s Matt Eyles’s job to make sure they don’t. As the head of the health insurance lobbying group America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Eyles is helping lead the industry’s fight against “Medicare for All,” while pushing for more incremental changes, such as lowering prescription drug prices. (Sullivan, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Largest U.S. Drug Companies Flooded Country With 76 Billion Opioid Pills, DEA Data Shows
America’s largest drug companies saturated the country with 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from 2006 through 2012 as the nation’s deadliest drug epidemic spun out of control, according to previously undisclosed company data released as part of the largest civil action in U.S. history. The information comes from a database maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States — from manufacturers and distributors to pharmacies in every town and city. The data provides an unprecedented look at the surge of legal pain pills that fueled the prescription opioid epidemic, which has resulted in nearly 100,000 deaths from 2006 through 2012. (Higham, Horwitz and Rich, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Companies Respond To DEA Opioid Sales Data
A yearlong legal battle waged by The Washington Post and HD Media, publisher of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, resulted in a ruling Monday releasing government data tracking sales of billions of opioid pills in the U.S. from 2006 to 2012. The data in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Drug Automation of Reports and Consolidated Order System, known as ARCOS, reveals what each company knew about the number of pills it was shipping and dispensing and precisely when they were aware of those volumes, year-by-year, town-by-town. (Davis and Abelson, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Takeaways From The DEA's ARCOS Database
Just six companies distributed 75 percent of the pills — oxycodone and hydrocodone — during this period: McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart, according to an analysis of the database by The Washington Post. Three companies manufactured about 88 percent of the opioids: SpecGx, a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt; Actavis Pharma; and Par Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Endo Pharmaceuticals. (7/16)
The Associated Press:
Federal Data Shows Opioid Shipments Ballooned As Crisis Grew
While OxyContin is the best-known prescription opioid, the Post analysis shows that Purdue accounted for just 3% of pills sold during that time. Three makers of generic drugs accounted for nearly 90% of the sales. The data tracks a dozen different opioids, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, according to the Post. They account for most of the pill shipments to pharmacies. (Gillispie, 7/17)
NPR:
Opioid Distribution And Sales Data Release Sheds Light On Opioid Prescribing
"I don't think America truly understands the scope and depth, the level of penetration these pills had in their communities," says Paul Farrell with the firm Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel. "It's going to be an awakening." Farrell is one of three co-lead attorneys suing the pharmaceutical industry as part of the largest consolidated civil lawsuit related to drug industry's role in the opioid epidemic in the U.S., scheduled to go to trial in October. (Mann, 7/16)
The New York Times:
States Are Making Progress On Opioids. Now The Money That’s Helping Them May Dry Up
Bryan Garner was homeless and injecting as much fentanyl as he could get his hands on when he found the Missouri Network Outreach Center, a community center in an old brick rowhouse in St. Louis that connects people to addiction treatment. Mr. Garner, 51, accepted the center’s offer of assistance and has not used any illegal drugs since January. “I really feel like, without this place, I wouldn’t be here now,” he said. But how long the center will survive — and how long Mr. Garner will be able to get free treatment — is in question. The center exists thanks to $3.3 billion in opioid crisis grants, approved with strong bipartisan support, that the Trump administration and Congress have allotted to states since 2017, when a record 47,600 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids. The money for treatment, prevention and recovery is the administration’s most tangible contribution to addressing the opioid epidemic, and a rare example of an initiative that has received almost full bipartisan support in Washington during President Trump’s tenure. (Goodnough, 7/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
Debt-Limit Talks Hit More Snags: VA Health Care, GOP Demands On Spending
Negotiations to raise the U.S. government’s borrowing limit and set overall federal spending levels face at least two more hurdles: how to pay for an overhaul of veterans’ health care; and Republican demands to offset spending increases. Congress and the Trump administration have days to reach an agreement on the must-pass measures. The House leaves Washington for an August recess at the end of next week, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned last week that the U.S. could breach its debt limit in early September, before lawmakers return to the Capitol. (Duehren, 7/16)
ProPublica:
A Border Patrol Agent Reveals What It’s Really Like To Guard Migrant Children
The Border Patrol agent, a veteran with 13 years on the job, had been assigned to the agency’s detention center in McAllen, Texas, for close to a month when the team of court-appointed lawyers and doctors showed up one day at the end of June. Taking in the squalor, the stench of unwashed bodies, and the poor health and vacant eyes of the hundreds of children held there, the group members appeared stunned. Then, their outrage rolled through the facility like a thunderstorm. One lawyer emerged from a conference room clutching her cellphone to her ear, her voice trembling with urgency and frustration. “There’s a crisis down here,” the agent recalled her shouting. (Thompson, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
CBP Forced A 3-Year-Old To Choose Which Parent Should Stay With Her In The U.S.
Inside a Customs and Border Patrol facility last week, a 3-year-old Honduran girl was reportedly asked to make an unfathomable choice. The girl’s parents, Tania and Joseph, had fled their country with their three children earlier this year, telling NPR they faced violent threats in Honduras from the infamous MS-13 gang. The family was soon moved to Júarez, Mexico, under the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, which requires asylum seekers to wait outside the United States while their claims are adjudicated by an immigration judge. (Brice-Saddler, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
Johnson & Johnson 2Q Profit Jumps 42% Despite Lower Sales
Johnson & Johnson posted slightly lower sales across much of its business in the second quarter, but a big one-time gain and lower spending on marketing and administration boosted its profit a whopping 42 percent. That blew past Wall Street expectations. The maker of baby shampoo and cancer and immune disorder drugs on Tuesday raised its full-year sales forecast, despite sharply lower sales from its medical device business, as well as lower U.S. prescription drug sales and consumer health sales overseas. (7/16)
The Wall Street Journal:
Johnson & Johnson Bumps Up Sales Target
Excluding special items, J&J earned $2.58 a share, above the mean estimate of analysts polled by FactSet of $2.46 a share. Sales fell 1.3% to $20.56 billion, but were better than analysts’ expectations. J&J now expects reported sales for the year to be between $80.8 billion and $81.6 billion, up from the $80.4 billion to $81.2 billion previously forecast. (Loftus and Chin, 7/16)
Reuters:
Abbott To Hike Production Of Lower-Cost Glucose Monitors As Diabetes Soars
Abbott Laboratories plans to ramp up manufacturing capacity for its lower-cost continuous glucose monitor, the FreeStyle Libre, by three to five times in the next few years, aiming to reach millions more patients worldwide, the company told Reuters. Abbott executives said the increase in manufacturing capacity will begin in the second half of this year and make room for the expected U.S. launch of the FreeStyle Libre 2. This next-generation device has been approved in Europe and is now under U.S. regulatory review. (7/16)
The New York Times:
Do Service Dogs Help Treat PTSD? After Years Of Research, The V.A. Still Doesn’t Know
While the V.A. covers the veterinary care and the equipment costs of service dogs for veterans with certain physical disabilities, like blindness or vision impairment, department leaders have long contended that there isn’t enough clinical evidence to prove their benefits for treating mental-health issues. “I would say there are a lot of heartwarming stories that service dogs help, but scientific basis for that claim is lacking,” Dr. Michael Fallon, the V.A.’s chief veterinarian, said during an interview with National Public Radio in 2017. “The V.A. is based on evidence-based medicine. We want people to use therapy that has proven value.” (Craven, 7/17)
The Washington Post:
Rural Retreats Offer Traumatized Veterans And Their Families Time And Therapy To Heal
The nonprofit, based in Granby, Colo., offers free six-day retreats in bucolic settings for veteran and military families. Participants take a wide range of classes, including on dealing with PTSD, managing household finances and communicating effectively. They also break for recreational activities like rock climbing and fishing. Since its founding in 2007, the nonprofit has hosted 180 retreats in seven states serving about 1,400 families. This month, it held its first retreat in Maryland, attended by the Rogerses and 10 other families. (Natanson, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
New Clues On Why Women's Alzheimer's Risk Differs From Men's
New research gives some biological clues to why women may be more likely than men to develop Alzheimer's disease and how this most common form of dementia varies by sex. At the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday, scientists offered evidence that the disease may spread differently in the brains of women than in men. Other researchers showed that several newly identified genes seem related to the disease risk by sex. (7/16)
NPR:
Why Is Alzheimer's Risk Higher For Women?
Researchers used special brain scans to compare tau in the brains of more than 400 men and women. Some had mild cognitive impairment, a memory problem that often precedes Alzheimer's. And in this group, a person's sex affected where tau appeared in the brain. "We saw a more spread-out pattern in women with mild cognitive impairment than men with mild cognitive impairment," Shokouhi says. (Hamilton, 7/17)
The Washington Post:
Women Who Work For A Salary See Slower Memory Decline In Old Age, Reducing Their Risk Of Dementia, A New Study Suggests
Women who engaged in paid employment between ages 16 and 50, whether mothers or non-mothers, had better memories in late life than women who did not work, the study found. The rate of memory deterioration was fastest among women who never earned a wage. Memory loss is one of the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California at San Francisco and Boston College tracked 6,836 American women born between 1935 and 1956 across about 20 years. Participants were enrollees in the Health and Retirement Study, a federally funded long-term observational study of aging people across the United States. (Natanson, 7/16)
The New York Times:
Google Glass Has An Afterlife As A Device To Teach Autistic Children
When Esaïe Prickett sat down in the living room with his mother, father and four older brothers, he was the only one wearing Google Glass. As Esaïe, who was 10 at the time and is 12 now, gazed through the computerized glasses, his family made faces — happy, sad, surprised, angry, bored — and he tried to identify each emotion. In an instant, the glasses told him whether he was right or wrong, flashing tiny digital icons that only he could see. Esaïe was 6 when he and his family learned he had autism. The technology he was using while sitting in the living room was meant to help him learn how to recognize emotions and make eye contact with those around him. The glasses would verify his choices only if he looked directly at a face. (Metz, 7/17)
The New York Times:
Red Cross To World’s Cities: Here’s How To Prevent Heat Wave Deaths
One of the largest disaster relief agencies on Tuesday had a message for the world’s mayors: Heat waves are getting more intense on a hotter planet, but they don’t have to be deadly if city officials take simple and often inexpensive steps. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies put out a 96-page guidebook designed to help city officials prepare for heat waves. It repeatedly points out that heat waves are predictable, sometimes days and weeks in advance, and that city officials, and, sometimes private employers, can take steps to save lives. (Sengupta, 7/16)
The New York Times:
A Better Way To Manage Your Period? Try The Menstrual Cup, Scientists Say
Menstrual cups, little-known devices used by women to manage their periods, are safe and as effective as sanitary pads and tampons, as well as less expensive, according to the first comprehensive analysis of the products. Many women have never heard of menstrual cups; some may know them only by brand names like Diva Cups or Moon Cups. They are flexible, bell-shaped devices made of silicone, rubber or latex that are inserted into the vagina to capture menstrual blood. The cups can be left in place for four to 12 hours before being emptied, rinsed and reinserted. (Rabin, 7/16)
The New York Times:
High Blood Pressure And High Cholesterol May Pose Special Risks In Young Adults
High blood pressure and high cholesterol in young adults may be particularly dangerous, new research suggests. It increases the risk for cardiovascular disease in later life, whatever risk factors develop in later years. Scientists pooled the results of six studies with data on blood pressure and cholesterol in 36,030 people ages 18 to 84, followed for an average of 17 years. (Bakalar, 7/16)
The Washington Post:
Latin America’s War On Obesity Could Be A Model For U.S.
There is something Chilean kids won’t see anymore. As of June 27, cinemas and televisions no longer screen advertisements for foods high in calories, added sugar, sodium and saturated fat between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., under new laws aimed at reducing childhood obesity in Chile. It is one of the most recent efforts in the campaign against obesity that Latin American countries have been fully engaged with — and winning — for some time. (Reiley, 7/16)
The New York Times:
To Help Smokers Quit, Pay Them
Paying people to stop smoking is a very effective method of getting them to quit, a large review of studies has found. The meta-analysis, in the Cochrane Reviews, covered 33 trials and included more than 21,000 people. The studies were carried out in various settings — primary care clinics, universities, cancer treatment centers and others. All followed the participants for at least six months, checking breath or body fluids for evidence of smoking. (Bakalar, 7/16)
The New York Times:
Born To Walk Barefoot
Wearing shoes when we walk changes how our feet interact with the ground below us, according to a novel new study in the journal Nature of shod and unshod walkers, the state of their feet and the extent of the forces they generate with every step. The study, which echoes some of the research that first popularized barefoot running, finds that walkers move differently when they are barefoot or shod and have differing sensitivity to the ground, potentially affecting balance and joint loading. The results intimate that there could be advantages to perambulating with naked feet, not the least of which, surprisingly, involves developing calluses. (Reynolds, 7/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York City Hopes To Ease Strain On Its Emergency Rooms
The country’s largest public-hospital system is about to tackle one of health care’s biggest challenges: getting patients out of emergency rooms and into the offices of primary-care doctors. What has been touted by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as “literally universal” health care guaranteed to all New Yorkers is more technically an expanded primary-care system for the most needy. Called NYC Care, it is planned to have the typical perks familiar to people who have insurance: a membership card, 24/7 on-call service, easier access to specialists and ready appointments with the same primary-care physician. (West, 7/16)
ProPublica/Sacramento Bee:
Deadly Delays In Jail Construction Cost Lives And Dollars Across California
Last June, Fabian Cardoza headed to the shower in the dilapidated Merced County Main Jail. The 20-year-old had spent a month there awaiting trial on a robbery charge. Two cellmates boxed him in. One pinned Cardoza to the floor. The other slipped a braided bedsheet around his neck and tightened it. It was just past noon, but no correctional officers took notice. No one was monitoring the video camera that watched the area and, because the facility was so outdated, officers would have had to stand directly in front of the cell to see anything inside. (Pohl and Gabrielson, 7/17)
NPR:
Death Rates Fell After New York Adopted 'Rory's Regulations' For Sepsis Care
An unusual state regulation that dictates how doctors need to treat a specific disease appears to be paying off in New York, according to a study published Tuesday. The disease is sepsis, which is the most common cause of death in hospitals. And the regulations came into being after the story of 12-year-old Rory Staunton became a cause célèbre. As his mother Orlaith Staunton tells it, Rory came home from school one day with a scrape he'd gotten in gym class. It didn't seem like a big deal, but Rory's health quickly took a turn. (Harris, 7/16)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Child Welfare Takes Heat For Death Of 4-Year-Old Palmdale Boy
L.A. County’s child welfare chief faced sharp questioning Tuesday over why a 4-year-old Palmdale boy, who died earlier this month under what authorities call suspicious circumstances, wasn’t removed from his parents’ home amid abuse claims — despite a recent court order. “This death happened on my watch,” Bobby Cagle, director of the county Department of Children and Family Services, told the Board of Supervisors. “I fully accept the responsibility for the work that was done. I also fully accept the responsibility for understanding what went wrong, what we can do better, and to implement that as quickly as possible.” (Stiles, 7/16)
The Associated Press:
New Delaware Law That Raises Smoking Age To 21 Takes Effect
A law in Delaware that raises the legal age for smoking and buying tobacco products goes into effect Tuesday. Gov. John Carney signed the law in April, which increases the legal smoking age from 18 to 21. The Delaware News Journal reports the state joins 16 others with similar legislation that prohibits retailers from selling and adults from purchasing tobacco for minors. There’s a $1,000 fine for breaking the new law. (7/16)