First Edition: May 29, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Benefit Change Could Raise Costs For Patients Getting Drug Copay Assistance
Since Kristen Catton started taking the drug Gilenya two years ago, she’s had only one minor relapse of her multiple sclerosis, following a bout of the flu. She can walk comfortably, see clearly and work part time as a nurse case manager at a hospital near her home in Columbus, Ohio. This is a big step forward; two drugs she previously tried failed to control her physical symptoms or prevent repeated flare-ups. (Andrews, 5/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Cameras On Preemies Let Family In, Keep Germs Out
Hospitals around the country have been upgrading their neonatal intensive care units to include personal webcams for each tiny patient. It’s a convenience for parents — and reduces worries about visitors bringing in germs. The neonatal intensive care unit at St. Thomas Midtown in Nashville is the latest hospital to join the webcam wave, among facilities around the country from big cities to towns that are installing cameras over each infant. (Farmer, 5/29)
The Hill:
Trump VA Pick Boosts Hopes For Reform
President Trump's selection of Robert Wilkie to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is being praised by veterans groups as a safe, stabilizing move in the aftermath of the failed nomination of former White House physician Ronny Jackson. Wilkie, who is serving as acting VA secretary, is a Washington insider with years of administrative experience who has previously worked on Capitol Hill as well as in the Pentagon for two presidents. (Weixel, 5/28)
The Washington Post:
Veterans Get Care In Family-Like Home In New Program
Ralph Stepney’s home on a quiet street in north Baltimore has a welcoming front porch and large rooms, with plenty of space for his comfortable recliner and vast collection of action movies. The house is owned by Joann West, a licensed caregiver who shares it with Stepney and his fellow Vietnam War veteran Frank Hundt. “There is no place that I’d rather be. . . . I love the quiet of living here, the help we get. I thank the Lord every year that I am here,” Stepney, 73, said. (Kime, 5/26)
The Hill:
Abortion Wars Flare For Midterm Election Campaign
President Trump and anti-abortion activists this week touted recent actions restricting abortion as helping to galvanize Republican voters for the midterm elections. But Democrats see it the other way around, arguing Trump’s actions to defund Planned Parenthood and roll back ObamaCare’s contraception mandate are going to hurt, not help, Republican candidates on the ballot in November. (Hellmann, 5/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Democrats, Long Blamed For Heath-Care Costs, Seek To Shift Ownership To GOP
In recent elections, Democrats have faced attacks related to health-care costs, with the party being blamed for premium increases on Affordable Care Act exchanges during the Obama years. Now, as many health insurers are seeking to impose double-digit rate increases on those marketplaces, a number of recent surveys suggest Republicans may take the lion’s share of the blame, with Democrats viewed more favorably on the issue ahead of November’s midterm elections. (Armour, 5/28)
The New York Times:
Single-Payer Health Care In California: Here’s What It Would Take
If wholesale opposition to President Trump is one litmus test for progressive Democrats, another — as the governor’s race in California is proving — is health care. All the leading Democratic contenders in the June 5 primary have pledged support for a single-payer system run by the state. The front-runner, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco, has made it the centerpiece of his campaign. “There’s no reason to wait around on universal health care and single-payer in California,” he has declared. (Cohen and Abelson, 5/25)
The Associated Press:
Bill To Create Health Care Price Controls In California Dies
A proposal to create government price controls in California for surgeries, hospital stays, doctor visits and other health care services died Friday when it failed to clear a key committee, but the author says he plans to bring it back next year. The measure was a longshot from the beginning, but it drew national attention from health care policy observers. Hospitals, doctors and other influential health care providers lobbied intensely against the bill, which they said would lead to longer waits for medical care. (Cooper, 5/25)
The Associated Press:
Virginia Lawmakers Return To Finalize Budget, Medicaid
Virginia lawmakers are expected to finalize work on a state budget that a top Republican state senator says is likely to include Medicaid expansion. The state Senate is set to meet Tuesday at the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment said last week that the Senate will pass a budget when it meets. And he said it’s likely that it will include expanding Medicaid eligibility to 400,000 low-income adults. (5/29)
The New York Times:
Origins Of An Epidemic: Purdue Pharma Knew Its Opioids Were Widely Abused
Purdue Pharma, the company that planted the seeds of the opioid epidemic through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, has long claimed it was unaware of the powerful opioid painkiller’s growing abuse until years after it went on the market. But a copy of a confidential Justice Department report shows that federal prosecutors investigating the company found that Purdue Pharma knew about “significant” abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drug’s introduction in 1996 and concealed that information. (Meier, 5/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Wracked By Opioid Crisis, Philadelphia Braces For Tent-Camp Closures
Beneath a freight railway north of downtown, an estimated 200 people congregate in tents and atop mattresses in four dank tunnels. Many openly inject opioids into their hands, arms and necks. The drug use spills out into the city’s row-house-filled Kensington neighborhood. On a recent sunny day, a gaunt man rocked in place on a nearby street, a syringe gripped sideways in his mouth, as three children walk by. Residents frequently find used syringes and say streets have become toilets. (Kamp, 5/28)
The Washington Post:
118 Pounds Fentanyl, Enough To Kill 26 Million People, Is Seized In Nebraska
In a record-breaking drug bust in Nebraska, state troopers seized 118 pounds of fentanyl — containing enough lethal doses to kill tens of millions of people. Nebraska State Patrol Col. John Bolduc announced Thursday that a massive amount of suspected opioids seized last month in the state have tested positive for fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and 30 to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. (Bever, 5/25)
The Associated Press:
Delaware Health Official Warns Of Lethal Heroin Packets
A Delaware health official is warning people who use drugs that two people have died from suspected overdoses in a 24-hour period involving heroin packets with the same stamp. Department of Health and Social Services Secretary Kara Walker issued the warning on Monday. The department says it’s not identifying the stamp so people will not seek out the drug. (5/28)
The New York Times:
U.S.C. President Agrees To Step Down Over Scandal Involving Gynecologist
The president of the University of Southern California, C. L. Max Nikias, agreed to step down Friday in the wake of a scandal over a gynecologist accused of abusing students at the campus health center. Rick J. Caruso, a member of the university board of trustees, said in a statement that the board had “agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president.” (Medina, 5/25)
Reuters:
University Of Southern California President To Step Down In Wake Of Scandal
"President Nikias and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," committee chairman Rick Caruso said. Nikias could not be reached immediately for comment. His resignation comes three days after 200 faculty members demanded in an open letter he quit as USC faces a rising tide of litigation accusing Dr. George Tyndall of misconduct and the university of complicity and negligence. (5/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
USC President C.L. Max Nikias Steps Down
Two hundred faculty members, as well as many alums and current students, called in recent days for Dr. Nikias to resign, following a report in the Los Angeles Times about the allegations. That article included claims that for decades, the gynecologist, George Tyndall, conducted improper pelvic exams on female students and made sexually and racially inappropriate comments. (Korn, 5/25)
Los Angeles Times:
USC President C.L. Max Nikias To Step Down
A prolific fundraiser during his eight years as president, Nikias pushed USC to imagine itself as an elite global research university and to dramatically expand and renovate its South Los Angeles campus. He oversaw a major construction boom that transformed parts of the campus community and extended USC's ties to China and the Pacific Rim. The departure of Nikias, an engineering professor whose ambition took him from a childhood in a Cypriot village to a post leading one of the nation's top private universities, was once considered unthinkable, and signifies the end of an era at USC. The cornerstone of Nikias' legacy is a $6-billion campaign launched in 2011, then described as the largest such drive in academic history. (Hamilton, Pringle, Ryan and Lopez, 5/25)
Stat:
Senator, Blocking Subpoena Of Teva, Says Matter Should Be Left To Courts
Claire McCaskill, the Democratic senator from Missouri, has spent the past 18 months investigating drug makers and distributors to determine what role they played in furthering the opioid crisis. But her investigation into the Israeli drug company Teva — the world’s largest manufacturer of generic drugs — has largely been thwarted. For one, McCaskill said, Teva has stonewalled her efforts and refused requests to turn over documents detailing its efforts to prevent drug misuse and audits of suspicious orders for opioids. (Facher, 5/29)
Stat:
Once Quickly Lethal, Multiple Myeloma May Be In A 'Golden Age'
There are 89 experimental drugs currently being tested in people, according to Biomedtracker, a research unit of Informa. Some are improvements on existing drugs, others have found new ways to target the cancer cells; a few engage the body’s immune system in the fight. Not all the drugs will make it through the trial process, of course.
But on the roster, there may be effective treatments for the one-quarter of patients who haven’t yet been helped by existing drugs. (Weintraub, 5/29)
The New York Times:
Five Blood Transfusions, One Bone Marrow Transplant — All Before Birth
In the three months before she was even born, Elianna Constantino received five blood transfusions and a bone-marrow transplant. All were given with a needle passed through her mother’s abdomen and uterus, into the vein in her umbilical cord. Elianna, born Feb. 1 with a robust cry and a cap of gleaming black hair, has a genetic disease that usually kills a fetus before birth. The condition, alpha thalassemia major, leaves red blood cells unable to carry oxygen around the body, causing severe anemia, heart failure and brain damage. (Grady, 5/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Promise For Bone-Marrow Transplants
Few procedures in medicine present patients with a sharper double-edged sword than a bone-marrow transplant. The treatment offers a potential cure for lethal blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma and other blood disorders. But it is a highly toxic and sometimes fatal procedure in which patients’ immune systems typically are severely weakened or wiped out with high-dose chemotherapy or radiation. Many patients turn down the potentially lifesaving treatment, fearing that the cure is at least as bad as the disease. (Winslow, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Doctors Face Scrutiny About Defining Death
What is the definition of death—and who gets to make the call? For decades, physicians have had the authority to declare a person brain-dead—defined in the U.S. as the irreversible cessation of all brain function, including the brainstem—even if heart and lung activity can be maintained with machines. The medical profession determined the acceptable tests and procedures used to make the diagnosis. (Marcus, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Do Doctors And Nurses Skip Hand Washing? Cue The Video
Hospitals have spent considerable resources trying to reduce the number of preventable mistakes that doctors and nurses make, such as skipping hand washing. But it’s hard to ensure that caregivers take every preventive step every time. Perhaps they need to be watched all the time. (Ward, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
DNA Testing Offers New Hope For Infants With Genetic Disease
While genetic diseases pose the single biggest source of infant mortality in the U.S., many of these disorders are so rare and little understood that an accurate diagnosis can take weeks or months. Some babies don’t have that much time. For others, the battery of tests that tend to be ordered adds to their suffering and often still ends with no diagnosis. (Linden, 5/28)
Bloomberg:
Your Outdated U.S. Sunscreen Exposes You To Needless Cancer Risk
Dermatologist Steve Wang treats skin-cancer patients all day at a Sloan Kettering hospital in New Jersey, so he knows better than most that U.S. sunscreens aren’t up to the job. The oily stuff Americans are slathering on before heading to the beach this summer probably won’t give them as much protection as the products sold in other countries. Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada: All have sunscreens that do a better job shielding against cancer-causing skin damage, and feel better on the skin, too. (Kaskey, 5/25)
NPR:
Do Home Medical Tests For Food Intolerance Work?
A new batch of startup companies are trying to drive a revolutionin lab testing by letting you skip the doctor and test for food sensitivities, fertility, sleep hormones and even vitamin deficiencies — all from the privacy of your bathroom — no lab visit required. Do-it-yourself testing kits cost anywhere from about $35 for an individual test to $450 for a battery of tests. Last November on "Shark Tank," the reality show featuring budding entrepreneurs who think they have a hot idea, contestant Julia Cheek hawked her company's home-testing kits to the program's panel of investors. (McClurg, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
For Scientists Seeking Research Backing, Crowdfunding May Be The Answer
Scientists struggling to find funding for research may have a new source of money: crowdfunding. That’s the conclusion of a new study, which suggests that scientists who lack extensive published research may be better off gathering many modest contributions instead of pursuing large financial grants from traditional sources. (Constable, 5/28)
Reuters:
WHO's Congo Ebola Plan Assumes 100-300 Cases Over Three Months
The World Health Organization said it was assuming 100-300 cases of Ebola in Democratic Republic of Congo over a three-month timeline, under a revised strategic response plan it published on Tuesday. The WHO, which said the figure is not a prediction, had assumed there would be 80-100 cases in an earlier version of the plan, based on information as of May 15. (5/29)
Los Angeles Times:
Deep Brain Stimulation May Offer Treatment For Type 2 Diabetes, Study Suggests
A surprising (but welcome) side effect of a therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder may pave the way for a new approach to treating type 2 diabetes — and offer new insights into the links between obesity and the metabolic disease that afflicts close to 1 in 10 American adults. The therapy in question is deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens, a structure best known for its role in motivation, reward and addiction. It now appears that deep brain stimulation also increases the liver's and muscles' ability to take up and use insulin, researchers reported this week. (Healy, 5/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
After Santa Fe School Shooting, Texas Town Grapples With Bullying
As this grieving town searches for answers about a mass shooting by a 17-year-old student, an emotional and divisive debate has emerged over bullying at the high school where the rampage took place. The alleged shooter’s father, Antonios Pagourtzis, said his son—a quiet former football player known for wearing a trench coat to school—had faced bullying and said he believed that was part of the trigger for the May 18 attack, which left 10 dead and 13 wounded. As students return to school Tuesday for the first time after the shooting, some here say bullying has long been a problem at this rural Texas town’s lone high school, but others don’t recall the suspected shooter, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, being picked on by his peers at all. (Hobbs, Frosch and Calvert, 5/29)
The New York Times:
In Elderly Hands, Firearms Can Be Even Deadlier
Barbara Herrington, a geriatric care manager in Polk County, Fla., was calling on a 72-year-old woman with dementia and a long history of alcoholism. Ms. Herrington knew her client would be angry that morning. Her daughter had taken the car away the day before because her mother was ignoring a neurologist’s instructions to stop driving and was heading out at night to buy liquor. (Span, 5/25)
The Washington Post:
Why It’s So Dangerous To Leave A Kid In A Hot Parked Car
It’s well known that a car parked outside on a hot summer’s day can turn into a scorching oven. But how much time does it take for the inside of a car to heat up to deadly temperatures? The answer can be a matter of life and death. Every year in the United States, an average of 37 children die after being left in hot cars, according to researchers of a new study, published online last week in the journal Temperature. To investigate the matter, researchers studied how long it takes different types of cars to heat up on hot days. The findings were sobering: Within one hour, the temperature inside a car parked in the sun on a day that reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter hit an average of 116 degrees. (Geggel, 5/27)
The Washington Post:
Best Sunglasses Have UV Protection
The next time you head to the drugstore to buy sunscreen, don’t forget to pick up some sunglasses, too. That’s because both products work to protect your body from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays. Wearing sunglasses for protection should not be reserved for sunny summer days, says Dianna Seldomridge, spokeswoman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and practicing eye doctor at Duke University. There’s UV light on cloudy days and during other seasons of the year — anytime it’s daytime. “It’s important to protect your eyes all year round,” she says. (Adams, 5/26)
The Washington Post:
Disabilities Meet Helpful Design
For people with disabilities, design can hurt more than it helps. Clothing can be hard to put on, terrain rough to navigate. Even seemingly accessible developments such as voting machines and smartphones can present obstacles. So how can design become more inclusive, and more practical, for people with differing abilities? “Access + Ability,” an exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, tackles that question head-on. (Blakemore, 5/27)
The Washington Post:
Nighttime Pain So Bad That Only Screaming Helped Made Her Suffer For Months
On nights that the pain became unbearable, Marion Millhouse Barker would get out of bed, head for the guest room, shut the door and scream as loud as she could. “It helped,” said Barker, recalling the strategies she devised to cope with the stabbing sensation on the right side of her rib cage that left her doubled over. “I have a high pain tolerance,” she said, but this pain proved to be more excruciating than unmedicated childbirth or acute appendicitis. (Boodman, 5/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
For Those With Dementia, Help From Technology
Technology promises to make it easier for people with dementia to live independently for longer and stay connected with family and friends. Home sensors, communications and personal navigational devices—some of which are already commercially available—provide ways to monitor patients and loved ones from afar. Robotics, smartphone apps and some intriguing experiments with tablet computers, meanwhile, show the potential to help sufferers of dementia sustain their social and family contacts. (Wang, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Brain Surgeons Get A Better View From Augmented Reality
Brain surgery is never going to be easy. When a surgeon is removing a tumor, even a slight miscalculation in the angle of entry can interfere with important functions of the brain. But augmented reality—blending digital imagery with the physical world—may help surgeons keep their focus at critical moments during the task. (Toy, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Operating Room Of The Future
The operating room is getting smarter, more effective—and a lot less risky for patients. Hospitals are investing in new devices, designs and digital technologies that promise a new era of innovation for surgery. The moves are part of a growing shift away from traditional open procedures that involve big incisions, lots of blood loss and long hospitalizations. They point toward a future where more patients can choose minimally invasive outpatient surgeries, with faster recoveries, fewer complications, and less pain and scarring. (Landro, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Telemedicine Reinvents The Visit To The School Nurse
Telemedicine has grown rapidly in recent years. Now hundreds of schools are bringing it to the nurse’s office. School nurses say telemedicine helps them treat students faster right at school, reducing risk of infection, getting the students back to class faster and relieving a big burden on the students’ families. (Holland, 5/25)
NPR:
Lawyers Send Mobile Ads To Phones In ER Waiting Rooms
Patients sitting in emergency rooms, at chiropractors' offices and at pain clinics in the Philadelphia area may start noticing on their phones the kind of messages typically seen along highway billboards and public transit: personal injury law firms looking for business by casting mobile online ads at patients. The potentially creepy part? They're only getting fed the ad because somebody knows they are in an emergency room. (Allyn, 5/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
AI Tools Help The Blind Tackle Everyday Tasks
Since losing his vision at age 13, Erik Weihenmayer has summited Mount Everest, white-water rafted and climbed frozen waterfalls. But making soup in his kitchen presented a unique challenge. On a frozen waterfall he could tap his ax against the ice to get a feel for its density, but in the kitchen, he had no way to differentiate between cans of tomato and chicken noodle. Mr. Weihenmayer, 49 years old, found a solution in Microsoft Corp.’s Seeing AI, a free app for the visually impaired. Among other things, the app can recognize faces, identify money, read handwriting and scan bar codes to differentiate between cans of soup. (Kornelis, 5/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Kaiser Permanente Cultivates The Digital Doctor-Patient Relationship
Kaiser Permanente, based in Oakland, Calif., closely manages the medical care of people enrolled in its health-insurance plan, who use Kaiser’s integrated network of hospitals and doctors. Increasingly, that network is also a digital one. (Evans, 5/28)
The Associated Press:
Missouri Hospital Closure Problematic For Expectant Mothers
The sudden closure of a hospital has left some expectant mothers in the Missouri Bootheel region scrambling for care in an area that already has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the U.S. St. Louis Public Radio reports that Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center in Kennett recently announced that it will close in July. The closure will leave the surrounding area in southeast Missouri without an OB-GYN. (5/27)
inewsource:
San Diego Woman Says Controversial Diabetes Treatment Endangered Her Health
A San Diego woman says she was put at risk of hospitalization last year after receiving a series of insulin infusions at Dr. James Novak’s Trina Health clinic in Pacific Beach. The woman and her endocrinologist said the infusions spiked her blood sugar to dangerously high levels. The nation has a limited supply of healthcare dollars to spend on drugs and services, which is why the government and health plans require scientific evidence of patient benefit. This is especially important for the 30.3 million people in the U.S. with diabetes, whose medical costs in 2012 totaled $245 billion.Leadership at Scripps Health started an investigation of Novak’s practice when they learned about the incident, the endocrinologist said. And the founder of the Trina infusion procedure, Sacramento lawyer G. Ford Gilbert, faces federal criminal charges related to his network of clinics. (Clark, 5/25)
The Associated Press:
San Francisco To Decide Whether To Ban Flavored Tobacco
A major tobacco company is pumping millions of dollars into a campaign to persuade San Francisco voters to reject a ban on selling flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, certain chewing tobaccos and vaping liquids with flavors like cotton candy, mango and cool cucumber. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has contributed nearly $12 million to the "No on Proposition E" campaign, filling television and radio airwaves and mailboxes with ads urging voters to reject a law supervisors approved last year that is now on the June 5 ballot. (5/28)
The Associated Press:
9-Year-Old Raises $6,000 For Sick Brother Selling Lemonade
A 9-year-old South Carolina boy selling lemonade to help his sick baby brother has raised nearly $6,000 in two hours. Andrew Emery wants to help his parents pay for the medical bills for his little brother Dylan. The infant suffers from Krabbe disease, a rare and often lethal neurological condition. So on Saturday, Emery spent two hours at used truck dealership Southern Wheels in Greenwood, selling lemonade and #TeamDylan t-shirts. He raised $5,860 to be added to $1,300 raised at a Friday benefit concert and $5,600 from a GoFundMe site for his brother, currently in a Pittsburgh hospital. (5/28)
The Associated Press:
Florida Ban On Smokable Medical Pot Ruled Unconstitutional
Florida's ban that prevents medical marijuana patients from smoking their cannabis has gone up in smoke. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers on Friday ruled that a state's ban on smokable cannabis is unconstitutional. Florida's Department of Health said in a statement it has appealed the ruling, which will impose an automatic stay. (5/25)
The Hill:
Florida Judge Rules State Ban On Smokable Medical Marijuana Is Unconstitutional
A Florida judge on Friday ruled that the state’s ban on smokable medical marijuana is unconstitutional. Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers wrote in her ruling that residents “have the right to use the form of medical marijuana for treatment of their debilitating medical conditions as recommended by their certified physicians.” (Anapol, 5/26)