First Edition: May 30, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
A Wake-Up Call On Data-Collecting Smart Beds And Sleep Apps
Your bed could be watching you. OK, so not with a camera. But if you have any of a variety of “smart beds,” mattress pads or sleep apps, it knows when you go to sleep. It knows when you toss and turn. It may even be able to tell when you’re having sex. (Appleby, 5/30)
Kaiser Health News:
The Unexpected Perk Of My Group Pregnancy Care: New Friends
I had always imagined going through pregnancy surrounded by family and friends. But when I found out I was pregnant, my husband, Alex, and I had just moved from San Francisco to Chicago. I knew almost no one. I ended up finding a community where I least expected it: at a medical office. (Gold, 5/30)
Kaiser Health News:
A Doctor Speaks Out About Ageism In Medicine
Society gives short shrift to older age. This distinct phase of life doesn’t get the same attention that’s devoted to childhood. And the special characteristics of people in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond are poorly understood. Medicine reflects this narrow-mindedness. In medical school, physicians learn that people in the prime of life are “normal” and scant time is spent studying aging. In practice, doctors too often fail to appreciate older adults’ unique needs or to tailor treatments appropriately. (Graham, 5/30)
The New York Times:
Four Years After Beau Biden’s Death, His Father Bonds With Voters In Pain
Joseph R. Biden Jr. has a habit of bringing people to tears. For Teri Inverso, a Pennsylvania voter attending Mr. Biden’s Philadelphia rally this month, the moment came as she talked about her late parents and recalled how the former vice president coped with the death of his son Beau. For Lisa Gatto, a sister-in-law of former Representative Steve Israel, it was when she once opened up to Mr. Biden about her experience battling breast cancer, Mr. Israel recalled. (Glueck, 5/30)
The New York Times:
Doctors Were Alarmed: ‘Would I Have My Children Have Surgery Here?’
Tasha and Thomas Jones sat beside their 2-year-old daughter as she lay in intensive care at North Carolina Children’s Hospital. Skylar had just come out of heart surgery and should recover well, her parents were told. But that night, she flatlined. Doctors and nurses swarmed around her, performing chest compressions for nearly an hour before putting the little girl on life support. Five days later, in June 2016, the hospital’s pediatric cardiologists gathered one floor below for what became a wrenching discussion. Patients with complex conditions had been dying at higher-than-expected rates in past years, some of the doctors suspected. Now, even children like Skylar, undergoing less risky surgeries, seemed to fare poorly. (Gabler, 5/30)
The New York Times:
Listen To What Doctors, In A Time Of ‘Crisis,’ Said Behind Closed Doors
Cardiologists at North Carolina Children’s Hospital had worried for several years that children with complex conditions were dying at higher-than-expected rates. By 2016, it seemed that even patients undergoing lower-risk heart surgeries were suffering more complications. In meetings in 2016 and 2017, captured on secret recordings provided to The New York Times, doctors urged their bosses to take action. (Gabler, 5/30)
The New York Times:
Louisiana Moves To Ban Abortions After A Heartbeat Is Detected
On the heels of a spate of anti-abortion legislation passed in recent months across the South, Louisiana lawmakers voted on Wednesday to ban the procedure after the pulsing of what becomes the fetus’s heart can be detected. The restriction, backed by the state’s Democratic governor, could prohibit abortions as early as six weeks into a woman’s pregnancy. Several other states have passed versions of so-called fetal heartbeat bills this year, and Alabama approved a law about two weeks ago that would forbid nearly all abortions in the state. (Blinder, 5/29)
The Washington Post:
Louisiana Abortion Bill: Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards Says He'll Sign Six-Week Ban
The Wednesday vote came after an ardent debate over amendments to the bill, including one that would have added an exception to the abortion ban for cases of rape and incest. That change, and others that sought to make the law more lenient, were rejected. After nearly two hours, 79 lawmakers voted to pass the bill, while 23 voted against it. More than a dozen Democrats supported it. “As I prepare to sign this bill,” Edwards said in a statement after it passed, "I call on the overwhelming bipartisan majority of legislators who voted for it to join me in continuing to build a better Louisiana that cares for the least among us and provides more opportunity for everyone.” (Kantor and Thebault, 5/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Louisiana Legislature Approves Ban On Abortions After Six Weeks Of Pregnancy
The heartbeat bills are part of growing efforts by abortion opponents to seek to challenge the legality of the procedure frontally rather than pursuing incremental restrictions that raise regulatory and other hurdles. The new approach has gained momentum in the wake of President Trump’s appointment of conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court last year. “Our ultimate goal is to outlaw every abortion, including those that occur at any time after conception,” said Democratic state Sen. John Milkovich, a sponsor of the bill. “But we believe this is an important blow to be struck in defense of the lives of the unborn.” (Campo-Flores, 5/29)
The Washington Post:
Prosecutors Push Back On Enforcing New State Abortion Laws
New state abortion laws likely to become bogged down in legal challenges face another potential obstacle: prosecutors who refuse to enforce them. The Associated Press reached out to nearly two dozen district attorneys across seven states, and several said they would not file criminal charges against doctors who violate the laws. Even a few who left open potentially charging doctors said they would not prosecute women for having an abortion, which some legal observers say could be a possibility under Georgia’s law. (Thanawala, 5/30)
The Associated Press:
Missouri Agency Cites Concerns At St. Louis Abortion Clinic
Missouri's health department said Wednesday that the license for the state's only abortion clinic is in jeopardy because of a litany of problems, including "failed surgical abortions in which patients remained pregnant" and concerns about patient safety. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services responded to the lawsuit filed a day earlier by Planned Parenthood that seeks to keep open the clinic in St. Louis. A judge on Thursday will hold a hearing on the request for a restraining order that would stop the state from its threat to not renew the license. (5/29)
The Hill:
Missouri Governor Threatens State's Only Abortion Provider, Says It Broke Laws
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) on Wednesday said that the state's sole abortion provider will be unable to perform abortions after Friday if it doesn't comply with an ongoing investigation into potential violations of state law. Parson said the Planned Parenthood clinic is suspected of breaking several state laws and regulations, including one that requires patients receive pelvic exams 72 hours before getting abortions. (Hellmann, 5/29)
The Associated Press:
Indiana Fetal Remains Law Could Boost Costs For Abortions
Planned Parenthood officials expect greater expenses for abortions in Indiana following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a state law requiring burial or cremation of fetal remains after an abortion. Abortion opponents cheer the court’s decision as “recognizing the dignity of unborn children” even as the justices sidestepped other provisions of the Indiana law that could have blocked some women from undergoing abortions because of fetal gender, race or disability. (Davies, 5/29)
The Washington Post:
White House Runs Into Health-Care Industry Hostility As It Plans Executive Order
President Trump is preparing to issue an executive order to foster greater price transparency across a broad swath of the health-care industry as consumer concerns about medical costs emerge as a major issue in the lead-up to next year’s presidential election. The most far-reaching element favored by the White House aides developing the order would require insurers and hospitals to disclose for the first time the discounted rates they negotiate for services, according to health-care lobbyists and policy experts familiar with the deliberations. (Goldstein and Dawsey, 5/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Connecticut’s Public Health Bill Stalls On Industry Concerns
Legislation to create a public health-insurance option in Connecticut is off the table after an outcry from private insurers. State Sen. Matt Lesser, a Democrat who led the proposal, said other components of the health-care legislation might still move forward this year, including seeking permission from the federal government to buy prescription drugs from Canada and looking for ways to contain costs in the state’s health-care system. (de Avila, 5/29)
The Hill:
California Lawmakers Vote To Offer Health Insurance To Undocumented Immigrants
The California State Assembly voted overwhelmingly this week to pass legislation that would allow adult undocumented immigrants to receive health insurance benefits. According to The Associated Press, the state legislature passed the bill in a 44-11 vote Tuesday. The bill now heads to the state Senate for consideration. (Folley, 5/29)
Politico:
Durbin Alarmed That New FDA Chief May 'Disappoint' On E-Cigs
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) charged in an unusually sharp attack Wednesday that acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless seemed to have "no intention" of addressing youth e-cigarette use, which his predecessor deemed a public health epidemic. His May 14 meeting with Sharpless was "one of the most alarming and disappointing meetings in my time in public service," the No. 2 Senate Democrat wrote in a letter to Sharpless, a longtime cancer researcher who took the top FDA post in April as Scott Gottlieb left. (Owermohle, 5/29)
The Hill:
Durbin Urges Acting FDA Chief To Crack Down On E-Cigarettes
“It is my belief that any person leading the FDA … must, first and foremost, feel a deep sense of responsibility to protect the health and well-being of all Americans, especially our nation’s children. Unfortunately, based on our meeting, I do not have confidence that you are that leader,” Durbin said. Durbin urged Sharpless not to appeal a federal judge’s ruling earlier this month that would require the agency to speed up its review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market “We know that kids are attracted to these products because of the kid-friendly flavors that your agency is currently, and inexplicably, refusing to regulate,” Durbin wrote. “You have the explicit authority to end FDA’s senseless decision to suspend public health review of e-cigarettes and cigars and take action today.” (Weixel, 5/29)
Politico:
Former Trump Refugee Director To Depart HHS
Scott Lloyd, whose nearly two-year tenure leading the Department of Health and Human Services refugee office sparked lawsuits and congressional inquiries, will leave the Trump administration next week, HHS announced Wednesday. Lloyd ran the refugee office for most of 2017 and 2018 as HHS was taking custody of thousands of migrant children separated from their families under the administration's zero-tolerance border enforcement policy. The administration struggled to reunite those families after a federal court order, and House Democrats this year have probed Lloyd’s role in the separations and whether his testimony before Congress was truthful. (Diamond, 5/29)
The Hill:
Trump Appointee Who Oversaw Refugee Children Office To Leave Administration
He is best known for his role in the administration's short-lived "zero tolerance" immigration policy that resulted in thousands of migrant children being separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. ORR took custody of those children, but the agency faced criticism for its slow reunification efforts. Some children remain separated from their parents. (Hellmann, 5/29)
The Associated Press:
Pharma Company Settles Claims Of Kickbacks To Dermatologists
The U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia says a pharmaceutical company is agreeing to pay $3.5 million to settle claims it paid kickbacks to dermatology providers to encourage them to prescribe their drugs. U.S. Attorney William McSwain said Wednesday the matter involved allegations that between 2012 and 2017, Almirall LLC's sales representatives and other employees gave doctors improper meals, entertainment, trips and other gifts. (5/29)
The Associated Press:
Insider Q&A: Doctor On Demand CEO Leads Primary Care Push
Hill Ferguson thinks telemedicine can become a routine option for patients, not just an easy way to handle middle of the night ear infections. The CEO of Doctor on Demand says primary care is a new frontier for companies like his that offer telemedicine, which involves seeing a doctor or nurse from afar, often through a secure video connection. His company is teaming with the insurer Humana to launch a new plan in Texas and Florida next month that connects some patients with employer-sponsored coverage virtually to a regular doctor licensed in their state. (5/29)
The New York Times:
Opioid Crisis In The Bronx Claims Tiny Victim: 1-Year-Old
Two days after Christmas, Darwin Santana-Gonzalez, a curly-haired 1-year-old, was toddling around a Bronx apartment where, the police said, a potent mixture of heroin and fentanyl was being prepared, stamped and packed for sale. The powerful opioids had been placed in packages, the authorities said, along with a related drug, acetylfentanyl, creating the sort of deadly cocktail that has led to a surge of overdose deaths in the Bronx and beyond. Somehow, some of the mix also ended up in Darwin. (Otterman and Correal, 5/29)
The Washington Post:
Emma Semler Faces 21 Years In Prison For Sharing A Fatal Heroin Dose With Friend Jenny Werstler
Emma Semler sobbed in court on Wednesday as she faced Jenny Werstler’s grieving family. “I should be dead as well,” she told them through tears, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I don’t know why I’m still here and not Jenny.” The two young women had both struggled with devastating addictions to heroin. On one fateful evening in 2014, they shot up together at a KFC in West Philadelphia. Werstler overdosed and Semler fled, abandoning her friend in the fast-food restaurant’s restroom. Later that night, Werstler died. It was her 20th birthday. (Farzan, 5/30)
The New York Times:
I’m A Veteran Without PTSD. I Used To Think Something Was Wrong With Me.
A few years ago, my husband, Chris, who survived four deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, was killed by an avalanche in Colorado. I am an Army veteran who was deployed to combat zones twice, in 2005 and 2008, without any serious lingering psychological ramifications. But I thought my husband’s death, that New Year’s Eve day, would be the final trigger for post-traumatic stress disorder; it would be what sent me over the edge. The next few months were filled with sleeplessness and drinking, but also exercising and thoughtful introspection as I scoured self-help books and sought therapy. I never had trouble getting out of bed in the morning, and I continued to make it to work on time. I was sad yet functional. (Thomas, 5/30)
The New York Times:
An Experimental Ebola Cure May Also Protect Against Nipah Virus
An experimental drug has protected monkeys against infection with Nipah virus, a lethal disease and emerging pandemic threat for which there is no approved vaccine or cure, scientists reported on Wednesday. The antiviral drug, remdesivir, is also being tested against the Ebola virus in the outbreak now underway in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The only current treatment for Nipah virus infection is a monoclonal antibody that is still experimental; it was tested during an outbreak in India last year. (McNeil, 5/29)
The New York Times:
Your Surgeon’s Childhood Hobbies May Affect Your Health
Could you tie a series of square knots around the neck of a teaspoon without, even slightly, moving the teaspoon? How about using tweezers to extract a grape from inside a roll of toilet paper, without piercing the grape’s skin or touching the sides of the roll? Aspiring surgeons should have the dexterity to accomplish such tasks. But increasingly, they don’t. (Murphy, 5/30)
The Associated Press:
Tracking Microbes People Carry May Predict Future Health
We share our bodies with trillions of microbes that are critical to staying healthy, but now scientists are getting a much-needed close look at how those bugs can get out of whack and spur disease. One lesson: A single test to see what gut bacteria you harbor won't tell much. Research published Wednesday found repeat testing spotted the microbial zoo changing in ways that eventually may help doctors determine who's at risk of preterm birth, inflammatory bowel disease, even diabetes. (5/29)
NPR:
Teasing And Bullying Kids About Their Weight Is Linked To Increased Weight Gain
School can be tough on kids who have overweight or obesity. They're often cruelly teased and bullied. And this type of bullying may lead to long-term consequences, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Pediatric Obesity. The study, conducted by researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., found that making fun of kids for their weight is linked to increased weight gain well into adulthood — and the more teasing that kids and teens experience, the more weight they may gain. (Neilson, 5/30)
The Associated Press:
Girl Believed To Be Tiniest Newborn Weighed As Much As Apple
When she was born, the baby girl weighed about the same as an apple. A San Diego hospital on Wednesday revealed the birth of the girl and said she is believed to be the world's tiniest surviving micro-preemie, who weighed just 8.6 ounces when she was born in December. (5/29)
NPR:
10,000 Steps Per Day? Fitness Trackers Push It, But How Many Do You Really Need?
There's nothing magical about the number 10,000.In fact, the idea of walking at least 10,000 steps a day for health goes back decades to a marketing campaign launched in Japan to promote a pedometer. And, in subsequent years, it was adopted in the U.S. as a goal to promote good health. It's often the default setting on fitness trackers, but what's it really based on? (Aubrey, 5/29)
The New York Times:
New York’s Toughest Homeless Problem
They are the most visible sign of New York’s homelessness crisis: A man covered in dirt sits outside a subway station in Jamaica, Queens. Another man, cross-legged and ragged on a Midtown sidewalk, begs for money. A dozen people form an encampment in Central Park. While the overwhelming majority — about 95 percent — of the more than 78,000 people who qualify as homeless in New York actually have temporary shelter, others live on the streets, for a host of reasons. They represent a persistent challenge. (Stewart, 5/30)
The Associated Press:
New Hampshire Sues 3M, Dupont, Other Chemical Companies
New Hampshire has sued eight companies including 3M and the DuPont Co. for damage it says has been caused by a class of potentially toxic chemicals found in pizza boxes, fast-food wrappers and drinking water. The substances — known collectively as PFAS — have been used in coatings meant to protect consumer goods and are commonplace in households across the United States. Studies have found potential links between high levels of PFOA in the body and a range of illnesses including kidney cancer, increased cholesterol levels and problems in pregnancies. (5/29)
The Washington Post:
Hawaii Department Of Health Confirms New Cases Of Rat Lungworm Disease
Hawaii public health authorities are urging both islanders and tourists to take precautions against rat lungworm, a parasitic worm that has infected five people in the state this year. Officials with Hawaii’s Department of Health announced last week that lab tests have confirmed two visitors contracted rat lungworm disease while traveling in western Hawaii earlier this year. Over the past several months, three residents have also been sickened by the parasite, and 10 cases were confirmed statewide in 2018, officials said. (Bever, 5/29)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Agrees To Let Homeless People Keep Skid Row Property — And Some In Downtown Aren’t Happy
In a pivotal legal settlement, the city of Los Angeles has agreed that it won’t put a ceiling on the total amount of property that homeless people can keep on skid row, but will throw away sofas, refrigerators and other large items crowding the squalid 50-block area of downtown. The agreement, released Wednesday and reached after months of closed-door negotiations, applies only to skid row and adjoining streets. (Holland and Zahniser, 5/29)