Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Regulators Bar California Hospital From Treating Sickest Kids
San Francisco Chronicle: State Bans Stanford-Affiliated Hospital From Treating Some Of California’s Sickest Children After Finding Dozens Of Violations
California health regulators have barred John Muir Medical Center from treating some of the state’s most seriously ill children after flagging dozens of wide-ranging and serious issues in the Walnut Creek hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit, The Chronicle has learned. (Gafni and Dizikes, 5/12)
On transgender health care in Texas —
Houston Chronicle: Texas House GOP Votes To Bar Transgender Care For Minors
Senate Bill 14 would prohibit doctors from prescribing transition medications like puberty blockers or from performing surgeries on minors diagnosed with psychological distress about their gender identity. It passed easily, mostly along party lines, and is expected to get through the Senate, which already approved a similar version, en route to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. (Goldenstein, 5/12)
The Texas Tribune: Austin Doctors Who Treated Trans Kids Leaving Clinic Amid Paxton Probe
Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin has stopped providing transition-related care to transgender teenagers, according to several parents who were told they would need to find new providers. Dell Children’s said in a statement Saturday that while its adolescent medicine clinic remains open, “the physicians who previously staffed the clinic will be departing.” Parents said they were told about the doctors’ departures just hours after Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into “potentially illegal” activity at Dell Children’s. (Klibanoff and Nguyen, 5/13)
On the opioid crisis —
San Francisco Chronicle: In S.F., 268 People Died From Accidental ODs In First 4 Months Of 2023
San Francisco recorded more accidental overdose deaths from January through April of this year than during the same time periods in each of the last three years, according to data released Friday from the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office. (Parker, 5/12)
Los Angeles Times: Fentanyl Overdoses Fuel Surge In L.A. County Homeless Deaths
A devastating surge in drug overdoses drove up deaths among unhoused people in Los Angeles County in recent years, along with the rising toll of traffic collisions and homicides, according to a public health department report released Friday. The death rate increased 55% among people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County between 2019 and 2021, a markedly sharper increase than in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials found. (Alpert Reyes, 5/12)
ABC News: Schools Stock Naloxone As Student Drug Overdoses Surge
Bandages, ice packs, aspirin and epinephrine have long been staples of nurse Dawn Baker's public high school medical clinic in Texas. Now, she also stocks Naloxone to treat drug overdoses -- keeping a supply by the door in case she needs to save a life in an instant. (Dwyer and See, 5/15)
