Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Major Hospitals Make Deals With Administration To Stop Providing Gender-Affirming Care To Minors
AP: Hospitals Agree Not To Offer Care For Transgender Minors
At least six major hospitals have agreed to refuse gender-affirming hormones and surgery for transgender young people and agreed to make payments to the federal government, according to deals with the Department of Justice. The most recent agreements came last week. Most of the hospitals had already stopped offering the treatments because of state bans or previous pressure from President Donald Trump’s administration. (Mulvihill, 9/22)
The Colorado Sun: Judge Says Children’s Hospital Not In Contempt In Gender-Affirming Care Case
A Denver judge Tuesday night sided with Children’s Hospital Colorado after attorneys for young transgender patients had sought to hold the hospital in contempt of court. (Ingold, 9/22)
In reproductive health news —
NBC News: Supreme Court Declines To Intervene In Custody Case Involving Newborn With Heart Condition
Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday rejected a request for the Supreme Court to get involved in the case of a surrogate enmeshed in a multistate custody battle with California parents who at one point asked her to abort the fetus because of a heart defect. McKenna West gave birth to the couple’s baby in Texas last month and argued in court there that California denied her due process when it awarded custody of the child, whom she named Gabriel, to his genetic parents. (Gregorian, 9/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: Bill Sought To Shore Up Newsom's Abortion Access Plan; He Vetoed It
One of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s most reliable allies, abortion rights advocacy groups, are issuing a rare rebuke of the governor after he vetoed a bill that would have extended California’s abortion shield laws and expanded legal protections for gender-affirming care. Assembly Bill 2164 by Assembly Member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, aimed to codify the state’s landmark protections for medical professionals providing abortion health care to out-of-state patients. (Palmer, 9/22)
The 19th: How The Algorithm Traps New Moms Into Overspending On Baby Products
The madness unfolded in a familiar pattern: Ellen FitzGerald would wake in the dead of night to nurse her baby for about a half hour, then hand him off to Dad to rock another half hour. Carefully, ever so gently, Dad would lay little Rowan back in his bassinet. Instantly, Rowan’s body would stiffen, his mouth splitting open in a roar that restarted the rocking process. (Carrazana, 9/22)
In autism research —
Newsweek: Scientists Tracked 3.7 Million Births—One Rare Factor Was Linked To Autism
Children exposed to rare infections in the womb may face a higher risk of autism and intellectual disability, according to a major new study. Researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet found that babies born with congenital TORCH infections were about three times more likely to later be diagnosed with autism compared with children who were not infected. (Gray, 9/23)
More health and wellness news —
MedPage Today: Pediatric Acute Kidney Injury Cases Increased Tenfold Over Past 25 Years
Hospitalizations complicated by acute kidney injury (AKI) surged among patients in pediatric units or children's hospitals over the past 25 years, a large retrospective study indicated. (Monaco, 9/22)
The New York Times: New Hope For Diagnosing C.T.E. In Brain Injured Patients
Scientists are developing imaging techniques and blood tests that one day may enable doctors to identify the disease definitively in living patients. (Jacobs, 9/22)
CBS News: Even The Smallest Joys Can Help Prevent Suicide, Researchers Say
New research is shedding light on suicide prevention strategies, highlighting that even the smallest joys can help during crisis. Professor Philip Resnik, of the University of Maryland's Institute of Advanced Computer Studies, said their research started with a public Reddit post. A user had asked "formerly suicidal" people to share what kept them alive and helped them through dark times, and thousands of people responded. (Brand, 9/22)
The Washington Post: The Unexpected Toll Of Searching Endlessly For A New Job
A prolonged job search doesn’t just sap job seekers of time, money and energy — for many, the hunt takes a devastating toll on their mental health. Although unemployment rates in the United States have been historically low, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than a quarter of jobless people qualify as “long-term unemployed,” meaning they have been hunting for 27 weeks or more. (Carpenter, 9/22)
In obituaries —
The New York Times: David George Gordon, Apostle For Bugs On The Dinner Plate, Dies At 76
David George Gordon, a science writer who elevated the culinary profile of insects with “The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook,” a guide to deep-frying tarantulas and sautéing crickets, and with boisterous, squirm-inducing cooking demonstrations on late-night television, died on Aug. 4 in Tacoma, Wash. He was 76. His death, in a hospital, was caused by complications of a fall, his daughter Julia Mullen Gordon said. (Rosenwald, 9/21)
