Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Opioid Deaths Soar Among Black People On Chicago's West Side
ProPublica: Opioid Overdoses Keep Surging In Chicago, Killing Black People On The West Side
Cook County residents continue to die at a staggering rate from opioid-related overdoses, and Black residents from Chicago’s West Side account for a disproportionate number of those deaths. County political and public health officials on Tuesday sounded the alarm about what they said was a preventable crisis that has been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Whatever crisis faces our communities, people of color bear the brunt of it,” Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Board president, said at a news conference. (Eldeib and Sanchez, 7/14)
Bangor Daily News: Maine Has Failed As Racial Disparities In Coronavirus Infections Grow, Immigrant Leaders Say
Immigrant leaders in Maine’s largest cities say the state has failed them as the nation’s whitest state sees some of the biggest racial disparities in coronavirus cases. Most states have seen some racial disparities, according to data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project. But nowhere is it greater than in Maine for Black and African American people. They are 24 times more likely to have tested positive for the virus than whites are here. (Piper, 7/22)
NPR: Police Investigate Incident Where Officer Appeared To Use Knee To Restrain Suspect
The release of the footage by Allentown police came days after activists tweeted a shorter, 26-second video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousand of times. Police say the man was taken into the hospital and, after treatment, was released. His name and medical details were not disclosed. Police also didn't release the names of the officers. (Booker, 7/14)
ProPublica: “I Can’t Breathe.” It Happens At Schools, Too.
A 16-year-old boy in Kalamazoo, Michigan, died this spring after workers pinned him to the floor at the residential facility where he lived — after he’d thrown a sandwich at lunch. While held on the ground, he told them: “I can’t breathe.” At least 70 people have died in law enforcement custody in the last decade after saying the words “I can’t breathe,” a recent New York Times investigation found. But just as adults have died after being restrained, so have children. (Smith Richards and Cohen, 7/10)
Stat: Experts Offer Playbook For How Hospitals Should Respond To Patient Bias
All too often, health care workers are the target of biased or bigoted behavior from the patients they’re caring for — but many medical centers don’t have formal policies in place to help clinicians handle those incidents or the impact on staff. A new set of recommendations, published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, offers health systems a blueprint for better responding to incidents of patient bias. They say a “one size fits all” approach won’t work, and instead urge health systems to take a sweeping set of actions to make sure they’re prepared to handle such problems, which have long been documented. (Spinelli, 7/13)
