Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Self-Neglect Accounts For More Calls To Social Services Than Any Other Form Of Elder Abuse
The New York Times: Elder Abuse: Sometimes It’s Self-Inflicted
The man was living alone with his two dogs, in a remote area outside San Antonio, when someone called the Texas state hotline to report that a supposed friend was financially exploiting him. So the state adult protective services agency sent a caseworker to the man’s home. She found an 86-year-old Vietnam veteran in a dirty, cluttered house full of empty liquor bottles. His legs swollen by chronic cellulitis, he could barely walk, so he used a scooter. (Span, 3/2)
The Washington Post: It's Dangerous To Not Use A Seat Belt In The Back Seat Of A Car
If you’re reading this story from the back seat of car, there’s a good chance you’re not wearing a seat belt. A recent survey by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, or IIHS, found that 28 percent of respondents don’t always click a seat belt when they’re in the back of a car. The most common reason for not buckling up in the back, according to the 1,172 survey respondents, is that there is no need, because the rear seat is safer than the front. But that’s not always true. “Adults have gotten the message that it’s safer for kids to ride in the back seat properly restrained, but when it comes to their own safety, there is a common misperception that buckling up is optional,” said Jessica Jermakian, a senior research engineer at IIHS. (Kritz, 3/3)
The Washington Post: Sexting Is Becoming Common For Teens
haring sexually explicit photos, videos or messages — or sexting — seems to be increasingly common among teens today. About 27 percent of teens say they’ve received such an electronic message, or sext, according to a study in the journal JAMA Pediatrics that included more than 110,000 teens. Nearly 15 percent admitted to having sent a sext. About 12 percent also said they had forwarded a sext without permission. (Searing, 3/3)
The Washington Post: Why Stress Is Bad For You And What You Can Do About It
When people talk about harmful stress — the kind that can affect health — they usually point to big, life-changing events, such as the death of a loved one. A growing body of research suggests that minor, everyday stress — caused by flight delays, traffic jams, cellphones that run out of battery during an important call, etc. — can harm health, too, and even shorten life spans. One traffic jam a week isn’t going to kill you, of course. Psychologists say it’s the nonstop strains of everyday life that can add up. “These hassles can have a big impact on physical health and well-being, particularly when they accumulate and we don’t have time to recover from one problem before another hits us,” says California-based psychologist Melanie Greenberg, author of “The Stress-Proof Brain.” (Wallace, 3/3)
The Baltimore Sun: African-Americans Face Higher Rates Of Kidney Disease As Experts Look At Diet, Stress, Socioeconomic Factors
[Keith] White is one of the tens of millions of African-Americans disproportionately affected by chronic kidney disease. African-Americans are three times more likely than whites to have the disease. While they make up 13.2 percent of the U.S. population, they account for more than 35 percent of those on dialysis for kidney failure. Earlier this week, Bill Cosby’s daughter Ensa Cosby died from renal disease, the last stage of chronic kidney disease, when the kidneys stop filtering waste and excess fluid from the blood. Dangerous levels of electrolytes and waste then build up in the body. (McDaniels, 3/5)
Dallas Morning News: 'It's Important To Feel That Bond': Texas Woman Shares What It's Like To Give Birth With A Transplanted Uterus
A Texas woman who learned as a teen that she would be unable to bear children has given birth to a healthy baby girl, thanks to an experimental procedure at Baylor University Medical Center. The woman is the second Baylor patient to give birth after receiving a uterine transplant from a living donor. She is the first to share her story publicly. (Kuchment, 3/4)
