State Highlights: Jury Acquits Pharmacist Tied To Meningitis Outbreak Of Murder Charges; Flesh-Eating Bacteria Claims Second Victim In Texas

The Associated Press: Pharmacist In Deadly Meningitis Outbreak Cleared Of Murder
A pharmacist at a facility whose tainted drugs sparked a nationwide meningitis outbreak that killed 76 people was cleared Wednesday of murder but was convicted of mail fraud and racketeering. Jurors said prosecutors failed to prove Glenn Chin was responsible for the deaths of people who were injected with mold-contaminated drugs produced by the now-closed New England Compounding Center in Framingham, just west of Boston. As the supervisory pharmacist, Chin oversaw the so-called clean rooms where the drugs were made. (10/25)

Boston Globe: Pharmacist In NECC Meningitis Outbreak Case Acquitted Of Murder
The supervisor of a former Framingham compounding pharmacy was acquitted Wednesday by a federal jury of murder charges but convicted of racketeering and other crimes in connection with a meningitis outbreak that killed dozens of people across the country. Glenn Chin had been charged with killing 25 people in 2012 after they received tainted epidural steroid shots made at the now-closed New England Compounding Center (NECC). As the supervisory pharmacist at the center, Chin once oversaw 20 people. (McDonald, 10/25)

The Hill: Second Person Dies From Flesh-Eating Bacteria Contracted In Harvey Floodwaters 
A second person in Texas has died from a flesh-eating bacterial infection contracted in the floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey, according to a Texas health department statement. Josue Zurita, 31, died Oct. 16 after being hospitalized in Galveston County, Texas, for an infection in a wound on his arm. Zurita was identified by ABC News. (Anapol, 10/25)

KQED: Hospice Scrambled During Wildfires To Evacuate Patients Determined To Die At Home
Even when the fires threatened her home in downtown Sonoma, the elderly woman inside refused to leave. Smoke was everywhere. Her caretaker begged her to heed the mandatory evacuation order. Another woman on the outskirts of town said all the young people telling her to get out were just “making hay” over nothing. (Dembosky, 10/25)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Universal Health Services Details Hurricane Impact
Universal Health Service Inc. said Wednesday that recent hurricanes cost the King of Prussia company’s operations in Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands $8 million to $9 million on an after-tax basis. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria did not cause extensive property damage to the 28 behavioral health-care facilities and three hospitals in the path of the storms, and most of them have resumed normal operations, UHS said. A portion of the beds in a behavioral-health facility in Houston remain closed, and three behavioral health facilities in Puerto Rico are open but operating on auxiliary power. (Brubaker, 10/25)

WBUR: Tesla Turns Power Back On At Children's Hospital In Puerto Rico
Tesla has used its solar panels and batteries to restore reliable electricity at San Juan's Hospital del Niño (Children's Hospital), in what company founder Elon Musk calls "the first of many solar+battery Tesla projects going live in Puerto Rico." The project came about after Puerto Rico was hit by two devastating and powerful hurricanes in September, and Musk reached out about Tesla helping. (Chappell, 10/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Child Lead Poisoning Cases In Maryland Drop To Lowest Levels On Record 
Childhood lead poisoning in Maryland decreased last year to the lowest level since 1994, when the state began tracking cases, but health advocates said that more work needs to be done to prevent the serious and sometimes debilitating condition. Fewer than 0.3 percent of the state’s children tested in 2016 had an elevated blood lead level that was 10 micrograms per deciliter or higher, the amount considered dangerous under state law, according to a report released Wednesday by the Maryland Department of the Environment. (McDaniels, 10/25)

Denver Post: Mistake In Interpreting Test Results Led To Removal Of Breasts, Uterus, Oregon Woman Says
Elisha Cooke-Moore had been told she had cancer-causing genes. The 36-year-old mother said an obstetrician-gynecologist noted that the results of her genetic testing showed she had a 50 percent chance of getting breast cancer and up to an 80 percent chance of getting uterine cancer, so she underwent a recommended double mastectomy and hysterectomy to try to beat the odds. But Cooke-Moore, 36, from Gold Beach, Oregon, said that months after she had the surgeries, she learned that her medical team was wrong – the test results were negative. (Bever, 10/25)

Pioneer Press: Union Sues Duluth Health Care System Over Employee Flu Shot Mandate 
A union representing about 2,000 employees of Essentia Health is asking a federal court to block the health care system from requiring its workers to get flu shots until a labor grievance is resolved. “The union is not understanding why there would need to be this across-the-board mandatory requirement,” said Justin D. Cummins, a Minneapolis attorney representing United Steelworkers Locals 9460 and 9349 in the action filed on Friday in U.S. District Court. (Lundy, 10/25)

Pioneer Press: Minneapolis Veterans Home Getting Permanent Dental Clinic, Nation’s First
Construction on the nation’s first fixed dental clinic at the Minneapolis Veterans Home should be completed this spring, according to an announcement Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. Most veterans homes rely on mobile clinic dentistry programs to provide care, which can be limited and inconvenient. The proposed clinic is being built with three major grants totaling $210,000 from Delta Dental of Minnesota Foundation, Minnesota Veterans 4 Veterans Trust Fund and the Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota Foundation. (Weniger, 10/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: 3 San Francisco Public Schools Show High Levels Of Lead In Water
Water samples from taps and drinking fountains at three San Francisco public schools contained elevated levels of lead, potentially exposing students to the toxic metal, district officials said Wednesday. District officials immediately shut down the taps and this week notified parents at West Portal and Malcolm X elementary schools and San Francisco International High School that water samples from at least one faucet or fountain at each site were too high - or above the recommended federal threshold of 15 parts per billion. (Tucker, 10/25)

Miami Herald: A 4-Year-Old Boy Gets Life-Saving, Stem-Cell Treatment
If it weren’t for the wheeled IV stand that squeaks behind him as he moves, Jovon Moss might seem like any other 4-year-old boy. Wearing a tot-sized costume modeled after the comic book character, The Flash, he races through the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center clinic so quickly that nurses have to make sure he doesn’t trip on the tube administering his twice-monthly immunoglobulin drip. He regularly swipes his mother’s iPhone to watch YouTube videos during his treatment, yet is so eager to share his Scooby Doo gummy treats that his toothy smile disappears if someone says no thanks. (Koh, 10/24)

Austin Statesman: Austin ISD, Dell Medical School Team Up For Health Professions Program
Leaders with the Austin school district, the University of Texas’ Dell Medical School and Austin Community College this morning have announced a partnership to create a new health professions program in Austin for junior high and high school students. (Taboada, 10/25)

Los Angeles Times: Activists Occupy City Hall Bathroom Stalls To Protest Skid Row Toilet Shortage
Protesters took graffiti-covered toilets to Los Angeles City Hall and occupied bathroom stalls on Wednesday to highlight what they called a severe hygiene shortage for homeless people on skid row. The activists tried to deliver the toilets, scribbled with slogans, to Mayor Eric Garcetti. But they were stopped at the security checkpoint by Los Angeles police, who cited safety concerns with hauling the ceramic thrones through the gilded Art Deco hallways and elevators of the landmark building. (Holland, 10/25)