Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Legal Challenges Face Trump's Proposals To Address California Homeless Crisis; After New Vaccine Law Starts, New York Sees Surge In Home Schooling
The Washington Post: Trump’s Proposals To Tackle California Homelessness Face Local, Legal Obstacles
President Trump’s emerging plan to address California’s homeless crisis includes ideas that have been tried unsuccessfully before, namely the mass housing of people living on the streets, and proposals that have been ruled illegal by federal courts. The White House effort has taken state officials by surprise, as the president has shifted from criticizing California’s management of homelessness on social media to proposals that would insert the federal government directly into the crisis, including relocating homeless people living on the street and in tent camps to a federal facility. (Wilson, 9/12)
The New York Times: How Far Would You Go To Avoid Vaccinating Your Child?
When Jenni Mahnaz started a business consulting parents who wanted to remove their children from the traditional school system seven years ago, there seemed to be little obvious need for what she would deliver. Unlike groovy precincts of the West Coast or Evangelical communities in the South, New York — cynical, status-obsessed, frantically scheduled — is not an obvious place for the expansion of at-home education. Her business, NY Homeschool Help, has grown steadily, but these past several weeks have been something else entirely. (Bellafante, 9/13)
The Associated Press: Woman: Ants Bit Father, Covered The Walls At Georgia VA Home
A Georgia woman says her father was bitten more than 100 times by ants at a government veterans' home where his room was full of insects. Laquna Ross found her father Joel Marrable with swollen, red bumps all over his body when she visited him at the nursing home near Atlanta last week before his death, she told WSB-TV. (9/12)
The Washington Post: Veteran Joel Marrable Died At Atlanta VA Medical Center After Being Bitten 100 Times By Ants, Daughter Laquna Ross Says
Ross claimed that hospital staff told her they thought their patient died when they found him covered in the insects days earlier, according to WSB-TV. Within a day of Ross’s visit — she had just gotten back from a trip, she says — he had. Ross, who says her father served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, told WSB-TV that Marrable “deserved better” than what he got in his final days at Eagle’s Nest Community Living Center, part of Atlanta VA Medical Center in Decatur, Ga. (Knowles, 9/12)
Health News Florida: Organs With Hepatitis C Now An Option for Transplant Patients On Waitlist
There are more than 5,000 Floridians waiting for organ transplants right now. Most of them have been waiting a year or more to be matched with a donor. But a convergence of developments — including the rise of the opioid epidemic and new treatments for the hepatitis C virus — mean that for South Florida patients who are willing to accept an organ with hep C, the pool of potential donors has gotten bigger. (Mack, 9/12)
Charlotte Observer: Group Of Doctors Announce Split From Gaston County Hospital
Seven doctors have announced they will split from CaroMont Medical Group in Gaston County to join Tryon Medical Partners.Tryon Medical Partners is comprised of nearly 100 doctors who ditched Atrium Health — and bucked national trends — to form their own practice last year. Tryon Medical and the seven Gaston County doctors plan to open a clinic called Tryon Medical Partners – Gaston on Dec. 2. This would be Tryon Medical’s first expansion outside of Mecklenburg County. The new 20,000-square-foot clinic will be Tryon Medical Partner’s first Gaston County location. (Smoot, 9/12)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Transgender Birth Certificate Lawsuit Gets Early Court Victory
A federal lawsuit seeking to force Ohio to allow people to change the gender on their birth certificates got an early court victory Thursday.A federal judge in Columbus ruled Thursday that the case, filed in 2018 on behalf of four transgender Ohio natives, has enough merit to proceed to trial. U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson, a 2004 Bush appointee, denied a motion from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office seeking to dismiss the case. (Tobias, 9/12)
NH Times Union: Nashua Chief Hopes Being Open About Captain's Suicide Can Help Prevent Future Tragedies
Although the reasoning behind his death is still not clear, the city’s police chief said Thursday that Capt. Jon Lehto committed suicide earlier this week. “We still don’t know why Jon killed himself, but something was going on that he was forced to take his own life,” said Chief Mike Carignan of the Nashua Police Department. Lehto had been with the department since 1999. He died Monday while visiting the West Coast. (Houghton, 9/12)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee County Offers New Plans For Lincoln Hills Youths
Milwaukee County has decreased the amount it is requesting from the state to create a secure residential care center for some Milwaukee youths held at the troubled Lincoln Hills School for Boys and Copper Lake School for Girls north of Wausau. The county's latest proposal offers two options, each with a request for up to $23.6 million. The sum represents a drop from the $41.8 million previously requested. (Dirr, 9/12)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Racial Disparities In Prostate Cancer, And How To Help Stop Them.
Racially disparate rates occur all across the country; especially disparate cancer clusters in metro areas typically share the same culprits: hyper-segregation, poverty, lack of health insurance, food deserts, obesity and low health literacy. Kittles spoke recently at an event hosted by Reggie Jackson, head griot, at America’s Black Holocaust Museum. It was meant to raise that level of literacy. (Shelbourne, 9/12)
The Oregonian: Portland Paramedics, Facing More Violence, Get Self-Defense Training
American Medical Response, or AMR, is now providing self-defense training to its paramedics and EMTs, who are facing increased levels of patient and public violence on the job in Multnomah, Clackamas and Clark counties. (9/12)
