State Highlights: Liver Donor Malpractice Case Goes To Trial In Massachusetts After Both Men Die; Facility In Texas Proposed For Immigrant Children Contains Toxins, Group Says

Boston Globe: Malpractice Case Involving Death Of Liver Donor Goes To Trial
A key question is whether surgeons should have given Hawks more detailed information about the severity of his brother-in-law’s cancer and prognosis — and whether that knowledge would have changed his decision to undergo a risky surgery to remove 60 percent of his liver. (Kowalczyk, 2/13)

Reuters: Proposed U.S. Migrant Shelter May Be Polluted, Green Group Warns
Parts of a Texas military base that the Trump administration had proposed for a temporary detention facility for migrant children contain toxins that could pose a health risk, according to a report released by an environmental group on Tuesday. Last June, then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the U.S. military was preparing to house immigrant families at Fort Bliss, an Army base in El Paso, Texas, and unaccompanied minors at Goodfellow Air Base in San Angelo. (2/12)

Texas Tribune: Texas' Driver Responsibility Program Might Finally Face Reform
Texas lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pushing to fix a program that critics say traps low-income drivers in a cycle of debt — with hopes that this time, they'll find a solution. The Driver Responsibility Program, enacted in 2003, charges Texas drivers additional yearly fees for certain traffic violations — from $100 for a few traffic tickets to $2,500 for driving while intoxicated, on top of the cost of the ticket. If drivers don't pay within 105 days, the state suspends their licenses. (Sundaram, 2/13)

KQED: Meth’s Comeback: A New Speed Epidemic Takes Its Toll On San Francisco
Methamphetamine is back. In San Francisco, over the last five years, Drug Enforcement Administration seizures of meth have jumped, hospitalizations and emergency room visits have spiked and deaths have doubled. The toll the drug is taking on the city’s public health, emergency response and police departments is now spurring the mayor to establish a task force to combat the new speed epidemic. (Dembosky, 2/12)

Kaiser Health News: Texans Can Appeal Surprise Medical Bills, But The Process Can Be Draining
In Texas, a growing number of patients are turning to a little-known state mediation program to deal with unexpected hospital bills.The bills in question often arrive in patients’ mailboxes with shocking balances that run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. When patients, through no fault of their own, are treated outside their insurers’ network of hospitals, the result can be a surprise bill. Other times, insurers won’t agree to pay what the hospital charges, and the patient is on the hook for the balance. (Lopez, 2/13)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Jail Inmate Sues County, Claims Civil Rights Violated Over Dirty Water, Moldy Trays
A former Cuyahoga County jail inmate filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday that says the county violated his civil rights when he was forced to choose between drinking moldy water that made him sick or severe dehydration.Cecil Fluker, who previously filed a lawsuit against the county in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, says the county inflicted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of his 8th, 5th and 14th Amendment Rights. The lawsuit also says the county showed “deliberate indifference” to Fluker’s health and safety. (Ferris, 2/12)

KCUR: As Kansas Youth Suicide Rises, State Pushes Prevention Training For School Workers 
Simplistic crisis plans and missing mandatory training by some Kansas schools led the Kansas Board of Education Tuesday to reinforce its suicide prevention requirements. Suicide rates in the United States have been going up for years, but the rates have risen faster in Kansas. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Kansas suicide rate increased by 45 percent from 1999 to 2016. (Bisha, 2/12)

The Associated Press: Las Vegas Police Seek Thief Who Stole Box With Cancer Drug
A thief in Las Vegas made off with a delivery package containing what a mother told police was $40,000 worth of cancer treatment drugs for her 14-year-old son, authorities said Tuesday. Police issued a plea for help finding the thief and released a photo of the man seen in doorbell security video. He took two packages from the front of a home Thursday, Officer Laura Meltzer said. (2/12)

The Star Tribune: As It Searches For New Leader, HCMC Faces Huge Challenges
As they recruit a new CEO for HCMC and its network of clinics, hospital leaders will be writing a tough job description: Its urban trauma center is bleeding money, its research agenda is bruised by an ethics scandal, and it must thrive in a national health care system that punishes medical centers that serve the poor. The hospital’s umbrella organization, Hennepin Healthcare, lost $49 million in 2016 and $29 million in 2017 on hospital and clinic operations, after posting modest income gains the prior two years, according to the most recent public data. (Olson, 2/12)

Miami Herald: FL Court Weighs Patient’s Right To Grow His Own Medical Pot
The Florida Department of Health says that pulling out the definition is unfair, and that judges should consider the portion of the law that bars patients or caregivers from cultivating marijuana or purchasing marijuana from any person or entity other than a medical marijuana treatment center. Judge Karen Gievers ruled last April that Redner could grow his own medical marijuana but can’t share the plants or the juice with anyone else. (Gross, 2/12)