Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Man's Suicide In Jail Underscores Mental Health Crisis In Mississippi; Top Surgeon Returns To Troubled Johns Hopkins Children's Hospital In Florida
The Washington Post: Mississippi Man Robert Wayne Johnson Killed Himself While Jailed For Unpaid Fines. Now His Wife Is Suing Kemper County.
In 2017, Robert Wayne Johnson had hit a rough patch. The married father of five had lost his job and was living on the streets. He was also grappling with mental illness, according to his family. The 51-year-old couldn’t afford about $2,500 in municipal court fines and fees accumulated over three years for infractions such as driving without a license that he owed in Kemper County, a rural Mississippi community roughly 125 miles east of Jackson. So a judge sentenced Johnson to a two-day stint in jail instead. Johnson never made it out alive. (Bellware, 10/16)
Health News Florida: All Children's Hospital Brings Back Top Surgeon To Restore Heart Unit
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg is bringing back a prominent heart surgeon, calling it the “first step” to restoring its shuttered heart institute. Dr. James Quintessenza will return as chief surgeon and co-director of the heart institute, which stopped performing surgeries this past year amid fallout from a Tampa Bay Times investigation that found serious problems with the department. (Colombini, 10/16)
California Healthline: California To Provide Financial Boost To Help Buy Health Coverage
If you are among the Californians who buy your own health insurance, a surprise may await you as the enrollment period for 2020 coverage opens this week. Starting Jan. 1, California will become the first state to offer subsidies to middle-income people who make too much money to qualify for the federal tax credits that help consumers buy health coverage through Covered California, the state’s Affordable Care Act insurance exchange. (Wolfson, 10/16)
St. Louis Public Radio: After Years Collecting Dust, Missouri's Untested Rape Kits Are Getting Sorted Out
Missouri has more than 10,000 untested rape kits sitting on shelves in police departments and hospital — some have been there for decades — but the state is finally set to have a full inventory of those kits by the end of the month. Once the inventory is complete, Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office can move forward with creating an electronic database to not only keep track of the untested kits, but to help prosecute rapists and provide justice for victims. (Driscoll, 10/16)
The Associated Press: Lawsuit Challenges State's Use Of Solitary Confinement
A prisoner who suffers from several mental health disorders and has been held in solitary confinement for more than 12 years is one of four who filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of North Carolina on Wednesday, saying the treatment violates the state constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. (10/16)
Health News Florida: State Targets Pinellas, Hillsborough, Five Other Counties To Combat HIV
More than $490,000 is being doled out to seven Florida counties, including Hillsborough and Pinellas, as part of a national effort to try to eradicate HIV and AIDS in the next 10 years. The funding is made possible as part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, which was announced by the Trump administration this year. Money became available for counties to spend Oct. 1. (Sexton, 10/16)
The Associated Press: Mormon Church Opposes Utah LGBTQ 'Conversion Therapy' Ban
A proposed ban on so-called conversion therapy in Utah is in danger of being derailed after the influential Church of Jesus of Christ of Latter-day Saints came out Tuesday night in opposition, just months after it said it wouldn't stand in the way of a similar measure under consideration. The church said in a statement that the regulatory rule prohibiting Utah psychologists from engaging in the discredited practice with LGBTQ minors would fail to safeguard religious beliefs and doesn't account for "important realities of gender identity in the development of children." (10/16)
New Hampshire Public Radio: Second Case Of Jamestown Canyon Virus Identified In New Hampshire
Another case of a mosquito-borne illness called Jamestown Canyon Virus has been identified in New Hampshire. The diagnosis, which was made in the Lakes Region, is the second case of so-called JCV in the state this year. The first was in Kingston in August. (Ropeik, 10/16)
North Carolina Health News: NC Ranks High For LGBTQ-Friendly Hospitals
In a state where advocates for transgender health still shudder remembering HB2, the “bathroom bill” of 2016, area hospitals have stepped up in their treatment of LGBTQ patients. North Carolina boasted 24 “leader” hospitals which received a perfect score in the 2019 Health Equality Index, a survey from a national LGBTQ advocacy group. Two other N.C. hospitals were “Top Performers” with scores of 80-95, and three other hospitals in N.C. also participated and received lower scores in the Human Rights Campaign index. (Duong, 10/17)
The Associated Press: Indiana Hospital System Notifying Patients After Data Breach
A northwestern Indiana hospital system is warning more than 68,000 patients that their personal information, including Social Security numbers and health records, may have been exposed during a data breach. Methodist Hospitals has been mailing letters to patients detailing the steps they can take to safeguard themselves against possible fraud, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported Wednesday. (10/16)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Medical College Of Wisconsin, Froedtert Launch $225 Million Campaign
The Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital announced Wednesday the public launch of a wide-ranging Hope to Health Campaign. The aim is to raise $225 million by December 2020 to "drive health innovation" in Milwaukee and across the state. (Glauber, 10/16)
Georgia Health News: Covington Calls For BD To Close Plant Until Toxic Pollution Reduced
The city of Covington has called for a company to shut down its local medical sterilization plant until it can reduce its emissions of a cancer-causing gas. In a Wednesday news release, the city said preliminary data from air pollution testing found ethylene oxide levels that were particularly high in two neighborhoods close to the BD sterilizing plant in Covington, 35 miles east of Atlanta. (Miller, 10/16)
