Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: New Plants Expected To Worsen Toxic Air In Louisiana's Disadvantaged Communities; Rural Hospitals Like This One In North Carolina Face Daunting Funding Cuts
ProPublica/The Times-Picayune: Welcome To 'Cancer Alley,' Where Toxic Air Is About To Get Worse
Over a half-century, Hazel Schexnayder saw this riverside hamlet transformed from a collection of old plantations, tin-roofed shacks and verdant cornfields into an industrial juggernaut. By the early 1990s, she’d had enough of the towering chemical plants and their mysterious white plumes, the roadside ditches oozing with blue fluid, the air that smelled of rotten eggs and nail-polish remover, the neighbors suffering miscarriages and dying of cancer. (Younes, Baurick and Meiners, 10/30)
ProPublica: Why Louisiana’s Air Quality Is Going From Bad To Worse, In 3 Charts
The chemical industry is growing rapidly in Louisiana at the same time that the state is backsliding when it comes to toxic levels of cancer-causing chemicals in the air. We investigated. Here’s what we found. (Younes, 10/30)
Stateline: Rural And Safety Net Hospitals Prepare For Cut In Federal Support
Absent action by Congress in the next three weeks, Dr. Michael Waldrum, CEO of Vidant Health, is going to have to figure out what medical services to deny hard-pressed communities in rural eastern North Carolina. “It runs the gamut,” Waldrum said in an interview last week. “Do we close hospitals? Do we close services within hospitals?” With an operating margin of less than 0.5% — comparable to most other rural and safety net hospitals — and an expected loss of $7.7 million in federal money this year, which would double next year, Vidant, a multi-hospital safety net health system, could drop into the red. (Ollove, 10/31)
Dallas Morning News: East Texas Doctor Accused Of ‘Fertility Fraud’ May Face Unethical Conduct, But Not Treatment, Investigation
Brushing past its staff’s initial reluctance, the Texas Medical Board voted last month to investigate an East Texas fertility doctor for possible “unprofessional and unethical conduct” for using his own sperm to inseminate a woman who selected another donor. On Oct. 18, the board voted to reopen and continue an investigation of Nacogdoches obstetrician-gynecologist Kim McMorries. Over the summer, an out-of-state expert on fertility fraud complained to the regulatory agency that McMorries’ actions – even for the mid-1980s -- didn’t meet the required standard of care of infertile women. (Garrett, 10/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: California Has One Of The Country’s Lowest Rates Of Food Stamp Enrollment. Could Text Messages Help?
California has one of the lowest rates of enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in the country. Could text messages help change that? Only 72 percent of Californians who qualify for SNAP — which is called CalFresh in the state — receive the benefit, which most experts chalk up to a convoluted application process. (Duggan, 10/30)
North Carolina Health News: NC Jail Suicides And Fatal ODs On The Rise
Suicide and drug overdose deaths are on the rise in North Carolina jails, according to a recent report released by Disability Rights NC. There have been 17 suicides so far this year, up from 12 in 2018. And the number of jail overdose deaths more than doubled from 2017 to 2018. About 80 percent of jail suicide deaths occured within an inmate’s first 12 days in jail. These were people who had been arrested, but not yet been convicted of a crime. (Knopf, 10/31)
The CT Mirror: More CT Hospitals End 2018 In The Black, But Financial Picture Mixed
A majority of Connecticut’s acute care hospitals – 24 of the 28 – ended the fiscal year in the black, up from 23 the year before, according to a report released Wednesday by the state’s Office of Health Strategy. But the average total margin – which takes into account operating revenues and non-operating revenues that include investments, endowments and donations – dropped from 7.05% in 2017 to 5.92 % last year. (Carlesso and Phaneuf, 10/30)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Lawmaker: Make Aiding Gender Transition Of Minors A Felony
A Cobb County lawmaker wants to make it a felony for medical professionals to help a minor with gender transition. State Rep. Ginny Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, said the legislation aims to protect children from having irreversible procedures done when they are young. Current law requires a parent to consent to surgery or for a minor to be prescribed medication. (Prabhu, 10/30)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Report: Child Safety Requires Improving Problems Within, And Outside Of, DCYF
While it’s true that more staff is needed in the state’s system overseeing the safety of children, a news analysis said dealing with serious family problems in New Hampshire requires a rethinking of systems ranging from health care to law enforcement, including the habits of other people. “It’s really disheartening to hear people on television say, ‘Oh yeah, there’s always been a problem at that house,’ but they haven’t ever called it in,” Moira O’Neill, director of the Office of the Child Advocate, said in an interview Wednesday, echoing concerns raised in the office’s first major report on critical cases. (Brooks, 10/30)
New Hampshire Public Radio: Communication Problems, Staffing Shortages, And Public Image Hinder DCYF, Child Advocate Finds
A new report by the Office of the Child Advocate says the state agency tasked with investigating allegations of child abuse is hampered by poor communication, chronic understaffing, and an outdated, inefficient records keeping system. The report, which examines systemic factors affecting child safety in New Hampshire, focuses on the deaths of five children and one parent whose families had contact with the Division for Children, Youth and Families since February 2018. (Moon, 10/30)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Won’t Hold Any Executions In 2019 As Gov. Mike DeWine Issues More Reprieves
Ohio will not hold any executions in 2019, as Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday delayed execution dates for death-row inmates James Galen Hanna and Kareem Jackson because of ongoing issues with finding execution drugs. ...The reason given for the reprieves is the state’s continuing problems with finding a pharmaceutical company willing to sell drugs for use in executions. (Pelzer, 10/30)
North Carolina Health News: Does NC Help Children Affected By FASD?
The courtroom on the seventh floor of the Wake County Justice Center was quiet as Judge Vince Rozier read a report from the mother of the 28-year-old defendant awaiting sentencing. That mother, Theresa Morris-Brown, is a petite 63-year-old woman with a gargantuan will to help the man she welcomed into her life as a 4-year-old. The boy, now grown, was arrested in June for pushing her to the ground and wrapping a belt around her neck. (Blythe, 10/30)
Texas Tribune: As Texas Gets Ready To Clear Some Austin Highway Encampments, Gov. Abbott And Mayor Adler At Odds Over Homeless Residents
Ever since the Austin City Council relaxed some ordinances regulating the public spaces in which people can camp, the governor has criticized local officials and pointed to “reports of violence, used needles and feces,” mentioning potential public health risks associated with people experiencing homelessness. But Austin officials say crime and health data disprove Abbott’s narrative. (Rich and Tatum, 10/31)
