State Highlights: Serious Health, Safety Problems Continue To Plague St. Luke’s Hospital; In Age Of #MeToo, States Mull Adding Consent To Curriculums

ProPublica/Houston Chronicle: Blistering Report Details Serious Safety Lapses At St. Luke’s In Houston
When government inspectors descended on Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in March, they found a once-renowned hospital system beset with problems threatening the health and safety of patients. It was a place where some people were given medications not ordered by their doctors, where objects had been mistakenly left in patients after surgery, and where sewage backed up into a kitchen stocked with moldy vegetables. (Hixenbaugh, 5/17)

The Associated Press: Amid #MeToo, States Debate Teaching Consent To Kids
Inside a Catholic school in Portland, Oregon, high school sophomores break into groups to discuss some once-taboo topics: abusive relationships and consent. At one desk, a girl with banana-colored fingernails begins jotting down some of the hallmarks of abuse: Physically hurting you, verbally abusive, can be one-sided. She pauses to seek input from her classmates, boys and girls alike, before continuing: “It messes up your mentality and your, like, confidence.” (Dale, 5/20)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Nationwide Tax On Soda? Economists Say It Would Be Good For The Country, And Here’s Their ‘Optimal’ Rate.
A national tax may seem like an unlikely prospect to Philadelphians, who are familiar with the ongoing controversy over the city’s 1.5-cent-an-ounce tax on sweetened beverages. The tax, which funds pre-K, community schools, and the Rebuild program to improve libraries, parks, and recreation centers, is a key issue in Tuesday’s primary election for mayor and City Council. But Taubinsky, along with economists from the University of Pennsylvania and New York University, developed a cost-benefit analysis and suggested that a federal tax on soda at a rate between 1 and 2.1 cents an ounce would be the “optimal” tax with the greatest public benefit. (McCrystal, 5/20)

Reuters: Nearly 180 Former Ohio State University Students Claim Sexual Abuse By Doctor
Nearly 180 men who attended Ohio State University claim they were sexually abused more than two decades ago by a now-deceased doctor, and university staff who knew of the abuse failed to act, a report released by the school on Friday said. Dr. Richard Strauss was accused of abusing at least 177 male students when he worked as a physician for the university's athletic department and the student health center from 1978 to 1998, the report said, detailing the findings of a year-long independent investigation. (O'Brien, 5/17)

Kansas City Star: Hospital Building Boom In Johnson County; Other Areas Suffer
AdventHealth is set to build an 85-bed hospital in a wealthy area of south Overland Park that already has four full-service hospitals within 10 miles. Last month it announced plans to build yet another one: a 200-bed hospital in Lenexa, just west of the Interstate 435 loop, also a well-to-do area. AdventHealth leaders said they were responding to demand from a growing part of the metro. But there’s another reason to build on the far edge of the area’s wealthiest county. (Marso, 5/19)

ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News: Lawless
Village Police Officer Annie Reed heard her VHF radio crackle to life in the spring of 2018 with the familiar voice of an elder. I need help at my house, the woman said. Reed, who doesn’t wear a uniform because everyone in this Arctic Circle village of 421 can spot her ambling gait and bell of salt-and-pepper hair at a distance, steered her four-wheeler across town. There had been a home invasion, she learned. One of the local sex offenders, who outnumber Reed 7-to-1, had pried open a window and crawled inside, she said. The man then tore the clothes from the elder’s daughter, who had been sleeping, gripped her throat and raped her, according to the charges filed against him in state court. (Hopkins, 5/16)

Austin American-Statesman: Texas House Approves Bill To Study Day Care Staffing Levels, Injury Rates
The Texas House on Friday approved a bill that would require the state to collect data on staffing levels and injury rates at day cares, a win for child safety advocates who have long argued that the state’s minimum child care staffing requirements, which are among the most lax in the nation, endanger children. Senate Bill 708 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, which was already approved by the Senate in a 30-1 vote, is one of five major child care safety measures nearing the legislative finish line this session that address issues raised in the American-Statesman’s December 2018 investigation “Unwatched.” (Collins Walsh, 5/17)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Suit: NKY Jail Put Woman Having Strokes In Solitary, Missed Symptoms
A woman suffered multiple strokes while confined in a Northern Kentucky jail, but medical staff missed her symptoms, which included a numb leg, curling arm and slurred speech, according to a federal lawsuit.Rather than treating her properly, the woman, then 43 years old, was placed in an isolated cell for a period spanning multiple days, court documents say. As a result, a neurologist found a treatment window closed, causing more severe long-term complications. (Londberg and Mayhew, 5/18)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Prison Doctor Promoted Despite Inmates' Deaths
The two inmates died three years apart at Hays State Prison from the same easily treatable condition, diabetic ketoacidosis. Neither had been diagnosed with diabetes, raising the specter that signs of the disease had been overlooked. But if those who make medical decisions in the Georgia state prison system had concerns about the doctor who oversaw the care of Tyrence Mobley and Esteban Mosqueda-Romero, they didn’t act on them.Less than two years later, that physician, Dr. Monica Hill, got a new job, and it was one with even more responsibility: She was made medical director at the state’s largest facility for women. (Robbins, 5/17)

Arizona Republic: ACLU Threatens Lawsuit If Arizona Prisons Keep Ban On 'Chokehold' Book
Arizona Corrections officials could soon face a First Amendment lawsuit if they refuse to overturn a ban on inmates' ability to read "Chokehold," a critically acclaimed critique of the American criminal-justice system and its treatment of black men. The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday challenged the book ban in a letter addressed to Corrections Director Charles Ryan, a polarizing figure already under fire for broken locks and health-care failures at Arizona prisons. (Polletta, 5/17)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Parents Rally Against California’s New Sex Ed Approach
More than 100 parents, students and community members marched Friday outside the Sacramento County Office of Education, protesting California’s controversial new framework for sex education adopted earlier this month. The newly mobilized group Informed Parents of California planned similar rallies at education offices in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties to oppose the State Board of Education’s approval of the revisions to the health and sex education framework. (Morrar, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Juvenile Halls Are So Chaotic, Officers Are Afraid To Go To Work
The detention officer’s email described “chaos” inside one of Los Angeles County’s juvenile halls. Her words were desperate, describing unruly, violent youth and fed up detention officers — enough to prompt a surprise visit by Joe Gardner, president of the county’s volunteer advisory panel, the Probation Commission. (Stiles, 5/19)

The Associated Press: Prison Health Care Provider Resolves Disabilities Lawsuit
Two companies that provide health care in jails and prisons across the United States have agreed to pay $950,000 to resolve a lawsuit that alleged it discriminated against employees with disabilities by failing to accommodate them, requiring them to be fully healed before they can return to work, and firing them. A consent-decree agreement signed by a judge on Wednesday requires Corizon Health Inc. and Corizon LLC to provide annual training to employees who qualify under the Americans With Disabilities Act, review its policies and, if necessary, make changes to ensure equal employment opportunities are available to all employees and job applicants with disabilities. (5/17)

Boston Globe: Health Officials Warn Public About Possible Hepatitis A Exposure In Rockport Restaurant
State health officials are warning people who ate recently at a Rockport restaurant about possible exposure to hepatitis A after a food service employee tested positive for the disease. Anyone who ate cold or uncooked food, or are unsure what they ate, at Roy Moore’s Fish Shack in Rockport between April 21 and Sunday are encouraged to talk with their health care provider about the possible exposure and treatment, the state Department of Public Health said in a statement. (Kovatch, 5/17)

MPR: Paramedics Making House Calls Improve Care, Reduce Costs
She's part of Minnesota's small cadre of certified community paramedics, who visit patients at home to help them with transitions out of the hospital and with managing chronic conditions. The early results indicate the house calls improve patient satisfaction and reduce spending on medical care. (Zdechlik, 5/20)

North Carolina Health News: As NC Attorney General Tries To Slow JUUL Use Among NC Teens, Researchers Weigh Health Effects Of E-Cigarettes 
Luka’s 16 now, back in high school, much healthier and sharing his experiences so other teens can better understand the nicotine addiction that sent him spiraling so out of control his mother sent him to a California substance abuse treatment center for more than a month. “I did not send my 15-year-old to residential treatment in California for 39 days because he was caught smoking or even just vaping,” his mother said during the news conference broadcast on Facebook last week. “I sent him because he had a substance abuse problem. The substance was Juul.” (Blythe, 5/20)

Pioneer Press: MN Lawmakers Have A $48.3B Budget Deal — No Gas Tax Hike, Keeps Health Care Tax At 1.8 Percent
After a week of secret meetings that frustrated nearly everyone at the Capitol, Minnesota political leaders emerged Sunday night to announce a deal on a nearly $48.3 billion two-year budget. ...Lawmakers agreed to continue for two years a reinsurance program that helps keep health care premiums affordable. That will cost $380 million to help insurers afford the claims of their sickest patients. To address the rising health and human services budget, Democrats and Republicans agreed to form a blue ribbon committee tasked with finding $100 million in savings in by 2023. (Magan, 5/19)

The Washington Post: D.C. Produce Rx Vouchers Are Latest Attempt To Treat Healthy Food As Medicine
Adrienne Dove pulled up to the checkout line of the Giant grocery store in Southeast Washington with a cart filled with cabbage, bananas and bagged string beans. The register rang $20.60. Instead of cash or card, Dove paid with a Produce Rx voucher from the store pharmacy. The Giant in the most impoverished part of the District is the latest frontier in the “food as medicine” movement. (Nirappil, 5/17)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota Elder Advocates, Senior Housing Officials Strike Deal To Deter Abuse 
Elder advocates, senior housing industry officials, state lawmakers and health department regulators said this week that they’d struck a deal to license assisted living facilities and increase protections for their residents. But as the clock ticked down on the 2019 legislative session, some wondered whether lawmakers would have enough time to complete it this year. The proposal would make Minnesota the last state in the nation to license assisted living facilities and set a base level of care required for residents, which would be made clear to them and to their family members before they sign a contract. (Ferguson, 5/17)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Doctor Pleads Guilty To Taking Medicare Kickbacks
A New Orleans doctor admitted in federal court Thursday (May 16) to scheming with other physicians in the area to solicit kickbacks for referring patients to a home health company for services they didn’t need.Joseph Haynes, 61, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to solicit and receive healthcare kickbacks and bribes, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Louisiana announced Friday. (Prentzel, 5/17)

St. Louis Public Radio: Cities Prepare For Legalized Medical Marijuana In Missouri
The amendment voters approved last fall to legalize medical marijuana has some provisions regulating the location of dispensaries, labs, cultivation centers and testing facilities. That includes a minimum of 1,000 feet from schools, day cares and places of worship.Cities have the ability to reduce that buffer. They can also regulate hours of operation and how the sites will fit into local zoning designations. Missouri will start taking applications for medical marijuana dispensary locations in August. (Ahl, 5/20)