State Highlights: The Man At The Center Of LAPD’s Largest-Ever Single-Suspect Sex Crimes Investigation; Heartbeat Bill Could Have Big Impact Beyond Ohio

Los Angeles Times: How George Tyndall Went From USC Gynecologist To The Center Of LAPD’s Largest-Ever Sex Abuse Investigation
Dr. George Tyndall arrived on the USC campus in the summer of 1989. The university had advertised for a full-time gynecologist for the student health center, and Tyndall, then 42, was an enthusiastic candidate. “My mission will be to do everything I can to help Trojan women avoid the many preventable catastrophes that I have seen,” Tyndall declared during the job interview, according to a written account he provided to The Times. “And I will do so for as long as I am mentally and physically able, hopefully well into my 80s.” (Hamilton and Ryan, 12/19)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio’s Heartbeat Bill Aims To Trigger Supreme Court Battle. Here’s What That Means
The so-called heartbeat bill would outlaw abortions in Ohio before many women know they’re pregnant. It would be one of the strictest abortion laws in the country, designed to trigger a Supreme Court battle that could knock down Roe v. Wade. The bill on Gov. John Kasich’s desk would prohibit abortion once doctors can detect a fetal heartbeat, normally around six weeks into a pregnancy. (Kilpatrick, 12/19)

Reuters: Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder Verdict Stands, Missouri Judge Rules
Johnson & Johnson failed to persuade a Missouri trial judge to set aside a July verdict awarding a record $4.69 billion to 22 women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products. The health-care company faces thousands of lawsuits over the safety of talc in its Baby Powder. The trial was the first in which plaintiffs claimed that asbestos fibers in J&J’s talc caused ovarian cancer. It relied on unsealed internal company documents detailing J&J’s alleged knowledge of asbestos contamination since at least the 1970s. (12/19)

The CT Mirror: Denied: A Look Into Inmate Health Care
With no record-keeping system – which was required under UConn Health’s contract with the state – it is impossible to determine if appropriate health care was delivered to the 13,000 inmates in state prisons on any given day. That leaves lawmakers and civil rights groups – who have growing concerns about the quality of health care provided to inmates – with no way to gauge whether recent disturbing stories shared by inmates and their families, as well as numerous lawsuits against the state, are proof of a systemic failure or simply isolated incidents in an otherwise functioning process. (Thomas and Silber, 12/20)

Dallas Morning News: 8 Pharmacy Owners, Marketers Charged In Alleged $9.1 Million Dallas-Area Kickback Scheme 
Eight pharmacy owners and marketers have been charged in what authorities allege was a Dallas-area scheme in which kickbacks were paid after doctors prescribed compounded drugs covered by federal insurance, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. The scheme, the indictment alleges, involved $92 million in claims and $9.1 million in kickbacks. The indictment alleges that the men "did knowingly and willfully combine, conspire, confederate and agree" to defraud the U.S. through bribes and kickbacks for the referral of TRICARE and Department of Labor beneficiaries. (Emily, 12/19)

The Washington Post: Virginia Jail’s Lack Of Medical And Mental Health Care Probably Violates Constitution, Justice Department Report Finds
A major Virginia jail probably violates the constitutional rights of prisoners by failing to provide adequate medical and mental-health care, according to a report released Wednesday by the Justice Department. The Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth does not provide proper emergency care for sick inmates, risks harm to mentally ill prisoners by placing them in solitary confinement for long periods, and fails to adequately screen or administer medicine for those needing psychological treatment, the report found. (Jouvenal, 12/19)

Denver Post: No More Medicare Funding For Health In Home Services In Denver
A federal agency announced Wednesday that it will end Medicare funding to Health in Home Services in Denver, citing the home health organization’s failure to meet “basic health and safety requirements.” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will stop paying for care provided by Health in Home to Medicare and Medicaid patients after Friday, according to a news release. (Seaman, 12/19)

The Washington Post: Barack Obama Dons A Santa Hat And Hands Out Gifts In Surprise Visit To D.C. Children’s Hospital
Watch out, Santa: Former president Barack Obama is coming for your sleigh. With a fluffy red cap and a bulging bag slung over his shoulder, Obama delivered presents (and more than a few gasps) to the young patients at Children’s National hospital in Northwest Washington on Wednesday. (Andrews-Dyer, 12/19)

Denver Post: UCHealth Makes Newborn Footprints Digital At Northern Colorado Hospitals
In July, Loveland’s UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies and Fort Collins’ UCHealth Poudre Valley became the first two hospitals in the state to electronically scan a baby’s footprints minutes after birth to create an electronic identification record that can be used for the child’s whole life. Hospitals have long used ink and paper to record infant footprints. Infants dislike flexing their hands, which makes taking handprints difficult. However, that traditional method came with many pitfalls that are resolved with the new technology. (Albani-Burgio, 12/19)

KQED: Camp Fire Caused Nearly 2 Straight Weeks Of Bay Area's Worst Air Quality On Record
From Nov. 8 to Nov. 20, the region was choked by dangerously high levels of fine particulate matter, ranking among the worst periods of hazardous smoke since the Bay Area Air Quality Management District began keeping such records in 1999. All of the district's 17 monitoring stations — spread through eight Bay Area counties — detected high concentrations of the pollutant. (Goldberg, 12/19)

Chicago Tribune: Ten Presence Hospitals Getting A Name Change 
Ten hospitals that were formerly part of the Presence Health system have officially dropped that name from their titles, adding Amita Health in its place. The name change follows the acquisition of Presence Health by Catholic hospital system Ascension in March, making Presence part of Amita Health. Amita is a joint operating company formed by Adventist Midwest Health and Ascension's Alexian Brothers Health System in 2015. (Schencker, 12/19)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Police Barred From Kingwood Pines Hospital During Teen ‘Riot’ 
Houston police dispatched to the troubled Kingwood Pines Hospital last Saturday as at least six teenagers staged a riot inside were barred from entering the building because of their duty weapons. The response by law enforcement to the psychiatric hospital in northeast Harris County over the weekend is now the subject of a Houston Police Department investigation, spokesman Kese Smith confirmed. (Hensley, 12/19)

MPR: Minnesota Officials Consider How To Reduce Prison Populations
A bipartisan bill aimed at reducing prison populations appears likely to become law and could affect some of the roughly 2,400 federal inmates housed in Minnesota. But a larger number of prisoners go through state courts and are housed in state facilities. (Williams, 12/20)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Study Shows Local Company's Copper-Infused Hospital Linens Can Reduce Infection Rates
Cupron recently announced that an 8-month-long study at six Sentara hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina showed that replacing regular linens such as patient gowns, bedsheets, washcloths and towels with copper-embedded linens significantly reduced occurrences of drug-resistant organisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. (Blackwell, 12/19)

Arizona Republic: Female Prison Population On The Rise In Arizona
A recent report on Arizona's criminal-justice system has found incarcerations are increasing sharply for women, spurred by the state's tough drug laws. In the third and final report in a series that takes a magnifying glass to Arizona's criminal-justice system, FWD.us, a bipartisan political group founded by Silicon Valley leaders, show a sharp increase in the number of women being incarcerated for drug and property-related crimes. (Vandell, 12/19)

Richmond Times Dispatch: Hampton Roads Regional Jail Not Providing Proper Medical And Mental Health Care, Department Of Justice Finds
Prisoners at Hampton Roads Regional Jail were subjected to medical and mental health care so bad that it violated their constitutional rights in a facility where officials didn’t fix problems even after becoming aware of them, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division said in a report released Wednesday. The investigation of the jail, located in Portsmouth, began after press coverage of the death of Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, who was mentally ill and died in the jail in August 2015 after wasting away in a cell without adequate mental health treatment. (Wilson, 12/19)

Boston Globe: Depression Shadows Old Age For Nearly A Third Of Massachusetts Residents
A report released this month by the Gerontology Institute of the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston shows the share of state residents over 65 who’ve been treated for depression has climbed to 31.5 percent from 28.6 percent three years ago. The report, which compiles a broad range of aging health data culled from Medicare records, was funded by the Tufts Health Plan Foundation. (Weisman, 12/19)

Stat: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Accusing Craig Venter Of Stealing Trade Secrets
A California judge has dismissed a suit in which genomics pioneer Craig Venter’s old company accused him of stealing trade secrets. The decision on Tuesday brings to a close a messy breakup between Venter, the 72-year-old celebrity scientist who helped sequence the human genome, and Human Longevity, the struggling San Diego genomics company that Venter founded in 2013 and departed this past spring. (Robbins, 12/19)

The Associated Press: Missouri Begins To Process Toward Medical Marijuana
Missouri has begun the move toward legalized medical marijuana by naming an outgoing lawmaker to a leadership role and announcing the start of the process for those who want to grow, make or sell marijuana products. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said Wednesday it will begin accepting application fees for cultivation, infused product manufacturing and dispensaries on Jan. 5. Forms are available on the health department website. Application fees are non-refundable. (12/19)