State Highlights: ‘Unfathomable’: Lawsuit Claims Denver Jail Ignored Inmate’s Screams For Help During Labor; Florida Residents Advised To Stock Up On Prescriptions As Storm Advances

The Washington Post: Diana Sanchez Gave Birth In Denver Jail Cell Alone, Lawsuit Says
Diana Sanchez screamed as she writhed on the small bed inside her cell at the Denver County Jail. Gripping the thin mattress with one hand, she tried to use the other to take off her white cloth pants, only managing to free her left leg. Her face glistened with sweat. She had been in labor for hours, and now her baby was coming. At 10:44 a.m. on July 31, 2018, in a moment captured on surveillance video, Sanchez gave birth to her son alone in her cell without medical supervision or treatment, despite repeatedly telling the jail’s staff that she was having contractions, according to a federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Colorado on Wednesday. (Chiu, 8/29)

Tampa Bay Times: Getting Ready For Dorian: Now Would Be A Good Time To Refill Prescription Medications
Florida residents who are considering evacuating before Hurricane Dorian are advised to check in with their local pharmacies as soon as possible to receive medication refills that can last through the duration of the Category 4 storm and its aftermath. The state Office of Insurance Regulation allows people to obtain 30-day refills on prescription medication if they reside in a county that is under a hurricane warning issued by the National Weather Service, or a county that is under a state of emergency declared by the governor, or if the state has activated its emergency operations center. (Griffin, 8/29)

Los Angeles Times: Many UC Berkeley Buildings Pose Deadly Risk In A Major Earthquake, Report Says
Dozens of buildings at UCLA and UC Berkeley pose a serious risk to life in a strong earthquake, with at least 68 seismically deficient structures at UC Berkeley and 18 at UCLA, according to new university studies. Although no campus buildings were deemed to be in the worst category, “dangerous,” six at UC Berkeley and three at UCLA were found to have a “severe” risk to life. The remaining 62 at UC Berkeley and 15 at UCLA were said to have a “serious” risk to life, according to the first reports released this week in response to a UC Board of Regents 2017 directive calling on every campus to undertake a seismic risk assessment. (Lin and Reyes-Velarde, 8/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut’s Measles Vaccination Rates Keep Falling
The percentage of unvaccinated children in Connecticut continues to grow, according to figures released by the state’s public-health agency. Connecticut’s statewide immunization rate for measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations of kindergartners fell to 95.9% for the 2018-19 school year, compared with 96.5% for the prior year, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Public Health. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that at least 95% of kindergarten students in schools should be vaccinated. (De Avila, 8/29)

The Star Tribune: Panelists At University Of Minnesota Call Racial Disparities In Maternal Deaths 'Staggering' 
Black mothers are three to four times more likely to die of pregnancy complications than white women, and saving them will require addressing structural racism in American society and racial biases in the nation’s health care system, according to a panel of congresswomen and public health experts who spoke Thursday at the University of Minnesota. Nationally, nearly 700 women die each year of pregnancy complications, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Evans, 8/29)

The Hill: Health Officials Warn New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts Residents Over Mosquito-Borne Virus 
Health officials in New Jersey, Michigan and Massachusetts are warning residents of mosquitos carrying a potentially deadly virus. Cases of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare virus that causes brain inflammation, have been recorded in each of the three states. The New Jersey Department of Health confirmed a case earlier this month where a man was hospitalized. The department is urging residents to take extra precautions to avoid being bitten. (Rodrigo, 8/29)

Des Moines Register: MercyOne Des Moines To Close Transplant Program After 3 Decades
After suspending its transplant program, a Des Moines medical center is ceasing its transplant operations altogether. MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center is voluntarily closing its kidney and pancreas transplant program after three decades effective Oct. 1, according to a news release from the organization. MercyOne will work with Iowa Methodist Medical Center's transplant center to help those in need. The staff at Methodist will evaluate MercyOne's list of patients and provide care options, the release states. MercyOne also has staff ready to help those on the wait list figure out their next steps. (Davis, 8/29)

ProPublica: In A Disputed Custody Case, The Children Of A Spanish-Speaking Father Will Remain With Their Slovak-Speaking Foster Parents
A Cook County Juvenile Court judge on Thursday took a step toward awarding guardianship of two young children to their foster parents in a case that has raised concerns about how Illinois child welfare officials serve Spanish-speaking, Latino families. Judge Peter Vilkelis determined that the foster parents should become the permanent guardians of the two older children of Jorge Matias, who was deported last fall to his native Guatemala. (Sanchez and Eldeib, 8/29)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Health Care CEO Sentenced To 3.5 Years In Bribery Scheme
A Middle Tennessee health care CEO who admitted to paying bribes to attract customers and defraud the government out of millions has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison. CCC Medical Inc. owner Brenda Montgomery, 71, must also forfeit close to $600,000, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Montgomery, of Camden, pleaded guilty earlier this year to violating federal anti-kickback laws, which are designed to preserve fair competition between health care companies. Montgomery paid about $770,000 in bribes so another company would refer her patients in need of durable medical equipment, like knee and back braces. Montgomery then used these patients to bill Medicare for about $4.6 million, according to federal court documents. (Kelman, 8/29)

Modern Healthcare: DOJ Investigates Providence St. Joseph Health's Swedish Health Services
The U.S. Department of Justice is probing Providence St. Joseph Health's Swedish Health Services in a civil investigation, the not-for-profit integrated health system revealed in its recent quarterly earnings report. The DOJ requested documents from Seattle-based Swedish related to certain arrangements, joint ventures and physician organizations, according to the report. Providence St. Joseph said that the investigation will not have a "material adverse effect" on its financials. (Kacik, 8/29)

KQED: California's Section 8 Renters Face A Severe Housing Shortage. Can Lawmakers Help?
As California struggles with a crisis in affordable housing, state lawmakers are trying to improve a severe shortage of housing available to renters who have federal Section 8 vouchers. The vouchers allow tenants to pay only 30% of their income toward rent with federal assistance to pay the rest. But most landlords do not accept tenants who pay with vouchers, saying they are too burdensome. (Tobias and Botts, 8/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Child Abuse Reports Up In Georgia, With Fewer Cases Substantiated
Reports of child abuse in Georgia have nearly doubled since 2012 while, during that same time, the number of cases that are considered to be “substantiated” have fallen. That’s generally a good thing, child advocates said. But they say the numbers don’t tell the full story. (Prabhu, 8/29)

Kaiser Health News: California Requires Suicide Prevention Phone Number On Student IDs
Denise Herrmann was only a few months into her new job as principal of a Palo Alto, Calif., high school in fall 2014 when a student took his own life. By the next day, Herrmann said, she and some of her colleagues at Henry M. Gunn High School were in conversations with experts from nearby Stanford University about how to cope with student suicides and their aftermath. She knew her school was not alone. “This was a community issue,” she said. (Kreidler, 8/30)

Los Angeles Times: California Housing Crisis Traps Seniors With High Rents, Evictions
Mario Canel met his wife inside the apartment where he’s lived for the last 33 years. Canel, a house painter, was at the Silver Lake complex off of Sunset Boulevard on a job, but he and his customer quickly connected over their shared Guatemalan roots. It wasn’t long before Mario and Sabina married, and her home became his. For years, they basked in such comforts as plucking chayote from a vine outside their front window. (Khouri and Shalby, 8/29)