Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Tennessee Inmate Christa Pike Awake And Talking A Week After Botched Execution
The New York Times: Christa Pike Regains Consciousness After Her Failed Execution In Tennessee
Christa Pike, who survived two doses of a lethal injection drug last week during a botched execution in Tennessee, is conscious and speaking, her lawyers said in a statement on Tuesday. Ms. Pike continues to receive critical medical care at a Nashville hospital, the lawyers said. The prognosis remains unclear, they said, but they expect a long recovery. ... Ms. Pike’s medical condition is likely to determine whether Tennessee officials try to execute her again. The U.S. Supreme Court has forbidden the execution of someone who does not have a “rational understanding” of why they’re being put to death. (Cochrane, 10/6)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
NBC News: National Sexual Assault Hotline Calls Are Up 60% Since Cornell Case: EXCLUSIVE
For survivors of sexual assault, social media can be a traumatizing place — a smiling picture of a person who questioned your story in one swipe, a news article about a similar act of violence in the next. But over the past few weeks, content related to sexual assault has reached a fever pitch, as details about an alleged gang rape on Cornell University’s campus in October 2024 continue to emerge. (Hohman, 10/6)
Verite News New Orleans: Trans Detainees Allege Abuse At Jena ICE Facility
Three transgender women who have been detained for months at a male-only central Louisiana immigration detention center allege that they have faced abuse and transphobia at the hands of staff and other detainees. In interviews with Verite News, they allege that they have been assaulted by officers, forcibly detransitioned, verbally harassed and kept in solitary confinement. “Everywhere they call us men, faggots, very offensive words,” Camila Toro de Paula, one of the detainees, told Verite News. (Seda Chabrier, 10/5)
ND News Cooperative: New Rural Hospital Network Helping ND’s Rural Hospitals Survive, Thrive
A three-year-old network for collaboration between rural hospitals in North Dakota is winning accolades and giving other states a template to follow that cuts costs, improves patient outcomes and protects the hospitals’ independence. “I think if you talk about rural health transformation, this is the most transformative thing that's going on in rural health in North Dakota,” said Chris Albertson, CEO of SMP Health - St. Kateri in Rolla. “It’s what other states are starting to follow, the same model.” (Standaert, 10/6)
North Carolina Health News: NC Treasurer: Atrium Affordability Program Could Bankrupt State Employees’ Health Plan
Atrium Health announced a program Tuesday that aims to lower out-of-pocket costs for members of the health insurance plan for state employees who want to keep their Atrium doctors. But the announcement drew a blistering response from state officials who called it “trickery” that would ultimately cost plan members and taxpayers more. (Crouch, 10/7)
ProPublica: Austin Davis’ AZ Hugs Has Become The Unofficial Hotline For Maricopa County’s Homeless Families
For about a year, Austin Davis’ phone has been flooded with hundreds of pleas for help from across the Phoenix metropolitan area. ... Nearly every person who’s reached out to Davis, a 26-year-old poet and advocate for homeless people, says they’d first called 211, seeking help through the official channel, only to learn it could be months before they’d get shelter or a housing placement. His phone has become the unofficial hotline for emergency shelter. (Santa Cruz, 10/7)
NBC News: Semi-Synthetic Kratom Products Linked To Four Deaths In Utah, State Officials Say
Four deaths in Utah have been linked to potent semi-synthetic kratom compounds, state officials said Monday. The kratom-derived compounds, mitragynine pseudoindoxyl (MGPI) and dihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine (MGM-15), are illegal in the state and were recently classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as Schedule 1 drugs. Both are semi-synthetic derivatives of kratom. (Bellamy, 10/6)
AP: California Couple Arrested In Surrogacy Probe Involving At Least 21 Children
An extremely wealthy Chinese immigrant and his wife amassed a brood of 21 children through a surrogacy scheme and raised them in a “house of horrors,” prosecutors alleged Tuesday. Guojun Xuan, 66, and Silvia Zhang, 39, were arrested at their sprawling mansion in Arcadia, a city about 13 miles (20 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. (Ding and Marcelo, 10/7)
The New York Times: DNA From Water Bottle Leads To Arrest In Decades-Old Murder Case
Rhode Island authorities had a breakthrough in a case from 1985 after they tailed a suspect to a rock concert and collected his DNA from a discarded water bottle. (Desai, 10/7)
