States Desperate For Alternative To Lethal Injections Turn To Nitrogen Gas For Executions
Drug shortages and botched execution attempts have caused states to look to new methods of execution. But there's little scientific evidence that nitrogen gas is effective. In other public health news: the first lady's initiative, anxiety, vaping, post-partum depression, and more.
The New York Times:
States Turn To An Unproven Method Of Execution: Nitrogen Gas
Hamstrung by troubles with lethal injection — gruesomely botched attempts, legal battles and growing difficulty obtaining the drugs — states are looking for alternative ways to carry out the death penalty. High on the list for some is a method that has never been used before: inhaling nitrogen gas. Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi have authorized nitrogen for executions and are developing protocols to use it, which represents a leap into the unknown. There is no scientific data on executing people with nitrogen, leading some experts to question whether states, in trying to solve old problems, may create new ones. (Grady and Hoffman, 5/7)
The New York Times:
Melania Trump Rolls Out ‘Be Best,’ A Children’s Agenda With A Focus On Social Media
Hours after President Trump took to Twitter on Monday to denigrate the special counsel’s investigation as a “Phony Witch Hunt” and the Iran deal as a “MESS,” Melania Trump stepped into the Rose Garden and said she would focus her official effort as first lady on teaching children to put kindness first in their lives, particularly on social media. In a speech delivered in front of her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, at least five cabinet secretaries and other senior officials, Mrs. Trump unveiled a program called “Be Best,” which she said would tackle opioid abuse, social media pressures and mental health issues among young people. (Rogers, 5/7)
Los Angeles Times:
It's Not Just You, We're All Living In The United States Of Anxiety
Feeling more anxious these days? You've got plenty of company. A new survey from the American Psychiatric Assn. reveals that 39% of Americans feel more anxious now than they did a year ago. That's more than double the 19% of Americans who feel less anxious now than at this time last year. (Another 39% of survey respondents said their anxiety level is about the same, and 3% weren't sure.) (Kaplan, 5/8)
WBUR:
FDA To Take Action Against Companies That Sell Vape Pens To Teens
Rachel Martin talks to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb about the agency's new action to crack down on sales of vape pens, also known as e-cigarettes, to children and teens. (Martin, 5/7)
The New York Times:
When A New Mother’s Joy Is Entwined With Grief
Every Mother’s Day, Maggie Nelson, her husband Mike, and their three young children head to the cemetery to take a family photo at the grave of their daughter, Emily. She was stillborn in 2010, but her twin, Mikey, now 7, survived. “People say, ‘That’s kind of sad,’ but I can say, ‘I’m a proud mom of four. Here I am with all of them,’” Ms. Nelson, 39, said of the photos of her and the kids gathered on the grass by Emily’s stone plaque. A Bloomington, Ill., kindergarten teacher, she is a member of an unofficial sorority of women who experienced acute grief while postpartum. (Zulkey, 5/8)
Modern Healthcare:
Geisinger CEO: Routine DNA Sequencing Will Save Money
Geisinger patients won't have to foot any upfront costs as the health system rolls out DNA sequencing as part of routine care, and the program will ultimately reap cost savings by catching diseases earlier, the system's CEO said Monday. Donors and Geisinger's insurance company will take on the financial burden, and the health system will spend "under $5 million" to sequence a "huge number" of patients' DNA in a new program, Geisinger President and CEO Dr. David Feinberg said. That money will go to the cost of the actual tests, which he estimates will range from $300 to $500 per patient. Under the new program, all Geisinger patients will have the chance to have their DNA sequenced. (Arndt, 5/7)
Stat:
Stubborn Genes: New Research Looks At How Our Bodies Respond (Or Don’t) To Night Shift Work
In nursing, there is a rite of passage that nearly everyone goes through — night shifts. Sometimes, the shifts are clumped together, and sometimes, they are spaced apart, said Daniel Schweitzer, a nurse in Pittsburgh. But they always seem to have the same effect on his body clock. “When you do a few nights, you get this permanent jet lag, where you’re never quite truly awake,” he said. “Your sleep schedule gets truly messed up.” (Satyanarayana, 5/7)
The Hill:
How Ebola Entered The American Consciousness: A Trump Tweet
Little did Trump know that his initial tweets came at the moment when the White House was most worried that the Ebola virus would, in fact, spread to the United States. The occasion was the African Leaders Summit, which brought heads of state from fifty African nations to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the State Department and the White House itself. The Obama administration worried that the summit, which included dozens of staff, hangers-on and members of the African media attached to each delegation, would inadvertently serve as the opportunity for Ebola to spread between delegations, or to civilians in the Washington area. (Wilson, 5/8)
