Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Targeting People With Epilepsy: How A Tweet Brought On A Seizure And Why The Cyberbully Faces Assault Charges
The Washington Post: A Tweet Gave A Journalist A Seizure. His Case Brings New Meaning To The Idea Of ‘Online Assault.’
Kurt Eichenwald sat down at the desk in his Dallas home office and logged onto Twitter. The prominent journalist and author was used to Internet invective — especially then, in the weeks after he posted a particularly inflammatory tweet about President Trump. More than 170 notifications awaited him when he signed on that evening, Dec. 15, 2016. But he didn’t make it past the first one: A GIF that strobed violently across his computer screen, flashing a red, yellow and blue geometric pattern behind the words “YOU DESERVE A SEIZURE FOR YOUR POSTS.” (Thebault, 12/16)
Los Angeles Times: After Fatal School Shootings, Antidepressant Use Spikes Among Student Survivors
The children who experience a school shooting but live to see their parents and friends again are often called survivors. But by at least one measure of mental health, they too are among a gunman’s victims, new research finds. In the two years after a fatal school shooting, the rate at which antidepressants were prescribed to children and teens rose by 21% within a tight ring around the affected school. The increase in antidepressants prescribed to kids grew more — to nearly 25% — three years after a school shooting, suggesting that survivors’ depression lingers long after the incident has begun to fade from a community’s memory. (Healy, 12/16)
Politico Pro: HHS To Propose Rules Overhauling Organ Donation
HHS on Tuesday will announce new rules intended to expand the pool of organ donors and crack down on wasted donations, four individuals familiar with the rules told POLITICO. The efforts are part of the Trump administration’s sweeping kidney care initiative, an overhaul of a market in which the federal government spends more than $100 billion per year. The plan, announced by President Donald Trump in July, has attracted bipartisan support. (Diamond and Roubein, 12/16)
CNN: Cold And Flu Won't Attack You Simultaneously, Study Says
Coughing, sneezing and suffering from an achy breaky body? While having the flu is the worst, here's a bit of good news you can take to bed with you: You won't suffer from a cold simultaneously. That's the conclusion of a new study that analyzed viral test results of more than 44,000 patients in Glasgow, Scotland, between 2005 and 2013. The study was published Monday in the journal for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (LaMotte, 12/16)
Seattle Times: Flu Is Affecting More People Than Usual, In Washington And Around The Country
This flu season is taking off sooner than usual, with more cases than have typically been reported by this point in the year. This trend holds true for Washington state and the country as a whole, but the numbers are worse in Washington than in most other states. In the first week of December, 3.2% of doctor visits nationwide were from people with an influenza-like illness, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Blethen, 12/16)
Boston Globe: Will Boston Scientific’s Disposable Scope — Designed To Prevent Infections — Be A $1B Product?
The Marlborough-based medical device maker Boston Scientific on Friday won approval for the first single-use duodenoscope. Company executives say the device, called EXALT, solves the problem of scopes that retain microbes despite cleaning. (Saltzman, 12/16)
Stat: Female Researchers Are Less Likely Than Men To Frame Their Work With Positive Words, Study Finds
Are men more impressed with their own scientific research than women? Or are women warned off “overstating” their work? A new analysis suggests it might be a little of both. Women were 12.3% less likely than men to frame their work with positive words like “novel” or “excellent” in abstracts, according to a new study of 15 years of clinical research publications. In the case of only top-tier journals — there are numbered rankings for this in the arcane world of scientific publishing — the gap widened to 20.4%. (Cooney, 12/16)
PBS NewsHour: Why Your Cosmetics Don’t Have To Be Tested For Safety
Before you head out the door each morning, you probably use cosmetic products like shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste. But the regulations that guarantee the safety of those products in the United States haven’t been updated since 1938. (Isaacs-Thomas, 12/16)
Boston Globe: Sex Work Or Sexual Abuse? US Representative Pressley, Activists Debate Decriminalizing Prostitution
A growing movement to decriminalize prostitution in cities and states across the country — recently embraced by US Representative Ayanna Pressley — has feminists and women’s advocates sharply divided on the best way to protect women’s rights. Should prostitution be considered a job like any other, whose practitioners could be empowered by workplace protections if it were made legal? (Ebbert, 12/16)
