Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Fates Of Native American Children In Foster Care Could Have Wide-Ranging Implications On The Country
The New York Times: Who Can Adopt These Navajo Children? A Tale Of Two Mothers And A Bitter Constitutional Fight
The 3-year-old boy who could upend a 40-year-old law aimed at protecting Native American children barreled into the suburban living room, merrily defying his parents’ prediction that he might be shy. He had a thatch of night-black hair and dark eyes that glowed with mischievous curiosity. As he pumped a stranger’s hand and scampered off to bounce on an indoor trampoline, his Superman cape floated behind him, as if trying to catch up. Zachary, or A.L.M. as he is called in legal papers, has a Navajo birth mother, a Cherokee birth father and adoptive parents, Jennifer and Chad Brackeen, neither of whom is Native American. (Hoffman, 6/5)
Stateline: Foster Care Crisis Opens Door To Second-Chance Parents
With rising numbers of children under state supervision and a worsening shortage of foster families, more states have made it easier for parents whose rights to their children were terminated to renew those relationships, sometimes years after a court terminated legal ties. Severing parental rights is the nuclear option of child protective services: The adult can no longer visit or contact their children, and the kids are known as “legal orphans,” because in the court’s eye, they have no parents. Still, the situation is becoming more common: In 2017 nearly 70,000 such orphans across the country were awaiting adoption, nearly a fifth more than in 2013. (Wiltz, 6/5)
The New York Times: Deadly Falls In Older Americans Are Rising. Here’s How To Prevent Them.
As the population ages, the number of older Americans who die following a fall is rising. A study published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA found that for people over 75, the rate of mortality from falls more than doubled from 2000 to 2016. Researchers analyzed information obtained from death certificates maintained by the federal government’s National Center for Health Statistics. In 2016, the rate of death from falls for people 75 and older was 111 per 100,000 people, they found. In 2000, that rate was 52 per 100,000 people. (Hafner, 6/4)
The New York Times: Even One Extra Walk A Day May Make A Big Difference
How many steps should people take every day for good health? A new study of activity and mortality in older women finds that the total could be lower than many of us expect and that even small increases in steps can be meaningful. The study also side-eyes the validity, utility and origin of the common 10,000-step-a-day exercise goals built into so many of our phones and activity monitors and suggests, instead, that any moving, whether or not it counts as exercise, may help to extend people’s lives. (Reynolds, 6/5)
The New York Times: Becoming A Digital Grandparent
Emerging from a theater on a recent Sunday, I turned on my phone and found a flurry of texts from my daughter. My 2-year-old granddaughter had just smashed her thumb in a closing restaurant door. Wincing, I read on: They were headed for an urgent care clinic. They were waiting for X-rays.The thumb was broken and needed a splint. (Span, 6/5)
San Francisco Chronicle: Young People Suing Government Over Climate Change Try To Move Suit Forward
A federal appeals court appeared torn Tuesday over a lawsuit by 21 young people demanding government action against climate change — unmoved by Trump administration arguments that the case was a fabrication, but uncertain about judicial authority to chart a new course. The issue before a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, meeting in Portland, was whether to allow the youths and their environmental supporters to go to trial on claims that their constitutional rights to life and liberty are being violated by government-sanctioned oil, coal and gas development. (Egelko, 6/4)
The Wall Street Journal: What Foods Can Disturb Your Sleep?
Most people know that caffeine close to bedtime can interfere with sleep and that tossing back cocktails in the evening can cause a person to wake up a few hours later when the alcohol is metabolized. But less research has been done to understand the effects of food on sleep. One expert, Marie-Pierre St-Onge, an associate professor of nutritional medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York—and director of the university’s Sleep Center of Excellence—explains the sleep-diet relationship and what foods may disturb your slumber. (Mitchell, 6/4)
NPR: Kids With Obesity Need Support, Not Judgment, From Doctors
Kids with obesity face a host of health problems related to their weight, like high blood pressure, diabetes, and joint problems. Research points to another way heavier children and teens are at risk: their own doctors' bias. This prejudice has real health consequences for kids, making families less likely to show up for appointments or get recommended vaccines. (Gordon, 6/5)
The New York Times: ‘Love Island’ Returns Amid Debate About Contestants’ Mental Health
It seemed like business as usual when a new season of “Love Island” aired here Monday night. All the familiar elements of the cult reality show were there, with the luxury villa in Spain and the skimpy swimsuits. But as the credits rolled, the sunny atmosphere darkened and a black screen appeared with a photograph of Michael Thalassitis, a former contestant who killed himself in March. The episode had been dedicated to his memory. (Codrea-Rado, 6/4)
