Trans Advocates Say Florida Consent Forms Are Inaccurate, Transphobic

WUSF Public Media: These Trans Advocates Say The New Patient Consent Forms Are Transphobic And Inaccurate
The Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine recently released six new informed consent forms that will be required for transgender people to sign in the next six months to continue gender-affirming care like puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and surgeries. Critics say the forms are inaccurate, intentionally vague and full of transphobic language that could scare patients from getting care — and doctors from providing it. (Miller, 7/24)

Meanwhile, in California —

Bay Area News Group: California Republicans Want The State To End Tax On Health Savings Plans
California Republican members of Congress want the state to kill its tax on health savings accounts. Led by Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Seal Beach, six Republican members of California’s congressional delegation, including Rep. Young Kim, this week sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, urging him to end the state tax on health savings accounts. (Kang, 7/24)

NPR: Lung Damage In Countertop Makers Is Leading To Safety Measures In California
California is poised to become the first state in the country to adopt special measures to protect workers who make kitchen and bathroom countertops out of a popular kind of artificial stone known as "quartz." That's because more and more countertop workers, almost all Latino men, are coming down with an irreversible lung disease after breathing in dangerous dust while cutting and grinding quartz and other stone materials. (Greenfieldboyce, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: UCLA Team Analyzes What Is In Illegal Drugs
Under a tent pitched in a darkened parking lot in Los Angeles, a 21-year-old man handed pills to Ruby Romero. “Can you test all of them?” he asked. “I’d rather be safe than sorry.” Romero, a UCLA project director, started to ask questions for an ongoing study as the young man shifted in the evening cold from foot to foot in his sandals. He told Romero that the vividly orange pills, which were shaped like rounded triangles, had been sold to him as ecstasy. (Alpert Reyes, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: Third Arrest In Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood Firebomb Plot
A Florida man was arrested and identified as the third suspect involved in the 2022 firebombing of a Costa Mesa Planned Parenthood clinic along with a U.S. Marine and another accomplice, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday. (Winton, 7/24)

Axios: San Francisco's 988 Crisis Line Sees Calls Spike 30% In First Year - Axios San Francisco
San Francisco Suicide Prevention (SFSP) has seen about a 30% increase in call volume since a new helpline went live last year, the organization told Axios. That 30% increase in San Francisco call volume is consistent with the increases seen in other Bay Area crisis centers that answer 988 calls, an indication that the new hotline is working as intended, Van Hedwall, SFSP's director of programs, said via email. (Dickey and Moreno, 7/24)

In other health news from across the country —

Columbus Dispatch: Learning Loss, Mental Health Tied To New High In Ohio Poverty Rate
A new poverty report from the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies (OACAA) indicates that Ohio’s poverty rate has increased for the first time in years. Produced with the Columbus-based Strategic Research Group and released on July 10, the study found that the state’s poverty rate jumped to 13.4% in 2021 from 12.7% in 2020 — marking the first time these poverty numbers have increased year-to-year in over a decade. (Tucker and Thompson, 7/24)

Chicago Tribune: Johnson Aims To Reopen Mental Health Clinics, Expand 911 Response
A proposal to reopen the city’s mental health clinics and expand non-police responses to 911 calls received a symbolic boost Monday during a long-awaited hearing on the signature plank of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s progressive platform that faced roadblocks under previous administrations. (Yin and Pratt, 7/24)

Health News Florida: Citing Nursing Shortage, State Seeks Stay Of Judge's Order On Kids With 'Complex' Conditions
The state wants a federal judge to put on hold a ruling aimed at keeping children with complex medical conditions out of nursing homes, saying a shortage of nurses would make it “impossible” to comply with a key part of the decision. (Saunders, 7/24)

WUSF Public Media: Moffitt's New $400 Million Cancer Hospital In Tampa Is Days Away From Treating Patients
Moffitt Cancer Center will open a $400 million inpatient surgical hospital on July 31 in Tampa. Construction began on the Moffitt McKinley Hospital in July 2020 in anticipation of an increase in the number of patients and cancer surgeries over the next 10 years. Physicians at the new hospital will treat all types of cancer, but focus on solid tumors requiring surgery said President and CEO of Moffitt Dr. Patrick Hwu. (Bowman, 7/24)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Health Programs Facing Uncertainty After Funding Cuts
Alfredo Islas stepped into the George R. Brown Convention Center in May, wearing a crisp, white shirt and black suit jacket. Clutching a blue folder brimming with program certificates, the 49-year-old headed toward the first job fair of his life. Having served a 30-year sentence from the age of 16, Islas was released in 2020 into a world that felt almost alien, he said. In April, after struggling for three years to find a path forward, he sought help from the Community Reentry Network Program, a city initiative designed to support formerly incarcerated individuals as they adapt to life beyond bars. (Cheng, 7/24)

AP: Guardian Flight Ends Emergency Helicopter Medical Services To North Dakota City
Guardian Flight has stopped its emergency helicopter services in Williston, and first responders in North Dakota’s sixth largest city say they’re noticing longer wait times for people with time-sensitive injuries who need quick care. The company’s helicopter had been primarily used to pick up patients up at the scene of emergencies on locations ranging from farms to oil fields, the city fire department’s assistant chief, Corey Johnson, told The Bismarck Tribune. (7/24)

AP: A Maternity Ward In Oregon Is The Scene Of Fatal Gunfire
Gunfire erupted in a maternity unit of an Oregon hospital over the weekend, fatally wounding an unarmed security guard and leading to renewed calls Monday to protect health care workers from increasing violence. Gun violence in America has hit supermarkets, churches, a synagogue, schools — and now a birthing center. (Selsky, 7/25)

St. Louis Public Radio: BJC-St. Luke’s Merger Could Lead To Higher Health Costs
The proposed merger between two of Missouri’s largest health care systems could result in higher prices for patients, according to researchers and health economists. St. Louis-based BJC Healthcare and Kansas City-based St. Luke’s Health System announced the merger earlier this year but plan to maintain their own headquarters, location and branding. The Federal Trade Commission will need to approve the $10 billion merger for it to go through. (Fentem, 7/25)

The Boston Globe: What To Do If You Swam In Water With High Bacteria Levels
At 60 public beaches in Massachusetts, tests have determined that swimming is unsafe and can cause illness, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on Monday. That includes 53 that have exceeded bacterial levels, six where warnings have been posted for algae/cyanobacteria, and one beach closed as a precaution due to “rainfall/severe weather”, according to the DPH website. It might seem harmless just to jump in on one of these hot days. (Finucane, 7/24)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Need For Diapers Increases Among St. Louis-Area Families
Recent research by the National Diaper Bank Network reports that nearly half — 47% — of U.S. families with young children struggle to afford diapers. That’s up from 34% when the first study was conducted in 2010. Officials with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank, which distributes free diapers to local agencies serving families in need, say they are trying to keep up. (Munz, 7/24)

North Carolina Health News: Despite Growing Need, State Leaders’ Priorities Swamp NC Aging Programs
Gov. Roy Cooper has state agencies, nonprofits and businesses working on a new aging plan, “All Ages, All Stages NC,” that, if adopted, could result in positive change for many of the 1.8 million North Carolinans who are 65 and older. That would be markedly different from the slow progress that Democrat Cooper and the Republican leadership of the General Assembly have made in proposing, establishing and paying for some of the broad range of services benefiting this population over the past decade. (Goldsmith, 7/25)