Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
TSA Argues Against Accommodating People With Disabilities In Screening
Politico: TSA Defends Unaccommodating Screening Policy On Passengers With Disabilities
The TSA Wednesday contended that people with disabilities who can’t comply with security screening protocols due to their disability essentially won’t be able to fly, in a case heard before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court was hearing arguments related to the case of Rohan Ramsingh v. TSA, where the agency fined Ramsingh for interfering with the security screening process during a 2019 incident at the Tampa International Airport. ... According to the petition filed in August, Ramsingh was moving through the security checkpoint process when he set off the explosive trace detection device and needed further screening. Screeners moved him to an imaging machine, but Ramsingh informed the agents that he was physically unable to raise his arms as directed. (Pawlyk, 2/2)
And more on people with disabilities —
Press Association: Covid Pandemic Affects Particularly Badly Those With Long-Term Disabilities
Around one in five disabled people believe life will never return to normal following the coronavirus pandemic, a survey suggests. Some 18% of those questioned by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said they do not think life will ever get back to normal. This compared with 11% of non-disabled respondents. Disabled people said the pandemic has affected their lives more than non-disabled people in two key areas. These were access to healthcare and treatment for non-coronavirus related issues (58% for the disabled compared with 31% for non-disabled people), and wellbeing (55% versus 35%). (2/2)
In other public health news —
CIDRAP: Harvesting Equipment Pinpointed As Source Of Dole Salad Listeria Outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday announced that the source has been found for a multistate Listeria outbreak linked to Dole prepackaged salad that has sickened at least 17 people since 2019, 2 of them fatally. In an outbreak update, the CDC said Dole collected samples from its facilities and equipment and found Listeria monocytogenes on equipment used to harvest iceberg lettuce. Genome testing conducted by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the Listeria on the equipment matched the outbreak strain. (2/2)
CBS News: People Mistakenly Assume Consumer Products Are Safe, Top Regulator Says
Just because a product is for sale doesn't mean it's safe, says the man leading the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the federal agency charged with protecting the public against unreasonably dangerous or deadly products. "I do know in talking to people, they often think because it's on the shelves, it's been pre-approved by the government, which is not the case," CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric told CBS MoneyWatch. The agency's task is a monumental one — and literally a matter of life and death. The CPSC is charged with protecting the public from injury and death, along with property damage, linked with thousands of different products. Such incidents cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion per year, according to the agency. (Gibson, 2/2)
Fox News: Men Who Tend To Worry Have Increased Risk Factors For Heart Disease, Stroke: Study
You can worry yourself into facing a greater risk of heart disease and stroke. Particularly if you're a middle-aged man, according to a new study. Middle-aged men who worry more or are prone to feeling overwhelmed, compared to those with lower levels of worry and anxiety, developed more high-risk factors for heart disease, stroke, and Type 2 diabetes earlier in life, according to a published study in Journal of the American Heart Association Report. The findings also raise the possibility that treating anxiety disorders may lower cardiometabolic disease risk. (McGorry, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: What Parents Can Do When Kids Have Suicidal Thoughts
Suicidal thoughts are increasingly common among teens, and cause for alarm among parents. Most kids don’t act on those thoughts, scientists say, but researchers are learning to better understand which youngsters are most at risk—and what parents can do to keep them safe. New research links certain behaviors to an imminent risk of a child’s suicide attempt, including a dramatic increase in the time spent at home and a sharp rise in the use of negative words in texts and social-media posts. (Petersen, 2/3)
North Carolina Health News: The Therapeutic Power Of Art In Mental Health Recovery
For Iggy Cosky, music has been the one constant in his life. “The therapeutic value of music was very obvious to me at a very young age,” he said. At 7 years old, he fell in love with the guitar when he first heard Eric Clapton playing on the car radio. After that, Cosky’s father found the young boy strumming tennis rackets and broomsticks; he bought Cosky his first guitar. “I love recording music,” explained the now 32-year-old Raleigh-based musician. “I use it as a process to psychoanalyze what’s going on with myself because subconsciously lyrics will come up to the surface. I don’t know what I’m saying but they tell me what’s going on with me. The song tells me how I’m feeling.” (Knopf, 2/3)
KHN: Mental Health Therapists Seek Exemption From Part Of Law To Ban Surprise Billing
Groups representing a range of mental health therapists say a new law that protects people from surprise medical bills puts providers in an ethical bind and could discourage some patients from care. The therapists take no issue with the main aim of the legislation, which is to prevent patients from being blindsided by bills, usually for treatment received from out-of-network medical providers who work at in-network facilities. Instead, they are concerned about another part of the law — a price transparency provision — that requires most licensed medical practitioners to give patients detailed upfront cost estimates, including a diagnosis, and information about the length and costs involved in a typical course of treatment. That’s unfitting for mental health care, they say, because diagnoses can take time and sometimes change over the course of treatment. (Appleby, 2/3)
