Politico: U.S. 'Turning The Tide' On The Opioid Crisis, Health Secretary Says
The U.S. is beginning to turn the tide on the opioid epidemic, HHS Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday, pointing to new federal data showing a slight dip in overdose deaths last year. Preliminary CDC data released last week shows drug overdose deaths, which spiked in 2017, dropped 2.8 percent toward the end of last year and the beginning of 2018. Azar credited federal, state and local efforts, one day before President Donald Trump will sign overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation to address the opioid crisis. (Ehley, 10/23)

The Associated Press: US Health Chief Says Overdose Deaths Beginning To Level Off
"We are so far from the end of the epidemic, but we are perhaps, at the end of the beginning," Azar said at a health care event sponsored by the Milken Institute think tank. Confronting the opioid epidemic has been the rare issue uniting Republicans and Democrats in a politically divided nation. A bill providing major funding for treatment was passed under former President Barack Obama. More money followed earlier this year under President Donald Trump. And on Wednesday Trump is expected to sign bipartisan legislation passed this month that increases access to treatment, among other steps. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Johnson, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Feds Will Aid Infants And Mothers Affected By The Opioid Epidemic
The Trump administration is stepping up aid for infants and mothers caught in the opioid epidemic, promising to help states cope with some of the worst collateral damage of the drug crisis, according to prepared remarks scheduled for delivery Tuesday by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar. (Bernstein, 10/23)

The Hill: Drug Overdose Deaths Have Hit 'Plateau' Health Chief Says 
Trump will sign a sweeping, bipartisan comprehensive opioid bill on Wednesday, which Azar said will provide a wide variety of tools to help combat the epidemic. The bill creates new programs, and expands and reauthorizes existing programs across almost every federal agency, which are aimed at addressing all aspects of the opioid epidemic, like prevention, treatment and recovery. (Weixel, 10/23)

Politico: Meth And Cocaine Complicate Trump's War On Drugs
President Donald Trump will tout his response to the opioid crisis when he signs a sweeping bipartisan bill this week, but other drug-related deaths are on the rise and little is being done to address the broader scourge of addiction. Fatalities from misuse of methamphetamine, cocaine and benzodiazapines have surged while Washington’s latest efforts to fight drug addiction funnel new money and resources almost exclusively to localities ravaged by the opioid crisis or pay for treatments and overdose-reversal drugs that don't work for stimulants. (Ehley, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Launches New Pay Model For Opioid-Dependent Women
The CMS hopes to reduce the number of babies born addicted to opioids by launching a new Medicaid model to treat their mothers. The CMS Innovation Center will enter into agreements with up to 12 states whose Medicaid agencies will implement the "M-O-M or Maternal Opioid Misuse" model with one or more provider organizations in their communities. (Dickson, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Family Behind Drug Company Sued Over Toll Of Opioids
The family that owns a drug company is now being sued over the toll of opioid painkillers in one New York county — and it’s likely to be sued by hundreds more. Well over 1,000 lawsuits filed by state and local governments blame drug companies for a crisis of addiction and overdoses across the country. Only a few of them have named members of the Sackler family, which owns and controls Purdue Pharma, as defendants. (Mulvihill, 10/23)

Health News Florida: Fentanyl Hits Florida Hard
Northeast Florida is the hardest-hit part of the state by the opioid epidemic, according to new data presented at a conference in Lake Nona this week. The region is home to some of the highest drug overdose death rates. Epidemiologist Sandeep Kasat says Northeast Florida had a 50 percent increase in its prescription overdose death rate since the beginning of the decade. But he says that number is small compared with the region’s more than 14-hundred percent increase in its illegal overdose death rate. (Prieur, 10/23)

The Star Tribune: At HCMC, Doctors Pursue New Way To Treat Opioid Addiction 
Hennepin Healthcare, one of the state’s largest hospital systems, is among a small but growing number of institutions nationwide that have begun initiating treatment for opioid addiction in the emergency room, where patients often have “hit bottom” and are more receptive to treatment. Clinicians are trying to fill a longstanding gap in the health care system and stem a rising tide of admissions to hospitals by people suffering from opioid addictions. Statewide, hospitalizations for substance abuse have soared 40 percent between 2010 and 2017, reaching nearly 10,000 admissions last year. (Serres, 10/23)

Stat: McCaskill, On The Campaign Trail, Brands Herself As Pharma's Sworn Enemy 
Claire McCaskill is betting her political future on a simple hope: that Missouri voters care enough about drug pricing to give her another term in Washington. It is a bold strategy for a Democrat in an increasingly red state, facing an uphill battle to keep her Senate seat. Yet McCaskill is investing heavily in the approach, devoting fully half of a 15-minute stump speech here last week to the perceived evils of pharmaceutical manufacturers. (Facher, 10/24)

The Hill: White House Report Warns Of The ‘Costs Of Socialism‘ Ahead Of Midterms
The White House on Tuesday issued a report warning of the dangers of socialism two weeks ahead of pivotal midterm elections. The report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers fits with a larger campaign strategy from Republicans trying to portray Democrats as extremists for ideas gaining traction in their party, including Medicare for All, the health proposal that would provide government-run health insurance to cover everyone. (Sullivan, 10/23)

Politico: Voters In 3 States To Decide Abortion Curbs As Supreme Court Shifts Right
Abortion foes buoyed by the Supreme Court's new conservative majority are rallying last-minute support for ballot initiatives in three states that would ban or significantly limit access to the procedure. Measures in West Virginia and Alabama would amend those state constitutions to expressly declare that abortion rights are not protected, allowing conservative state legislatures to ban the procedure should the high court strike down Roe vs. Wade. West Virginia’s measure also seeks to cut off public funding for abortions, while Alabama’s would grant full “personhood” rights to fetuses. (Ollstein, 10/23)

The Hill: House Race In Texas Becomes Ground Zero In Health-Care Fight 
Rep. Pete Sessions’s (R) north Dallas district has become ground zero for the fight over health care and pre-existing conditions, the dominant issue in many contests across the country that could help determine the next House majority. Sessions, 63, has been in Congress for 22 years, but has seen the 32nd District become increasingly diverse and more competitive. He won reelection in 2016 without a Democratic challenger even as Hillary Clinton won the district over President Trump by nearly 2 points. (Hagen, 10/24)

The Hill: Rick Scott Defends Health Care Record In New Ad: 'For Me, It’s Personal' 
Florida GOP Senate candidate Rick Scott is out with a new ad touting his support for providing protections for people with pre-existing conditions as Democrats target his record on health care. Scott, who currently serves as the governor of Florida and is seeking to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) next month, says in the ad released Tuesday that he supports "forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions." (Hellmann, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Florida Governor Defends His Health Care Record In New Ad
Florida Gov. Rick Scott is launching a new statewide television ad meant to blunt criticism over the Republican governor's health care record. In the ad Scott recounts how his family struggled to get health care when he was growing up. He says he supports "forcing insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions" because of his own experiences. (10/23)

Health News Florida: Running Mates May Add Heft On Health Care
Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron DeSantis and Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum have clashed over health care as they battle in the Nov. 6 election. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts of providing access to coverage, it may be their running mates who have a deeper knowledge of the industry and the ripple effects that potential changes could have across the state. (Sexton, 10/23)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Elections: Karl Dean, BillLee Have Opposing Views On Medicaid
In debates, conversations with reporters and through honed talking points, Tennessee's Democratic and Republican nominees for governor have signaled their fundamentally different approaches to improving access to health care. Karl Dean, the Democratic former Nashville mayor, says the state must expand Medicaid. Republican businessman Bill Lee has stood fast against expanding eligibility for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Instead, he's called on government to develop a 20-year-plan to address health care. (Allison, 10/23)

The New York Times: Two Weeks Before Midterms, Transgender People Feel Like ‘Pawns’
When the news broke on Sunday morning, many transgender people, world-weary, saw it as grimly predictable: With two weeks to go until the midterm elections, the Trump administration was considering a new move that would undermine federal civil rights protections for the transgender community. This time, they thought, it was the nuclear option. Under the terms of a proposal reported by The New York Times on Sunday, the administration would adopt a narrow definition of gender as an unchangeable biological condition — either male or female — that is determined by genitalia at birth. Such a move would not only roll back protections for transgender people: It could also legally negate their very existence. (Stack, 10/23)

Stat: CDC Director Warns Against Potential ‘Stigma’ Of Trump Transgender Proposal 
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday suggested a Trump administration proposal that would define someone’s sex at birth risked heightening stigma around transgender people. The director, Robert Redfield, did not directly criticize the proposal. But when asked whether any such effort might hamper efforts to treat HIV, especially among transgender women, he replied: “We need to understand that stigmatizing illness, stigmatizing individuals is not in the interest of public health.” (Swetlitz, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Proposal To Define Gender As Strictly Biological Worries Parents Of Transgender Children
Since Jamie Harper’s son began middle school in Loudoun County, the teenager has only been known as a boy. His friends don’t know that he was actually born a girl — and his family has had to fight to keep it that way. In the sixth grade, his birth name showed up on his computer during a keyboarding class. The school ultimately agreed to change his name in the system, but required his parents to obtain a court order to do so. The teenager still isn’t allowed to change in the boy’s locker room. He doesn’t like using the staff bathroom as required by the school, so he resorts to waiting until he gets home. “It’s always like, what’s coming next?” Harper said. “Every day we’re worrying about the safety of our kid, every single day.” (Schmidt, 10/23)

Modern Healthcare: Waiver Flexibility Could Widen Gap Between States
In handing states greater flexibility to overhaul their insurance markets through waivers, the Trump administration has paved the way for states to diverge further in the access and affordability of its residents' coverage, insurance experts said. Some warned that states that choose to use the flexibility in the new 1332 waiver guidance to encourage enrollment in cheaper but skimpier association and short-term plans could leave those who remain in Affordable Care Act-compliant plans worse off. (Livingston, 10/23)

The New York Times: Sandra Day O’Connor, First Female Supreme Court Justice, Says She Has Dementia
Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve as a justice on the United States Supreme Court and a critical swing vote for much of her tenure, revealed on Tuesday that she had dementia and had decided to withdraw from public life as the disease advanced. In a letter addressed to “friends and fellow Americans,” Justice O’Connor, 88, wrote that she was told she had early-stage dementia “some time ago” and that doctors believed it was most likely Alzheimer’s disease. (Haag, 10/23)

Politico: Sandra Day O'Connor Diagnosed With Dementia
"As this condition has progressed, I am no longer able to participate in public life," she wrote. "Since many people have asked about my current status and activities, I want to be open about these changes, and while I am still able, share some personal thoughts." The letter comes a day after the Associated Press reported that O'Connor had stepped back from public life. (Morin, 10/23)

Los Angeles Times: Sandra Day O'Connor, First Female Supreme Court Justice, Withdraws From Public Life After Dementia Diagnosis
For much of her 24-year career on the court, she was its most influential justice, the one who decided the biggest cases. Overall, she had a moderate-conservative record, but she cast key votes to preserve abortion rights and to permit affirmative action admissions policies at universities. In 2000, she joined the 5-4 decision in the Bush vs. Gore case that halted the ballot recount in Florida and made George W. Bush president. But in the years afterward, she seemed to move somewhat to the left. She cast the key vote to uphold the McCain-Feingold Act and its limits on political campaign spending in 2003 and she argued for maintaining the separation of church and state. (Savage, 10/23)

Bloomberg: Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor Says She Has Dementia 
Chief Justice John Roberts called O’Connor “a towering figure in the history of the United States and indeed the world.” “Although she has announced that she is withdrawing from public life, no illness or condition can take away the inspiration she provides for those who will follow the many paths she has blazed,” Roberts said in a statement. (Stohr, 10/23)

Arizona Republic: John Jay O'Connor: Alzheimer's Disease Familiar To Sandra Day O'Connor
If Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, does indeed have Alzheimer's disease, the diagnosis and what is likely to come from it would be familiar to her. Her husband of more than 50 years died from complications of the disease in 2009. (Leingang, 10/23)

NPR: Why Are Suicide Rates Higher In The Mountain West?
At the confluence of the Gunnison and Colorado rivers, the town of Grand Junction, Colo., sits in a bowl of a valley ringed by tall mountains, desert mesas and red rock cliffs. For local residents like Victoria Mendoza, sometimes the setting makes her and others feel isolated. "I know we can't really fix this because it's nature," says Mendoza. "I feel like people in our valley feel like there's only life inside of Grand Junction." (Siegler, 10/23)

Stat: People With Mental Illness Share What They Want Scientists To Study 
Patients are usually the subject of scientific studies, not the designers. But a new effort is trying to bring patients’ priorities to the forefront in research on mental health. For months, the Milken Institute and the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance have been collecting the perspectives of patients with depression or bipolar disorder. The first-of-its-kind survey poses a question patients don’t often get asked: What questions about your health and experience with depression or bipolar disorder would you most like research to help you answer? (Thielking, 10/24)

The Washington Post: A Quarter Of College Students Could Develop PTSD Because Of The 2016 Election, A New Study Suggests
Are college students “snowflakes” — triggered, traumatized and all together too delicate for the real world? Or are they apathetic — so unconcerned that they can’t be bothered to purchase stamps to send in their absentee ballots? The two characterizations of young Americans are in conflict, observed Melissa Hagan, an assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. (Stanley-Becker, 10/24)

The Washington Post: Timing Matters When Implanting IUDs In New Mothers, Researchers Say
New mothers who want intrauterine devices (IUDs) for long-acting contraception after giving birth should know that the risk of the implant being expelled is tied to how soon after delivery it is inserted, researchers say. The best option is either to place the IUD immediately after delivery, when there is only a 10 percent risk of the uterus expelling the device, or to wait at least four weeks afterward, when the risk drops to 4 percent, an analysis of existing research found. (Rapaport, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Experts Caution Study On Plastics In Humans Is Premature
Scientists in Austria say they've detected tiny bits of plastic in people's stool for the first time, but experts caution the study is too small and premature to draw any credible conclusion. Presenting their findings at a congress in Vienna on Tuesday, researchers from the Medical University of Vienna and the Environment Agency Austria said their pilot study detected nine types of so-called microplastic in all samples taken from eight volunteers living in Europe, Russia and Japan. (Jordans, 10/23)

Stat: CDC Director Says He Pushed To Keep U.S. Experts In Ebola Zone But Was Overruled
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that he argued that American experts should stay in the outbreak zone of the latest Ebola epidemic but was overridden by others in the Trump administration because of security concerns. “Those decisions are security decisions that really are outside the realm of my public health expertise,” said the director, Robert Redfield, who said he made a case to the Department of Health and Human Services about why public health experts should remain in the outbreak area but that, at the end of the day, his argument didn’t win out. (Swetlitz, 10/23)

The New York Times: Boy Talk: Breaking Masculine Stereotypes
“In here, we get to say stuff we wouldn’t normally say in front of other people. And we don’t judge each other,” said a seventh grader with dark curls. “Boys should have a safe space to talk about things that matter to us,” said another seventh grader with a hint of a Canadian accent. The two were veterans of a weekly lunch time boys’ group at the Sheridan School, a K-8 private school in Northwest Washington, D.C., explaining the group’s purpose to new members. (Reiner, 10/24)

The New York Times: Aspirin May Be A Good Option To Prevent Blood Clots After Knee Surgery
Surgeons often prescribe expensive anticoagulant drugs after knee surgery to prevent blood clots, but a new study has found that plain aspirin can work just as well. Blood clots are not common after knee surgery, but the consequences can be serious and even fatal. There are a number of prescription blood thinners, including the oldest, warfarin (Coumadin), and several new ones with varying mechanisms of action. (Bakalar, 10/23)

The New York Times: Even A 10-Minute Walk May Be Good For The Brain
Ten minutes of mild, almost languorous exercise can immediately alter how certain parts of the brain communicate and coordinate with one another and improve memory function, according to an encouraging new neurological study. The findings suggest that exercise does not need to be prolonged or intense to benefit the brain and that the effects can begin far more quickly than many of us might expect. We already know that exercise can change our brains and minds. The evidence is extensive and growing. (Reynolds, 10/24)

KQED: Want A Whole New Body? Ask This Flatworm How
Nelson Hall wants you to know that the googly-eyed flatworm he just sliced into four pieces is going to be OK. In fact, it’s going to be great. Three of the flatworm’s four pieces have started to wriggle away from each other; its head is moving in circles under Hall’s microscope. (Quiros, 10/23)

The New York Times: Can Eating Organic Food Lower Your Cancer Risk?
People who buy organic food are usually convinced it’s better for their health, and they’re willing to pay dearly for it. But until now, evidence of the benefits of eating organic has been lacking. Now a new French study that followed 70,000 adults, most of them women, for five years has reported that the most frequent consumers of organic food had 25 percent fewer cancers over all than those who never ate organic. Those who ate the most organic fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meat and other foods had a particularly steep drop in the incidence of lymphomas, and a significant reduction in postmenopausal breast cancers. (Rabin, 10/23)

The New York Times: Adenovirus Outbreak Leaves 6 Children Dead At N.J. Pediatric Center
The New Jersey Department of Health was working on Tuesday to contain a severe viral outbreak at a pediatric center that has left six children dead and 12 others infected. The state has barred the facility, the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation, from accepting new patients until the outbreak is contained. Children at the Wanaque Center, in northern New Jersey, are pediatric long-term care residents, with some reliant on ventilators and tracheal tubes. (Corasaniti, 10/23)

The Associated Press: 6 Children Dead, 12 Sick In Viral Outbreak At Rehab Center
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in an email that it is providing technical assistance to the state. In the past 10 years, cases of severe illness and death from the type of infection found at the facility have been reported in the United States, said CDC spokeswoman Kate Fowlie in an email, though it’s unclear how many deaths there have been. The strain afflicting the children is usually associated with acute respiratory illness, according to the CDC, which on its website instructs health workers to report unusual clusters to state or local health departments. (Catalini, 10/23)

CNN: New Jersey Virus Outbreak Kills 6 Children, Sickens 12 Others
The New Jersey Department of Health said it's an ongoing outbreak investigation and workers were at the facility Tuesday. A team at the facility on Sunday found minor handwashing deficiencies. Adenoviruses can cause mild to severe illness, though serious illness is less common. People with weakened immune systems or existing respiratory or cardiac disease are at higher risk of developing severe illness from an adenovirus infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Ly and Scutti, 10/24)

CBS News: Adenovirus Kills 6 Children At Wanaque Center For Nursing And Rehabilitation In New Jersey; 12 Others Sickened In Outbreak
Adenovirus is spread from one infected person to another through close personal contact, such as touching or shaking hands; coughing or sneezing; or touching a contaminated object or surface, then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes before washing your hands. It can also be spread through contact with an infected person's stool, including during diaper changing. (10/23)

NJ.com: N.J. Virus Outbreak Was Kept Under Wraps For More Than A Week, Angry Mom Says
The mother of a seriously ill 14-year-old boy says it took more than a week to learn about the severe viral outbreak at a New Jersey healthcare facility that sent her son to the hospital and claimed the lives of six other children. According to the New Jersey Department of Health officials, there have been 18 reported cases of adenovirus involving children at the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, Passaic County. Six of those cases resulted in fatalities. (Kent, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Desperate & Duped? GoFundMe Means Big Bucks For Dubious Care
People seeking dubious, potentially harmful treatment for cancer and other ailments raised nearly $7 million over two years from crowdfunding sites, a study found. Echoing recent research on campaigns for stem cell therapies, the findings raise more questions about an increasingly popular way to help pay for costly, and sometimes unproven, medical care. (Tanner, 10/23)

Stat: Crowdfunding Raises Millions For Unproven And Potentially Harmful Treatments 
In some cases, that can be a boon for patients who otherwise might not be able to afford needed medical care. But the new study highlights how the crowdfunding economy allows clinics to promote, and profit from, unproven therapies that could pose risks to patients — and offer false hope. “People can be desperate in these situations [and] can be taken advantage of,” [Dr. Ford] Vox said. And while that’s long been the case, the practice is “on full display on these crowdfunding campaigns,” he noted. (Thielking, 10/23)

In other news on health consumerism —

The New York Times: Got A Fever? There’s An Ad For That
Most of what we do — the websites we visit, the places we go, the TV shows we watch, the products we buy — has become fair game for advertisers. Now, thanks to internet-connected devices in the home like smart thermometers, ads we see may be determined by something even more personal: our health. This flu season, Clorox paid to license information from Kinsa, a tech start-up that sells internet-connected thermometers that are a far cry from the kind once made with mercury and glass. The thermometers sync up with a smartphone app that allows consumers to track their fevers and symptoms, making it especially attractive to parents of young children. (Maheshwari, 10/23)

Houston Chronicle: Consumers Have More Choices When Needing Immediate Or Urgent Medical Care 
But over the last decade or so, the health care industry has rolled out a plethora of new facilities for people who require immediate or urgent medical attention. The good news is that this provides consumers more choices. Sometimes, however, those new choices can create confusion as to the level of services provided and how that can affect people's pocketbooks. ... One thing these private facilities offer consumers over traditional hospital ERs is more convenience. Often found in strip centers in far-flung suburbs, they offer people who need treatment in a hurry a quicker option than going to a hospital. Interestingly, [Memorial Hermann Medical Group executive Jennifer] Zimmerman said, the greater Houston area has more of these facilities than most other major metropolitan regions in the country. (Fountain, 10/23)

The Hill: E-Cigarette Maker Juul Boosts Lobbying More Than 400 Percent Amid Scrutiny 
E-cigarette company Juul Labs has increased its spending on lobbying by more than 400 percent in the past three months as it faces regulatory threats from the Trump administration and Congress. Juul spent about $1.2 million on lobbying in the third quarter of 2018, which runs from July through the end of September, according to newly released disclosure reports.  (Hellmann, 10/23)

Los Angeles Times: Heated Tobacco Product Touted As Safer Alternative To Cigarettes Is No Less Dangerous Than Smoking, Studies Find
In 30 countries around the world, consumers can slide a roll of dried tobacco into a sleek device, heat it to 350 degrees and inhale. The result is a hit of nicotine that feels like it’s coming from a traditional cigarette without producing any smoke. Tobacco giant Philip Morris International wants to sell this device in the United States and is seeking regulatory approval on the grounds that the IQOS system is less dangerous than old-fashioned smoking. But an independent review of company data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration shows that IQOS resulted in no less harm than cigarettes on 23 of 24 measures. It may even cause some health problems that cigarettes do not, including liver disease. (Healy, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Monsanto Weed Killer Ruling Is 1st Step In Long Legal Battle
With its stock dropping and more lawsuits expected, Monsanto vowed Tuesday to press on with a nationwide legal defense of its best-selling weed killer Roundup after a San Francisco judge upheld a verdict alleging it causes cancer. Legal experts said the decision will have little value in courtrooms across the country where similar cases are pending, but it will likely lead to more lawsuits. Similar lawsuits doubled from 4,000 to 8,000 after a San Francisco jury awarded groundskeeper DeWayne Johnson $389 million in August. (Elias, 10/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind Bayer’s Tough Defense Of Roundup
Bayer AG’s $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto Co. this year made the German drug and chemicals company the world’s biggest supplier of crop seeds and pesticides—and brought it thousands of lawsuits alleging Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide causes cancer. But Bayer has a history of fighting big-ticket litigation and has seen much worse. So officials are projecting calm, even after a judge Monday rejected Bayer’s request to reverse an August jury verdict against the company in the first Roundup case to go to trial. (Randazzo, Bunge and Bender, 10/23)

The Wall Street Journal: After A School Shooting, A Town Frays
At a September school-board meeting in this rural town, a group of families stood before a lectern to recite the names of loved ones killed in a school shooting last May. When Scot Rice, whose wife Flo was shot five times that day, began reading the names of those injured, board president J.R. “Rusty” Norman interrupted to tell him his allotted time was up. “There’s dead bodies between me and you,” Mr. Rice shot back, as two police officers approached him. (Frosch and Hobbs, 10/24)

Modern Healthcare: New York Court Lifts Some Limits On Providers' And Insurers' Executive Pay
New York providers and health plans that contract with the state have fewer restrictions on how much they pay their executives, thanks to a recent ruling from New York state's highest court. They may pay executives more than $199,000 a year as long as they are not using state funds, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled last week. (Kacik, 10/23)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Governor Sununu Proposes $24 Million To Boost N.H.'s Healthcare Workforce
Governor Sununu unveiled a $24 million plan on Tuesday to tackle New Hampshire's nursing shortage. The Governor says he expects a major surplus in state funds this year and that the majority of it should go to expanding college nursing programs. (Gibson, 10/23)

Georgia Health News: More Transparency Urged On Tax Donation Program For Rural Hospitals
Tens of millions of dollars in business and individual donations have gone to Georgia rural hospitals this year, thanks to a popular state tax credit program. But how hospitals are spending that money this year has not been officially tracked, the state says. And right now, there apparently isn’t publicly available information on how much in donations that each eligible hospital has received so far in 2018. (Miller, 10/23)

Reuters: USC, Gynecologist Face More Claims Despite Class-Action Settlement
Fourteen more women accusing a former University of Southern California gynecologist of sexual misconduct sued the physician and the university on Tuesday, as their lawyer decried a proposed class-action settlement with the school as "grossly inadequate." Women's rights attorney Gloria Allred said the tentative $215 million deal reached last week to settle claims brought in federal court against Dr. George Tyndall and USC by his former patients would let the university off too easy, without the school fully accounting for its role in the scandal. (10/23)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: More Focus Needed On Lowering Healthcare Costs: Former Speaker Of The House John Boehner
John Boehner, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, challenged the healthcare industry to find a way to broaden access, improve quality and lower costs Monday during the Cleveland Clinic's 2018 Medical Innovation Summit. "I know that's a Rubik's Cube I just gave you to solve," Boehner told Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, during the keynote discussion at the Huntington Convention Center. (Christ, 10/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Lead Poisoning Cases Fell 19 Percent In Baltimore Last Year, Even As More Children Tested For Exposure
The number of Baltimore children with lead poisoning fell 19 percent in 2017, even as more children were tested for exposure to the powerful neurotoxin. Statewide, the number of Maryland children found to have elevated levels of lead in their blood held steady even as the number of children tested increased by 10 percent, according to a Maryland Department of the Environment report released Tuesday. (Dance, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Sentencing Resumes For Texas Woman Accused Of Starving Son
Friends and family members are urging leniency for a Texas woman convicted of attempted murder for withholding food and nutrients from her son. Danita Tutt was convicted last week but a jury acquitted her of two counts of injury to a child, which was related to allegations from prosecutors that Tutt had lied to doctors to subject the boy, now 13, to unneeded surgeries. (10/23)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Spars With Largest Employee Union Over Second Strike
The University of California and its largest employee union, AFSCME Local 3299, both came out throwing punches Tuesday as the university’s lowest-paid workers hit the picket line for the second time in six months to push for better wage increases and job security. Roughly 500 employees marched at Sacramento’s UC Davis Medical Center and chanted union slogans such as “What do we want? Contracts! When do we want them? Now!” in a picket line that stretched down the block. (Anderson, 10/23)

The Oregonian: Nurse Says Legacy Health Punished Him For Speaking Out About Problems At Unity 
A Unity Center for Behavioral Health employee claims he has been punished by the center's leaders for his public criticism of the facility's operations. Christopher Lambert filed a civil rights complaint Oct. 10 with the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries. Lambert was a nurse at Unity when it opened in February 2017. Over the next year and a half, he said he identified and reported issues of patient-on-patient violence, patient-on-staff violence, sexual assault and self-harm by patients. (Harbarger, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Traffic Deaths In D.C. Are On The Rise. Here’s What Mayor Bowser Proposes.
An increase in traffic fatalities in the District is prompting Mayor Muriel E. Bowser and police to consider several new enforcement strategies, including restricting right turns on red and limiting left turns at some intersections to make roads safer. “We are very concerned about people dying on the streets of Washington D.C., because of traffic collisions and we are especially concerned about those incidents where we think they are entirely preventable,” Bowser (D) said in an interview Monday. “We want to look at everything that the government can control — how we invest in improving intersections, how we help educate our public and how we enforce the rules of the road.” (Lazo, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Texas Requires Large Schools To Report Player Concussions
Texas officials are requiring that the state's largest schools report concussions suffered by high school athletes in a move seen as the nation's biggest effort to track brain injuries among young athletes. The University Interscholastic League, Texas' governing body for public high school sports, on Monday ordered the schools to submit individual concussion reports. Texas has more high school athletes than any other state with about 825,000. (10/23)

Houston Chronicle: Both Men And Women Say State Must Spend More On Health Care, Study Says
Half of Texas men and 59 percent of the state's women say lawmakers need to push for more spending on health care, according to a survey released Tuesday. Also, nearly four in 10 Texas women report it's too difficult to get family planning or contraceptive services in the state, the survey by Houston's Episcopal Health Foundation and Kaiser Family Foundation found. The survey is part of a continuing project studying health care issues facing Texans. (Deam, 10/23)

Sacramento Bee: Meals On Wheels Asks The Elderly About LGBT Status, Per CA Law
Carol Alexander received a phone call from Sacramento County’s Meals on Wheels program last Friday and it wasn’t her usual case worker. Alexander, 83, said she was hit with a barrage of about a half-dozen questions she considered invasive or unnecessary: What is your sex? Do you still associate with your gender? Are you heterosexual? Are you white or Hispanic? “I was in shock. I took offense to that,” she said. (McGough and Dickman, 10/23)

Kansas City Star: Merriam Is Third JoCo City Now Pushing LGBTQ Protections
Four years ago, the Roeland Park City Council fought a fierce battle over an ordinance to protect gay and transgender individuals from discrimination within the city. The measure died at one point and was only resurrected in August 2014 when the mayor cast the deciding vote. But now, northern Johnson County cities are lining up to give serious consideration to non-discrimination ordinances protecting the LGBTQ community, using the model from Roeland Park as well as from Manhattan, Kan., Lawrence and Wyandotte County. (Horsley, 10/23)

Chicago Tribune: Advocate, NorthShore, Comer Partnering On Pediatric Care 
Three of the biggest local names in health care are partnering to expand their pediatric offerings and their reach — the latest effort by area hospital systems to spread services to wider swaths of Chicagoland. Advocate Children’s Hospital and NorthShore University HealthSystem, which teamed up on pediatric care earlier this year, began their new collaboration with University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital this month. (Schencker, 10/24)

The Associated Press: Hand, Foot And Mouth Disease Outbreak Hits Johns Hopkins
More than 100 people have been sickened by hand, foot and mouth disease at one of Johns Hopkins University’s four Baltimore campuses. News outlets report that the Maryland Department of Health has classified it as an outbreak. University spokesman Dennis O’Shea tells The Baltimore Sun that officials have been broadcasting information about the outbreak at the Homewood campus. The university says 129 cases have been reported since early September. (10/23)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Reverses Order That Barred Reporting On Search Warrant In Case Of Newport Beach Surgeon
An Orange County Superior Court judge Tuesday reversed an order barring journalists from reporting on a search warrant filed in the case against a Newport Beach surgeon facing felony charges of drugging and raping seven women dating to 2009. Grant Robicheaux, 38, once dubbed Orange County’s most eligible bachelor, and his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, 31, are accused of rape by drugs, kidnapping, oral copulation by anesthesia, assault with intent to commit sexual offenses and other crimes. They have denied all accusations of nonconsensual sex. (Fry, Winton and Sclafani, 10/23)

Kansas City Star: As Warren Powers Fights Alzheimer’s, His Wife Inspires
Gathered above the north end zone of Memorial Stadium on Saturday stood three of the four living former University of Missouri football coaches: Warren Powers, Bob Stull and Gary Pinkel. Stull was as engaged as ever on a variety of topics, including how his protégé Andy Reid is enjoying this Chiefs team. Wearing blue jeans, Pinkel exuded the opposite of his intense coaching persona as he spoke of such things as the “it” factor radiating from Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. (Gregorian, 10/23)

The New York Times: What Big Pharma Fears Most: A Trump Alliance With Democrats To Cut Drug Prices
The pharmaceutical industry, pilloried by President Trump for the last two years, is war-gaming for the possibility that its worst fear is realized: that Democrats, if they flip control of the House, find common ground with the president to rein in drug prices. Democrats say they are determined to squeeze the industry’s prices and profits, and they have a stack of legislative proposals that could do so. Drug makers are quietly making contingency plans. (Pear, 10/20)

Politico: ‘Winter Is Coming’: Companies Brace For Flurry Of Investigations
Washington law firms are preparing for a boom in business from a projected Democratic takeover of the House in 2019, anticipating that pharmaceutical, tech, and oil and gas companies will need help navigating a flurry of oversight investigations. Law firms that specialize in helping businesses manage congressional investigations, including Covington & Burling and Akin Gump, have been tracking Democrats’ criticisms of a host of corporations all year. (Levine, 10/22)

Stat: Lower Doses Of Some Cancer Pills Could Save A Lot Of Money 
What would you say if a cancer patient could be given a lower dose of a pricey treatment that was not only equally effective, but could also save a bundle of money? That’s the proposition being advanced by some leading oncologists, who are promoting what they call value-based prescribing, which involves giving patients fewer or less frequent doses. The notion is being increasingly talked up as concerns mount over the rising cost of medicines and, consequently, the so-called financial toxicity that more patients are said to be experiencing. (Silverman, 10/23)

Stat: PhRMA’s On Track To Spend A Record Sum On Lobbying This Year 
PhRMA has already spent $21 million on lobbying this year — a sum that puts it on course to smash its previous annual lobbying records. The group, which represents dozens of major drug makers, spent nearly $6 million on advocacy in the third quarter of this year, according to lobbying disclosures released Monday, about $400,000 more than it spent in the same period last year. After an unprecedented first half of 2018, that total puts it just $4 million shy of a new record annual spend —and it hasn’t spent less than $4 million in a quarter since 2015. (Florko, 10/23)

Stat: U.S. Regulators Offer A Helping Hand To New Nonprofit Drug Company 
Regulators had something of an atypical message for the new nonprofit drug company backed by a host of the nation’s top hospitals: “What can we do to help?” One of the executives behind the new drug maker, Civica Rx, told STAT he’d set up a Capitol Hill briefing after he fielded calls from roughly two dozen senators, all wanting to hear from the company about its plans. A meeting with the Food and Drug Administration also went far more smoothly than some industry tussles with their regulator. (Florko, 10/23)

The Associated Press: Rising Drug Prices Widen Gap Between Have, Have-Not Patients
For Bridgett Snelten, changing her health insurance meant enduring wild blood sugar swings, bouts of vomiting and weight gain. The Sandy, Utah mother of two young girls has diabetes and has had to change health insurance plans three years in a row. Twice, new insurers wouldn't cover Trulicity, a once-a-week injected diabetes medicine she'd been taking that helped control her blood sugar tightly. Instead, they made her return to an inexpensive, twice-a-day injected diabetes drug she and her doctor knew didn't work for her. (10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: A Billionaire Pledges To Fight High Drug Prices, And The Industry Is Rattled
Billionaire John D. Arnold is spending a chunk of his fortune to campaign against America’s high drug prices. The drug industry is spending a chunk of its fortune to counter him. Mr. Arnold is the biggest single spender on his side of the battle. He made his money placing bets on price swings in the natural-gas market, first as an energy trader at Enron, then at his own hedge fund after Enron’s collapse. Now retired, the 44-year-old Texan with an estimated $3.3 billion in assets is dedicating himself to the topic of the U.S.’s ballooning health care costs. (Loftus, 10/21)

FiercePharma: What's Next For Pharma In The Advancing Battle Over Drug Prices In TV Ads?
Last week, the Trump administration put it in writing: Under a proposal published in the Federal Register, drugmakers will have to put list prices in their TV ads. So what's next for pharma? Here's what to keep an eye on. First, the basics: The Trump administration's proposal in the Federal Register formalized HHS Secretary Alex Azar's comments last week. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is seeking to amend Medicare and Medicaid programs to require direct-to-consumer television advertisements to include a list price for any covered drugs that cost more than $35. (Bulik, 10/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Pfizer, Bain Capital Create Company Focused On Nervous System Diseases
Pfizer Inc. and private-equity firm Bain Capital LP on Tuesday said they have formed a company to develop drugs for disorders of the central nervous system. Pfizer, which earlier this year said it would stop trying to discover new drugs for central nervous system disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, said it is contributing a portfolio of pre-commercial neuroscience assets to the new company, called Cerevel Therapeutics LLC. (Kellaher, 10/23)

Reuters: Roche Takes On Loxo, Bayer In Gene-Defined Cancer Class
Roche's entrectinib cancer pill was shown to shrink tumours in 57 percent of patients within a group that can only be identified via genetic profiling, as the Swiss drugmaker challenges an alliance of Bayer and Loxo Oncology in a new targeted treatment area. The trial results on patients with a gene anomaly known as NTRK fusion, which occurs in less than 1 percent across a range of tumour types, were presented at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Munich on Sunday. (10/21)

The Hill: Publicized Drug Prices Will Be Meaningless To The Average Consumer
Many Americans would likely agree that prescription drug prices are too high. Unfortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services’ recent proposed rule requiring pharmaceutical companies to include drugs’ list prices in advertising is one of those strange cases that may lead to greater information and transparency without much real value to the health-care consumer. As several news outlets have documented, the list price to be shown in advertisements, according to the proposed rule, would not match the price that most patients would have to pay. That is due to differing prescription drug insurance plans and negotiated arrangements between drug companies and some pharmacy benefit managers. (Todd Ruppar, 10/21)

USA Today: Trump Health Agenda: Transparent Drug Prices, Lower Insurance Costs
A few weeks ago I picked up my beat-up old car from the shop, only to discover from the itemized bill I received that my mechanic had charged me for an inspection I’d already had a month before. When I produced the original receipt he was very apologetic because he knew there was an equally good repair shop down the road. Price transparency and competition at work! The same day, my nut-allergic son unknowingly ate a piece of key lime pie for dessert that included a hidden almond paste. The restaurant’s lack of ingredient transparency led to a severe allergic reaction and an emergency room visit where my son received two Mylan EpiPens, intravenous steroids and anti-histamines. His expensive overnight stay was billed to our insurance but I only knew about the $100 copay. (Marc Siegel, 10/22)

The Washington Post: The Pharmaceutical Industry Is Failing Us
The global pharmaceutical industry is no longer innovating. Research shows that 78 percent of patents approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration correspond to medications already on the market, while those disease areas not considered growth markets are ignored. From 2000 to 2011, only 4 percent of newly-approved products globally were designed to treat neglected diseases that affect lower- and middle-income countries. (Mariana Mazzucato, 10/17)

Forbes: Drug Companies, Not 'Middlemen', Are Responsible For High Drug Prices
As pharmaceutical companies have faced more heat for their pricing practices, they’ve found someone else to blame: “middlemen” who extract discounts from drugmakers. But in fact, if it weren’t for middlemen like wholesalers and pharmacy benefit managers, drug prices would be even higher. When Donald Trump was running for President in 2016, he promised to rein in the high price of prescription drugs. “I’m going to bring down drug prices,” he told Time after he’d won the election. “I don’t like what has happened with drug prices.” (Avik Roy, 10/22)

The Hill: Cancer Care Should Not Be Tied To Tariffs
Unfortunately, the 1.7 million Americans diagnosed with cancer each year are in the cross hairs of the current trade dispute with China. This is not obvious on first glance, and likely not an intended consequence of the tariffs, but may have crucial implications on cost and availability of cancer care in the future to patients during their most vulnerable time. The U.S. government has imposed billions of dollars of new tariffs on Chinese goods, and predictably the Chinese have taken action to do the same against American-exported goods. These tariffs are being waged against traditional products and materials – agricultural and consumer products, as well as building and manufacturing materials. But what may not be intentional is the inclusion of leading edge, cancer fighting technologies and equipment on which millions of Americans; including veterans, seniors, and patients around the world, depend upon for life saving treatment. (James M. Metz, 10/17)

Greensburg Daily News: Too Many Lives Hinge On Drug Prices
The angry protests around the 2016 Mylan EpiPen scandal brought into sharp focus the perils for patients when the price of a life-saving drug spikes precipitously, with little or no forewarning, and no ready alternative. As a Type 1 diabetic who has been dealing with escalating insulin prices my whole life, I was heartened to see the public outcry over our country’s anemic attitude toward setting affordable drug pricing policies. My concern now is that, without additional crises to capture the public’s attention, the issue will recede in significance. Rest assured, the realities for patients living under the price-spiral sword have not receded, our lives continue to be threatened daily. (Gail deVore, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Voters Must Catch On To Republicans’ Con On Health Care
A majority of working Americans have zero retirement savings. The three richest Americans hold more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of the country — some 160 million Americans. So Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), having pushed through a trillion-dollar tax cut that lards its benefits on the richest Americans, announces he wants to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and make another run at repealing the Affordable Care Act. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 10/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Embrace Bernie’s Promise To End Pre-Existing Coverage
Fortunately at least someone in Washington is trying to inform the public about this latest consumer fraud in progress. Acting on its charge under the 1946 Employment Act to “formulate and recommend national economic policy to promote employment, production, and purchasing power under free competitive enterprise,” the White House Council of Economic Advisers is explaining the gargantuan costs of government-run health care in particular and socialism in general. (James Freeman, 10/23)

St. Louis Post Dispatch:  Did GOP Candidates Really Fight For Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage?
With a tight Nov. 6 election approaching, local Republican incumbents in Congress are trying to rewrite history regarding their unbridled effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Back in 2016 and early 2017, they could hardly contain their zeal to rip Obamacare to shreds. Today, as Obamacare’s popularity is surging, it’s a different story. (10/24)

Idaho Mountain Express: Medicaid Expansion Will Benefit Health Care And County Budgets 
There are many reasons to vote to expand Medicaid this fall.  It seems that the most important is to send a message to the majority of the current state Republican legislators, who are failing to solve a problem that is breaking the financial backs of Idaho families. It’s past time for action. As someone who is both a retired rural hospital administrator for Jerome and Blaine counties and a Stage 4 cancer survivor (with a 3-5 percent survival rate), I’m blessed to be here to vote “yes” for Proposition 2. Our legislature has demonstrated an inability to find other solutions and enact them. (Al Stevenson, 10/24)

The Washington Post: Low-Income Women’s Access To Contraception Is Under Attack
Congressional candidates have deluged voters in recent weeks with debates about the Trump administration’s efforts to peel away protections for Americans with pre existing health conditions. Yet there is another, equally insidious effort from the administration that could undermine access to health care, and Americans have no idea it is happening: a proposal to drastically reduce information on and access to contraception. (Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, 10/23)

The Washington Post: Why Should The Government — Or Anyone — Care What’s Between A Person’s Legs?
I am nosy about a lot of things, most of them deeply petty. I have confronted fellow passengers who are misusing overhead luggage space, and I will gossip for 47 minutes about the wedding of a couple I’ve never met, and the amount to which I don’t mind my own business is astonishing. But I cannot, cannot manage to care what genitalia is between other humans’ legs, and I cannot understand those who do. (Monica Hesse, 10/23)

Charlotte Observer: Trump Policy A Dangerous Step Backward For LGBTQ Americans
The Trump administration wants to strip the basic rights of my daughter and millions of other LGBTQ Americans. I am the proud parent of two daughters, one of whom is transgender. This proposed change is ugly, intentional, and un-American. The administration seeks to amend crucial legal definitions to intentionally preclude the transgender community from the basic protections and civil rights all other U.S. citizens enjoy. (Ashley Nurkin, 10/23)

Los Angeles Times: Here's Why Trump Thinks It's Still 'Acceptable' To Target Transgender People For Discrimination And Abuse
Back in 2010, I had an emotional conversation with a woman I am proud to call my closest transgender friend. She’s Lynn Conway, one of the most important pioneers in the history of electrical engineering and computer science, whose distinguished career spans industry and academia. She’s also a pioneer and a leader in transgender advocacy, having started her gender transition in the 1960s. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Sandra Day O’Connor’s Witness 
Sandra Day O’Connor announced Tuesday that she has been diagnosed with dementia that is “probably Alzheimer’s disease,” and this is one more service she has rendered her country. Millions of Americans know the special pain of a loved one with dementia, and tens of millions more will in future decades. It can be traumatic to admit even to close relatives, much less to the world, that you are suffering from this terrible affliction. To see the famous jurist, the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, bravely face such a trial will no doubt help others do the same. (10/23)

Boston Globe: Opioid Addiction Is Our Homeland Security Problem
I’ve worked nearly my whole life in national security, and have seen our country face countless threats, from terrorist attacks to natural disasters. But few crises have been as wide in scale, or as personal, as the opioid epidemic. Last year 72,000 people died of drug overdoses. Particularly devastating has been the growing prevalence of the deadliest synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which can be over 50 times as powerful as heroin. This trend has hit New England especially hard. In Massachusetts, an astounding 90 percent of fatal overdoses involved fentanyl, according to the state Department of Public Health. So if you ask me what is the greatest threat to our homeland — terror, climate change, pandemics — it would be difficult to ignore the one that is killing our citizens every single day. (Juliette Kayyem, 10/23)

USA Today: Opioid 'Patient Brokers' Finally Get The Treatment They Deserve
As if people addicted to opioids don’t have enough trouble, shady operators have found a way to exploit them. Across the country, these “patient brokers” troll streets, drug courts and anywhere they might find people with addiction problems to lure them to treatment centers and “sober living homes” — usually illicit ones — in exchange for kickbacks. Internet and TV ads often promote the illegitimate facilities. And some phone hotlines, while offering to connect callers to legitimate treatment, instead collect referrals for facilities, selling them to the highest bidder. The scam is known as patient brokering, with brokers focused on making a buck instead of matching sick people with appropriate treatment. In a country with 2.1 million people suffering from opioid addiction, business is booming. (10/23)

Stat: Could Precision Medicine Help Women Choose The Right Contraceptive?
Imagine if women everywhere had access to gene testing that could predict personalized benefits and side effects from each and every contraceptive method. Imagine hearing from your doctor or logging in to a private portal to discover that a hormonal IUD will be 99 percent effective for you, and it will increase your appetite and stop your monthly menstrual periods. And that the pill will be 91 percent effective for you, and give you clearer skin. (Megan Christofield, 10/23)

The New York Times: Dale Earnhardt Jr.: Bringing Concussions Out Of The Darkness
I never wanted to be a concussion expert. I know some of the world’s leading authorities on head injuries and I’m certainly not one of them, but “expert” is a relative term. My expertise comes from personal experience. During my two decades behind the wheel as a full-time Nascar driver, I suffered more than a dozen concussions. For a long time, I managed to keep most of them a secret, but then my symptoms got too severe to keep up the charade and I was forced to get help. (Dale Earnhardt, Jr., 10/23)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: A Vote For Issue 1 Will Help Us Move Away From The Harmful, Punitive Way Our Government Treats Drug Users
Issue 1 says Ohio will stop sending people who use drugs to prison. It will stop making them felons, a label that forever damages a person's ability to work and create a healthy alternative to a life centered around drugs. (Regrettably, under Issue 1, judges can still send people who possess drugs to jail.) Perhaps most importantly, Issue 1 redirects money away from prison (which often kills) and into treatment (which saves lives). Do I support Issue 1? Of course! I can't save my son, but maybe we can save yours ... or your daughter or cousin or friend or co-workers or next-door neighbor. Not one more. We have all suffered enough. (Laura Cash, 10/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Your Doctor Needs Your Trust
Most people have heard of the Hippocratic oath, but not so many know the Maimonides Prayer for the Physician. It calls on doctors to do everything they can to preserve life, and adds something wise: “Grant that my patients may have confidence in me and in my art, and follow my directions and my counsel.” (Lisa DeAngelis, 10/23)