First Edition: June 3, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Robin Hood To Rescue Of Rural Hospitals? New Math Promised On Medicare Payments
As rural hospital closures roil the country, some states are banking on a Trump administration proposal to change the way hospital payments are calculated to rescue them. The goal of the proposal, unveiled by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma last month, is to bump up Medicare’s reimbursements to rural hospitals, some of which receive the lowest rates in the nation. For example, Alabama’s hospitals — most of which are rural — stand to gain an additional $43 million from Medicare next year if the federal agency makes this adjustment. (Tribble, 6/3)
Kaiser Health News:
Churches Wipe Out Millions In Medical Debt For Others
The leaders of Pathway Church on the outskirts of Wichita, Kan., had no clue that the $22,000 they already had on hand for Easter would have such impact. The nondenominational suburban congregation of about 3,800 had set out only to help people nearby pay off some medical debt, recalled Larry Wren, Pathway’s executive pastor. After all, the core membership at Pathway’s three sites consists of middle-income families with school-age kids, not high-dollar philanthropists. (Hammill, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
American Voters Have A Simple Health-Care Message For 2020: Just Fix It!
Nine years after Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act and more than a year after Republicans failed in their effort to repeal it, health care promises once again to be a major issue in the 2020 elections. Drug costs are rising, as are insurance premiums. Rural hospitals are closing. Even as an estimated 20 million people have gained coverage under the ACA, widely known as Obamacare, nearly 30 million people remain uninsured. Surveys consistently find that Americans see the health-care system as broken. (Armour, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Arizona Suburbs Show The Opportunities, Risks Of Health Care As Political Issue
April Gould helps run a thriving business where customers take yoga classes alongside dozens of baby goats, but she said she can’t afford health insurance. “Health care in this country is a mess,” said Ms. Gould, 41 years old, who says she leans Republican. “We should get rid of the insurance game and make it one cost for everyone. “Like Canada,” she says, before adding, “But that’s expensive.” Arizona reflects the challenge that will confront both parties in the 2020 election. Health care looms so large that many independent and suburban voters in swing states may back candidates based on plans to fix the system, rather than based on their usual party affiliation. (Armour, 6/2)
The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Would Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-For-All Save Americans Money?
During a town hall on Fox News, 2020 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said his Medicare-for-all plan would save most Americans money by reducing the cost of health care. According to Sanders, any tax increase as a result of his plan would be less than what an average family currently pays in premiums, co-payments and deductibles for health insurance. (Mirza, 6/3)
The Associated Press:
Judge Says Missouri Clinic Can Keep Providing Abortions
A judge issued an order Friday to keep Missouri's only abortion clinic operating over the objections of state health officials, delivering abortion-rights advocates a courtroom victory after a string of setbacks in legislatures around the U.S. St. Louis Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer said Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic can continue providing abortions despite the Missouri health department's refusal to renew its license over a variety of patient safety concerns. He said the temporary restraining order was necessary to "prevent irreparable injury" to Planned Parenthood. (Salter and Lieb, 5/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
Missouri Judge Rules State’s Only Abortion Clinic Can Keep Operating For Now
The judge granted Planned Parenthood a temporary restraining order, saying the group demonstrated immediate harm would occur if its license was allowed to expire. A hearing for a temporary injunction is set for June 4. “We are glad that the governor has been prevented from putting women’s health and lives in danger—for now—and call on him to stop this egregious politicalization of public health in an attempt to ban all safe, legal abortion care in the state,” said Dr. Leana Wen, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a statement after the ruling. (Raice, 6/1)
The Associated Press:
Q&A: Possible Closure Of Missouri's Lone Abortion Clinic
Missouri law requires an annual inspection of abortion clinics. The inspection in St. Louis was in March. The health department cited several deficiencies, including "at least one incident in which patient safety was gravely compromised." It also cited what it called "failed surgical abortions in which women remained pregnant," and an alleged failure to obtain "informed consent." At a hearing before Judge Michael Stelzer on Thursday, Planned Parenthood attorney Jamie Boyer said the seven deficiencies have been "remedied," but the license is threatened unless the non-staff physicians agree to be interviewed. Boyer said Planned Parenthood can't force people who aren't on staff to cooperate. (Salter, 6/1)
The New York Times:
For Millions Of American Women, Abortion Access Is Out Of Reach
After the closing of dozens of abortion clinics around the country in recent years, more than 11 million women in the United States live more than an hour’s drive from an abortion facility, according to an analysis of population data and drive times. The last remaining abortion provider in Missouri was set to see its license expire Friday amid a standoff with state officials, but a judge gave the parties more time to resolve the dispute. If the clinic were to stop providing abortion services, about 25,000 more women would be pushed outside the range that experts consider to be accessible for care. (Lai and Patel, 5/31)
The New York Times:
Virginia Beach Gunman Said He Was Quitting, Then Went On A Shooting Rampage
The resignation email arrived in the morning, and the gunfire started in the afternoon. DeWayne Craddock, an engineer who had worked for the City of Virginia Beach for about 15 years, notified his superiors on Friday that he intended to quit. Then at around 4 p.m., he embarked on a rampage in Building No. 2 of the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, turning its offices and corridors into a battleground. When it was over, 12 people lay dead and Mr. Craddock was fatally wounded. (Thrush and Blinder, 6/2)
The Washington Post:
Virginia Shooting Gunman De Wayne Craddock Resigned Hours Before Mass Shooting, Officials Say
Investigators, Craddock’s former co-workers and residents of this stricken oceanside community on Sunday continued to grasp for clues to what precipitated the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since November. Armed with two .45-caliber pistols, at least one of them equipped with a sound suppressor and extended magazine, Craddock killed 12 people before dying in a gun battle with police. (Miller, Jamison and Weiner, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Virginia Beach Shooting Suspect Had Just Resigned
Mr. Hansen said the suspect sent an email to his supervisors on Friday morning to say he was resigning from the public utilities department, where he had worked as an engineer for about 15 years. “To my knowledge, the perpetrator’s performance was satisfactory, and he was in good standing within his department and there were no issues of discipline ongoing,” Mr. Hansen said. (Vielkind, 6/2)
The Washington Post:
Virginia Beach Shooting Victims: Eleven Were City Employees, And One Was A Contractor
One victim worked for the Virginia Beach municipal government for 41 years. Another, for just 11 months. A third was a contractor who was filing a permit at the worst time possible. And one died checking to make sure his co-workers were safe. Most of the 12 people killed Friday by the gunman — himself a longtime municipal employee — had the kind of job titles common for government servants. They were engineers, right of way agents, account clerks or administrative assistants. (6/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
Virginia Beach Grieves Deaths Of 12 Shooting Victims
A grieving Virginia Beach, Va., woke up Saturday to learn the names of the 12 people gunned down by a longtime city employee who authorities say turned a municipal building into a sea of carnage. Eleven of the victims were city employees, with tenures ranging from 11 months to more than 40 years. Many worked in the Public Utilities Department, the same department where suspected shooter DeWayne Craddock had worked as an engineer for about 15 years, according to police. (Calvert, 6/1)
The Washington Post:
In January, Virginia GOP Killed Bill To Ban Sales Of Large-Capacity Magazines
A Virginia bill designed to ban sales of large-capacity magazines similar to those used by the Virginia Beach gunman died in committee in January on a party-line vote. The fate of the legislation, SB1748, was so widely expected that the outcome drew virtually no public attention. For more than 20 years, Republicans and a few rural Democrats in the General Assembly have killed almost every measure aimed at restricting gun ownership. The GOP blocked a major push for gun control after the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, where 33 people died. They chose instead to respond to that shooting by joining Democrats to enact mental-health reforms. (McCartney, 6/1)
Politico:
Michael Bennet After Shooting: McConnell Must Act
Following a deadly shooting in Virginia Beach, Sen. Michael Bennet renewed calls for national background checks — but expressed doubt Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would allow such legislation to go anywhere in the Senate. "We should pass those background checks," the Colorado Democrat said on ABC‘s “This Week” on Sunday. "Ninety percent of the American people support it. But we know what's going to happen, which is the House has passed it, Mitch McConnell will not allow it to come to a vote in the Senate, and we will not have national background checks." (Choi, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Government Buildings Prepare, Practice For Shootings
In Washington, D.C., the city is rolling out a panic-button mobile app, which will enable nearly all of the 35,000 employees of the District of Columbia government to contact law enforcement with the tap of a button. At Boston’s City Hall, a system that detects gunfire is embedded in the walls and ceilings. Government buildings in Rhode Island and Georgia use the same system. (Cutter and Lovett, 6/2)
The Washington Post:
Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Took A Stand On Gun Control, Even Though It Hurt The Company
It had been one month since 17 people were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and the grief in the room was palpable. Facing one another were the parents whose children died in the massacre and the head of a sporting goods store who had come to Parkland, Fla., after his company sold the shooter a shotgun. Ed Stack, the chief executive and chairman of Dick’s Sporting Goods, had made the rounds through talk shows and news networks, announcing that his company would stop selling assault-style weapons and take other steps to limit firearms sales. The backlash was swift from gun-toting customers, pro-gun lawmakers and the National Rifle Association. (Siegel, 5/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
Active Shootings In The U.S.
Active-shooter incidents around the U.S. fell slightly last year, but they remained at the second highest level since 2000, according to new data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Deadly incidents in 2018 included the shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school, the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting in Thousand Oaks, Calif. In total, there were 27 incidents around the country last year, leaving 85 people dead and 128 wounded. That compares with 30 shootings in 2017, the deadliest year in the FBI’s records. (Wang, 6/12)
The Associated Press:
Mass Shootings Transform How America Talks, Prays, Prepares
Pardeep Singh Kaleka has surveyed the landscape of an America scarred by mass shootings. Seven years ago, a white supremacist invaded a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and killed six worshippers — among them Kaleka's father, who died clutching a butter knife he'd grabbed in a desperate attempt to stop the shooter. Now, whenever another gunman bloodies another town, Kaleka posts a supportive message on social media. Then later, either by invitation or on his own initiative, he'll journey to the community to shore up others who share his pain. (Cohen and Tanner, 6/2)
The Associated Press:
Kids Have Long Road To Heal After Oklahoma Police Shooting
Asia Jacobs, affectionately known as "Mama's little helper," struggles to fill that role since police officers opened fire on her mother's pickup truck outside an Oklahoma food bank and wounded the girl and two of her siblings. A bullet pierced the left frontal lobe of 4-year-old Asia's brain. She no longer helps her mother keep her younger brother and sister in line because she has a hard time sitting still herself. The shooting has left her anxious. Doctor visits and seizure medicine fill her days — a life upended through no fault of her own. (Kealoha Causey and Bleiberg, 6/2)
The Associated Press:
Trump's Dig At McCain Skews Facts On Vet Care
President Donald Trump is making up facts about a veterans' health care program in his latest dig at late Sen. John McCain. He says he's no fan of McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and tortured prisoner of war, faulting him for failing to pass a program that gave veterans the option to see a private doctor at public expense. "He was never able to get Choice. I got Choice," Trump said Thursday to reporters. His jab at the late senator came as he defended a Trump administration order to keep a Navy ship named for McCain hidden from view during his recent trip to Japan as likely "well-meaning," though Trump said he knew nothing about the request. (6/3)
The New York Times:
Congress Weighs Whether To Allow Guantanamo Prisoners To Travel To The U.S. For Medical Care
With the military putting a new focus on the health care needs of aging detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison, Congress is considering again whether to allow the Pentagon to move wartime prisoners temporarily to the United States for emergency or complicated medical care not available at the base in Cuba. The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved a provision in a larger military authorization bill that would allow temporary medical transfers to the United States. The panel in the Republican-controlled Senate has pushed the provision for seven years, only to see it stripped from final legislation over still-strong objections from both parties to bringing foreign terrorist suspects to American territory for treatment. (Rosenberg, 6/1)
The Associated Press:
2020 Hopeful Gillibrand Unveils Plan To Protect LGBTQ Rights
Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has unveiled a comprehensive plan to protect the rights of LGBTQ people to mark the start of Pride Month. If elected, the New York senator says she'd direct the Justice Department to consider gender identity and sexual orientation a protected class. She would also ban discrimination against transgender members of the military and federally recognize a third gender in identification documents, denoted by an "X'' on ID cards. (6/1)
The Washington Post:
Trump, Who Cast Himself As Pro-LGBT, Is Now Under Fire From Democrats For Rolling Back Protections
President Trump, who appeared to break with Republican orthodoxy in 2016 by pledging to be a “real friend” of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, is facing fresh attacks from Democrats and advocates who say his administration has instead become their worst enemy. Trump and his aides have issued a wave of regulations, executive orders, legal briefs and personnel appointments aimed at reversing large parts of the Obama administration’s civil rights agenda, winning plaudits from religious conservatives who form the bedrock of Trump’s political support. (Olorunnipa, 5/31)
ProPublica:
Over 200 Allegations Of Abuse Of Migrant Children; 1 Case Of Homeland Security Disciplining Someone
From 2009 to 2014, at least 214 complaints were filed against federal agents for abusing or mistreating migrant children. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s records, only one employee was disciplined as a result of a complaint. The department’s records, which have alarmed advocates for migrants given the more aggressive approach to the treatment of minors at the border under the current administration, emerged as part of a federal lawsuit seeking the release of the names of the accused agents. (Thompson, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
Advocates Decry Delays In Release Of Migrant Kids
Immigrant advocates say the U.S. government is allowing migrant children at a Florida facility to languish in "prison-like conditions" after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border instead of releasing them promptly to family as required by federal rules. A court filing Friday revealed conditions inside the Homestead, Florida, facility that has become the nation's biggest location for detaining immigrant children. A decades-old settlement governing the care of detained immigrant children calls for them to be released to family members, sponsors or other locations within 20 days, but the court filing accuses the government of keeping kids there for months in some cases. (Gomez Licon and Taxin, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
As Trump Threatens Tariffs, Migrant Families Keep Coming
On Wednesday, Border Patrol agents near downtown El Paso encountered a group of 1,036 migrants who had entered the country illegally — the biggest cluster the agency has ever seen. At one point in May, a holding cell designed for 35 migrants was crammed with 155. Six children have died in U.S. custody since September, three in the past month. U.S. authorities are overstretched and overwhelmed by an unprecedented surge of Central American families arriving at the southern border. (Attanasio and Spagat, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
Study: More Blacks Got Timely Cancer Care After 'Obamacare'
New research suggests that states that expanded Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act eliminated racial differences in being able to quickly start on treatment after a diagnosis of advanced cancer. The law that is often called "Obamacare" let states expand Medicaid eligibility and offer subsidies to help people buy health insurance. (6/2)
The Washington Post:
ACA Linked To Reduced Racial Disparities, Earlier Diagnosis And Treatment In Cancer Care
The findings, coming as health care emerges as an increasingly important issue in the 2020 presidential campaign, were released Sunday as abstracts at the annual meeting in Chicago of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The conference attracts some 40,000 cancer specialists to one of the world’s largest oncology meetings. According to researchers involved in the racial-disparity study, before the ACA went into effect, African Americans with advanced cancer were 4.8 percentage points less likely to start treatment for their disease within 30 days of being given a diagnosis. But today, black adults in states that expanded Medicaid under the law have almost entirely caught up with white patients in getting timely treatment, researchers said. (McGinley, 6/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Law Improved Access To Cancer Treatment, Studies Show
The new studies suggest that “patients who have better health-care coverage have better access to care, get diagnosed sooner, get started on treatment sooner,” Dr. Monica Bertagnolli, an oncologist and president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, or ASCO, said in an interview. The medical society is featuring the studies prominently at its annual meeting in Chicago this weekend, with thousands of cancer doctors in attendance. Typically, ASCO spotlights results of new clinical studies of cancer treatments, but it is increasingly turning its attention to whether those treatments are out of reach for patients because of high costs and insurance status. (Loftus, 6/2)
Modern Healthcare:
Utah Proposes Capping Medicaid Spending
As part of an unprecedented waiver request, Utah has asked the CMS to cap the growth rate of federal Medicaid payments to cover its limited expansion population at the rate of medical inflation, rather than at the much lower rate of consumer price inflation. The Section 1115 demonstration request issued Friday asked the CMS to pay the Affordable Care Act's enhanced, 90% matching rate for the state's partial expansion of Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 100% of the federal poverty level. (Meyer, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
Iowa Sued Over Prohibition On Medicaid For Gender Surgery
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a lawsuit Friday challenging a new state law that prohibits the use of Medicaid funding for gender reassignment surgery. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill on May 3 that included language amending the state's Civil Rights Act so that government officials are not required to pay for gender reassignment surgery. (Pitt, 5/31)
Stat:
Is $2.1M Too Much For A Drug? For Affected Parents, There Is No Debate
A decision by the drug maker Novartis to put a $2.1 million price tag on its latest product, a one-time treatment for a rare and fatal childhood disease, has sparked a national debate about just how much society should pay for the medicines it needs. ...Novartis has argued that its therapy, approved last month as Zolgensma, is cost-effective even at $2.1 million. SMA is a progressive disease that gradually erodes muscular function. (Garde, 6/3)
Stat:
An Infamous Biotech Party Is Reincarnated, Despite Last Year’s Outcry
The infamous Party at BIO Not Associated with BIO is back — though not by the same name. The PABNAB moniker isn’t attached to the event’s online presence as it was in year’s past, but one of the same organizers, Martina Molsbergen Tamaro, is throwing a “Gladiators and Goddesses” themed bash at a venue near this year’s BIO International Conference, which begins Monday in Philadelphia. (SHeridan, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
CVS Mounts Defense Of Aetna Deal On Two Fronts
CVS Health Corp. is expected to defend its acquisition of insurer Aetna Inc. in two high-profile settings Tuesday, seeking to sell skeptical investors and a federal judge on the nearly $70 billion deal. CVS lawyers are slated to be in a Washington, D.C., federal court for the start of an unusual three-day proceeding in which U.S. District Judge Richard Leon is considering whether the Justice Department adequately protected competition when it approved the deal last year. (Kendall and Wilde Mathews, 6/2)
Stat:
AstraZeneca’s Dynamic Duo Wants To Dominate In Cancer Drugs
The news: If pancreatic tumors have mutations in the same BRCA gene that can increase women’s chance of ovarian or breast tumors, patients go an extra 3.6 months — twice as long — without dying or having their tumors grow by more than 30%. That such a benefit can matter emphasizes what a grim diagnosis pancreatic cancer is, and only a twentieth of pancreatic cancers are related to BRCA mutations. But for [José] Baselga and his new boss, Pascal Soriot, who talked to STAT at AstraZeneca’s spaceship-like booth at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the data symbolize the vast potential of targeted cancer drugs. (Herper, 6/2)
Stat:
Heritage Pharma Pleads Guilty To Price Fixing In Generic Drug Probe
As a result of a wide-ranging probe into generic drug price fixing, Heritage Pharmaceuticals pleaded guilty to conspiring to set prices for a diabetes medicine and will pay more than $7 million to settle civil and criminal charges. The drug maker worked with several other companies and individuals between April 2014 and December 2015 to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for the glyburide treatment, according to court documents. More than a half dozen other generic drug makers — including Aurobindo and Teva Pharmaceutical (TEVA) — sell a version of glyburide. (Silverman, 5/31)
The New York Times:
A Drug Prolonged Life In Younger Women With Advanced Breast Cancer
A drug that can slow the progression of advanced breast cancer has been shown for the first time to lengthen survival in women whose disease started before or during menopause, researchers reported on Saturday. In patients who took the drug along with a standard treatment, 70 percent were still alive three and a half years later, compared with only 46 percent of those given the standard treatment alone. (Grady, 6/1)
The Associated Press:
Drugs Make Headway Against Lung, Breast, Prostate Cancers
Newer drugs are substantially improving the chances of survival for some people with hard-to-treat forms of lung, breast and prostate cancer, doctors reported at the world's largest cancer conference. Among those who have benefited is Roszell Mack Jr., who at age 87 is still able to work at a Lexington, Kentucky, horse farm, nine years after being diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread to his bones and lymph nodes. (6/2)
The New York Times:
‘Become My Mom Again’: What It’s Like To Grow Up Amid The Opioid Crisis
Layla Kegg’s mother, back home after three weeks who knows where, says she’s done with heroin, ready for rehab and wants to be part of her daughter’s life. But Layla has heard all of this before and doesn’t believe a single word. Layla’s trust was broken long ago, after years of watching her mother cycle in and out of addiction and rehab. And now this latest discovery: “I found a needle in your purse the other day,” says Layla, seated at her grandmother’s kitchen table, her arms crossed. “And Mamaw found two more in the dryer.” (Levin, 5/31)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Push For Fewer Opioids For New Mothers
Three times Ada Williams delivered children by caesarean section. Three times doctors prescribed her opioid painkillers. When she was preparing to deliver her fourth child by C-section, her doctor told her that Cleveland Clinic’s Fairview Hospital was moving away from that. “I said, ‘No! You’ve gotta give me the narcotics because it’s a C-section, it’s painful,’ ” the 37-year-old says. (Reddy, 6/3)
The New York Times:
Cannabis Companies Push F.D.A. To Ease Rules On CBD Products
It was Hempy Pet CBD Soft Chews, Mile High Labs and Women Grow, among countless others, squaring off against the likes of the Marijuana Victims Alliance, concerned primary care doctors and a lawyer who admitted he couldn’t wait to sue — all jammed into an overflowing auditorium for hours Friday on the Food and Drug Administration campus. F.D.A. hearings are usually tedious affairs. But this one — called to begin the process of figuring out which products in the burgeoning cannabis industry can be legally sold in the United States — was the hottest ticket in the capital. (Kaplan, 5/31)
The Associated Press:
US Holds CBD Hearing As Fans, Sellers Await Legal Clarity
No decisions are expected immediately, but the hearing is seen as an important step toward clarifying regulations around the ingredient." There is mass confusion in the marketplace," said Peter Matz of the Food Marketing Institute, one of dozens of speakers who addressed the FDA panel. (5/31)
The Washington Post:
Many Unanswered Questions, Concerns About CBD Products, Says FDA Acting Chief At First Public Hearing
Even though FDA’s regulations make adding CBD to food and supplements illegal, the CBD industry has exploded in recent years with thousands of unproven products flooding the market. Companies have trumpeted the compound’s alleged health benefits — claiming it can reduce anxiety, pain and insomnia and treat conditions from Parkinson’s disease to cancer. But almost all such claims lack rigorous scientific proof, prompting concern among health officials and scientists about safety and deceptive marketing. (Wan, 5/31)
Politico:
States Seeking Clarity In Booming Hemp Oil Market
Confusion about the status of CBD dates back to December, when Congress’s farm bill threw a curve ball at regulators and state officials. It legalized hemp production nationwide, and with it the plant’s most profitable byproduct, the non-intoxicating drug cannibidiol, or CBD. The chemical also is found in marijuana, which is still banned under federal law, though plentiful in 33 states that have legalized it for either medical or recreational use. (Owermohle and Rayasam, 5/31)
The New York Times:
A Pioneering Treatment For Uncontrollable Hunger
When a child is born with a rare disorder that few doctors recognize or know how to manage, it can pay big dividends for parents to be proactive, learn everything they can about the condition, and with expert medical guidance, come up with the best way to treat it. That is the approach Lara C. Pullen of Chicago adopted when her son, Kian Tan, was born 15 years ago last month at 7½ pounds, seemingly well-formed and healthy. But within 24 hours, Dr. Pullen, who already had two daughters, said Kian had stopped moving, wouldn’t nurse and felt as floppy as a rag doll. (Brody, 6/3)
The New York Times:
Blueberries May Promote Heart Health
Blueberries may be good for the heart. Researchers conducted a randomized, double-blinded trial with 115 overweight and obese adults aged 50 to 75 who were at high risk for cardiovascular disease. One third of the group ate a cup of freeze-dried blueberries a day, another third a half-cup, and the final third a similar-looking placebo. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, lasted six months. (Bakalar, 6/3)
The New York Times:
When Social Media Is Really Problematic For Adolescents
There has been a lot of worry about adolescents and social media over the past couple of weeks, with new studies and reports raising questions about mental health and vulnerability, sleep and suicide. I recently wrote about the question of whether the word “addiction” is helpful in understanding our worries about adolescents and their relationships to the devices that connect them to their friends and their world. In mid-May, a report in JAMA looked at suicide rates among those aged 10 to 19 over the period from 1975 to 2016; boys have traditionally had higher suicide rates, but the gap has narrowed as rates rose among adolescent girls, with the largest percentage increases among girls aged 10 to 14. (Klass, 6/3)
The New York Times:
‘Screen Time’ Is Over
The debate over screen time is typically accompanied by a good deal of finger-wagging: The digital experience is a ruinous habit, akin to binge-eating curly fries, gambling on cock fights or drinking whiskey with breakfast. Meanwhile, social scientists who are trying to study the actual psychological effects of screen time are left in a bind. For one thing, good luck finding a “control group” of people living the nondigital life or anything close to it. (Carey, 5/31)
The New York Times:
On YouTube’s Digital Playground, An Open Gate For Pedophiles
Christiane C. didn’t think anything of it when her 10-year-old daughter and a friend uploaded a video of themselves playing in a backyard pool. “The video is innocent, it’s not a big deal,” said Christiane, who lives in a Rio de Janeiro suburb. A few days later, her daughter shared exciting news: The video had thousands of views. Before long, it had ticked up to 400,000 — a staggering number for a video of a child in a two-piece bathing suit with her friend. (Fisher and Taub, 6/3)
The Washington Post:
Why Are So Many Doctors Burning Out? Tons Of Real And Electronic Paperwork.
Last year, a friend took her dream oncology job in a big academic medical center on the East Coast. After a decade of medical school, residency and specialized fellowship training, she was treating and conducting high-level research on rare and complex adrenal cancers. She was living in her perfect city and loved her patients and the other physicians in the department. But when I called recently, she told me she was quitting in two weeks. She’d decided to start over in a different practice halfway across the country. (Marchalik, 6/1)
The New York Times:
Why Gulping Down A Cold Drink Feels So Rewarding
After a long hike on a hot day, few things are more rewarding than a tall, frosty glass of water. The rush of pleasure that comes with a drink might feel like a sign from your body that you’ve done the right thing, a reward for remedying your dehydration. But that pleasing sensation isn’t actually linked to your real need for a drink. In a study published Wednesday in the journal Neuron, a group of scientists who have studied how thirst works in the bodies of mammals report that the neural systems related to the feeling of reward work independently of those involved in monitoring water intake. (Greenwood, 5/31)
The Washington Post:
Nontoxic Methods To Protect Yourself Against Mosquitoes And Ticks
Mosquitoes and ticks can spoil a beautiful day and make people sick. Beyond buzzing, biting, sucking and stinging, they can carry serious diseases. Tiny blacklegged ticks carry Lyme disease. Nighttime biting Culex mosquitoes can transmit West Nile virus and Japanese encephalitis. And the aggressive Aedes mosquitoes — happy to bite any time — can cause Zika, dengue fever and chikungunya. And that’s just a sampling of the troubles they bring. (Sass, 6/2)
The Washington Post:
Appendicitis Cure Took Years In My Case
The pain first hit when I was a teenager: an unrelenting grinding in my lower abdomen, as if my internal gears were gummed up. A fleeting thought crossed my mind — could it be my appendix? — but I dismissed it, since I felt fine the next day. Throughout my young adulthood, the grinding pain recurred every few weeks or so. When it hit, I’d clench my jaw and curl up in the fetal position, but within a few hours, the attack would pass. I wasn’t concerned enough to have a doctor check me out since things receded quickly. (Svoboda, 6/1)
The New York Times:
In China, Public Talk Of Sex Is Rare. Could A ‘Pleasure Community’ Change That?
In a room with soft lighting, decorated with fuzzy blankets and turquoise balloons, a group of 30 or so strangers gathered on a recent afternoon in Beijing to discuss a subject that is largely taboo in China: how to satisfy a woman sexually. Such a workshop would hardly be out of place in New York or San Francisco. But in China, public discussion of sex is mostly nonexistent. Sex education is typically glossed over in Chinese classrooms and usually limited to one or two “physical hygiene in puberty” lessons in biology class. Parents often avoid discussing the subject with their children altogether. (Qin, 6/2)
The New York Times:
North Carolina To Investigate After Concerns Raised At Children’s Hospital
North Carolina’s secretary of health on Friday called for an investigation into a hospital where doctors had suspected children with complex heart conditions had been dying at higher than expected rates after undergoing heart surgery. Dr. Mandy Cohen, the secretary, said in a statement that a team from the state’s division of health service regulation would work with federal regulators to conduct a “thorough investigation” into events that occurred in 2016 and 2017 at North Carolina Children’s Hospital, part of the University of North Carolina medical center in Chapel Hill. (Gabler, 5/31)
Politico:
Rebuilding Paradise: Finding Health Care After Total Destruction
This Northern California town, decimated by wildfires, is trying to rebuild a health care system in a place that no longer exists for a future that’s impossible to predict. Paradise is little more than a large charred debris removal site — and it lost its hospital, several clinics, its nursing homes, its doctors in the fire last year. Without health care, Paradise, a remote town 90 miles from Sacramento nestled into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, has no chance of coming back. (Colliver, 6/2)
The Associated Press:
Michigan Doctor Faces Trial Over Misdiagnosing Epilepsy
Mariah Martinez was 9 years old when she got bad news about her chronic headaches: A doctor said she had epilepsy. Over the next four years, the suburban Detroit girl took anti-seizure medicine that made her feel sluggish and was occasionally hooked to a machine that recorded her brain waves. She was told to avoid activities that would rouse her heart, making her the target of teasing by other kids at school. (6/2)
The Associated Press:
7 Patients At New Ohio Hospital Diagnosed With Legionnaires'
Ohio’s health authority on Friday ordered a newly opened hospital outside Columbus to immediately flush and disinfect its water lines and take other steps to protect the public’s health after seven patients were diagnosed with potentially fatal Legionnaires’ disease. The Ohio Department of Health said in a statement that the first Mount Carmel Grove City patient diagnosed with Legionnaires’, a severe form of pneumonia, was admitted to the 200-bed hospital April 29, the day after it opened. The statement described state Health Director Amy Acton’s adjudication order as a rare event. (6/1)