The Associated Press: US, ACLU Divide On How To Reunify Separated Families
The Trump administration and the American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday revealed widely divergent plans on how to reunite hundreds of immigrant children with parents who have been deported since the families were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. President Donald Trump’s administration puts the onus on the ACLU, asking that the organization use its “considerable resources” to find parents in their home countries, predominantly Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. The U.S. Justice Department said in a court filing that the State Department has begun talks with foreign governments on how the administration may be able to aid the effort. (Spagat, 8/3)

Politico: Trump Administration Tells ACLU To Find Deported Parents
“Plaintiffs’ counsel should use their considerable resources and their network of law firms, NGOs, volunteers, and others, together with the information that defendants have provided (or will soon provide), to establish contact with possible class members in foreign countries,” DOJ said. The administration suggested that the ACLU find out whether the deported parents wish to be reconnected with their children, or whether they waive that option. (Hesson, 8/2)

San Diego Union-Times: U.S. Government Wants ACLU To Find Missing Immigrant Parents
The ACLU pushed back in its part of the filing, asking the judge in the class-action lawsuit to order the government to keep working on its own to locate parents and to provide more information to the civil rights organization so that it can assist in the reunification. “The government must bear the ultimate burden of finding the parents,” the ACLU wrote in the filing. “Not only was it the government’s unconstitutional separation practice that led to this crisis, but the United States government has far more resources than any group of NGOs,” or nongovernmental organizations. (Morrissey, 8/2)

KQED: In 'Remarkable' Court Filing, Government 'Washing Their Hands' Of Reuniting Deported Parents With Their Children
The Trump administration suggested in a federal court filing Thursday that the American Civil Liberties Union and other private organizations should take responsibility for reuniting more than 400 migrant children separated from parents deported under the government's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy. The latest status report in the San Diego-based federal case that compelled the government to reunite separated families says the parents of 410 children are outside the United States -- meaning they had been deported without their children, according to statements from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official last week. (Sepulvado, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Says Woman Had C-Section Without Anesthesia
A woman suing a Southern California hospital says she underwent a cesarean section without anesthesia. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune , the lawsuit filed last month claims an anesthesiologist didn’t immediately answer pages at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside last November, so the emergency operation was performed without him. (8/2)

San Diego Union-Times: Mom-To-Be Was Given C-Section Without Anesthesia, According To Lawsuit
Paul Iheanachor said he was in the hallway outside the operating room where hospital staff had taken his fiancee, Delfina Mota, when he knew something was wrong. “I heard the screams, the horrific screams,” 35-year-old Iheanachor said Thursday. “That’s when I realized they were cutting her without anesthesia.” Details of what the Oceanside couple said happened during the Nov. 16 birth are included in a lawsuit they filed last month naming Tri-City Medical Center, the surgeon and the anesthesiologist. (Figueroa, 8/2)

In other news —

Capital Public Radio/KXJZ: With C-Section Rates At A High, Patient Advocates Want Pregnant Women To Speak Up 
Caesarean sections have been on the rise over the last two decades, but the health care industry is working to reverse the trend. Stephanie Teleki, director of learning and impact for the California Health Care Foundation, is working with the state and several maternal health groups to help women avoid unnecessary c-sections. (Caiola, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: Driven From An Anaheim Tent City, A Couple Struggles With Addiction And The Realities Of Orange County’s Homeless
Laura Kasten stood outside her mother’s house in Fullerton, a backpack pulling on her hunched shoulders. She fidgeted. The 51-year-old and her mom, Jan Rockwell, hadn’t spoken since arguing just before Christmas. Laura braced herself. “I’ve got your mail right on the table,” Rockwell, 79, said as they squeezed onto a faded living room couch. “I’d like to hug you if I can hold my nose.” (Do, 8/2)

KPBS: Easing Unhealthy Homeless People Off Streets Of San Diego Can Be A Daunting Process 
The county’s Health and Human Services Agency contracted with PATH and Exodus Recovery to run the three-year pilot program, targeting people identified as being chronically homeless and suffering from a severe mental illness, substance abuse disorder or physical illness. It is funded by a $22 million federal grant, which the county is matching. (Murphy, 8/3)

Sacramento Bee: New Breed Of Cardiologist Is Tackling Surge Of Heart Failure Cases In Sacramento 
A graduate of the Sacramento Waldorf School in Fair Oaks, Janmohamed trained in cardiovascular medicine at the Fresno campus of UC San Francisco, before going to the university’s San Francisco hospital for a fellowship in advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology. There are only 71 such programs training cardiologists in this sub-specialty, compared with 210 cardiology programs.The subspecialty has grown over the last decade, Janmohamed said, as an aging U.S. population has seen an increasing number of people with failing hearts. (Anderson, 8/3)

Sacramento Bee: Hs-CTnT Test Used By UC Davis Diagnoses Heart Attacks Faster
UC Davis Health is now able to diagnose heart attacks faster thanks to the use of a blood test only recently approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration last year. In June, the hospital became one of only two institutions in the state to use the new test, referred to as an hs-cTnT test (an abbreviation of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin subtype T). (Holzer, 8/2)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Rescue Mission Offers Emergency Shelter To Human Trafficking Survivors
A new program to support female survivors of human trafficking in Orange County has become the a first-of-its-kind emergency shelter. Strong Beginnings, opened this summer by the Orange County Rescue Mission, offers four emergency shelter beds as well as services specifically tailored for survivors of human trafficking, such as healthcare, case management and education assistance. (Kandil, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: California Vows To Fight Trump EPA's Move To Freeze Fuel Economy Rules
The Trump administration Thursday pushed ahead with plans to unravel the federal government’s most effective action to fight climate change — aggressive fuel economy standards aimed at getting the nation’s cars and trucks to average more than 50 miles per gallon by 2025. After months of discussion and drafts, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration formally unveiled their plan to rewrite those rules and replace them with ones so lax that even automakers are wary. (Halper, Barboza and Lauter, 8/2)

Sacramento Bee: Lawsuit Says Roseville Nursing Home Understaffed To Increase Profits 
A recently filed lawsuit alleges Roseville Point Health & Wellness Center knowingly understaffed to save money. This case is among 15 class action lawsuits alleging purposeful understaffing at 15 nursing homes around California filed by elder abuse law firm Garcia, Artigliere & Medby and The Arns Law Firm, which represents workers and their families. (Holzer, 8/3)

In other news from across the state —

Fresno Bee: Tulare Hospital Board Approves Lease To Adventist Health 
The Tulare hospital board has given its approval to lease the institution to Adventist Health, paving the way for the hospital to reopen possibly before the end of the year. ...The district hopes to get the 112-bed hospital into shape by October to win approval to reopen from the California Department of Public Health. (Anderson, 8/2)

Capital Public Radio: California’s New Data Privacy Law Came To Be In About A Week. Here’s What You Need To Know. 
In June, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a landmark new data privacy law called the California Consumer Privacy Act. It’s the first law in the United States that comprehensively regulates data privacy — applying broadly to information collected by both online and brick-and-mortar businesses. (Gardner, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Dems Will Try Forcing Senate Vote Against Trump Health Plan
Democrats will try forcing a campaign-season vote on blocking a Trump administration rule letting insurers sell short-term plans that are cheaper but skimpier than allowed under the Obama health care law, party leaders said Thursday. Though the effort has a chance of passing the narrowly divided Senate, it is certain to die in the Republican-controlled House and would never be signed by President Donald Trump. (8/2)

The Hill: Senate Dems To Force Vote To Block Non-ObamaCare Insurance Plans
The resolution of disapproval will be introduced by Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.). During a call with reporters Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he thinks there will be unanimous support among Democrats once the resolution is introduced. The measure will only require 51 votes to pass, which would mean that in Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) absence the backers need to recruit one Republican to their cause. “All it takes is one or two Republicans who claim to support preexisting condition protections,” Schumer said. (Weixel, 8/2)

In other health law news —

Reuters: Four U.S. Cities Sue Over Trump 'Sabotage' Of Obamacare
Four major U.S. cities filed a lawsuit on Thursday contending that President Donald Trump's administration is unconstitutionally seeking to undermine Obamacare by failing to faithfully execute the healthcare law. The complaint in federal court in Baltimore, filed by the cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio, alleged that the Republican president is "waging a relentless campaign to sabotage and, ultimately, to nullify the law." (Raymond, 8/2)

The Associated Press: HHS Names Family Planning Grantees Amid Battle Over Program
The Department of Health and Human Services says 96 organizations will get funding under the federal family planning program this year. Twelve will be new. They include community health centers, state agencies and Planned Parenthood affiliates. (8/2)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood Hangs Onto Federal Grants Despite GOP Objections 
The Trump administration will continue funding Planned Parenthood through a national family planning program, despite arguments from Republicans that it should be excluded from the grants. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Thursday the 96 organizations across the U.S. that would receive Title X family planning grants, including 13 Planned Parenthood affiliates. (Hellmann, 8/2)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: F.D.A. Did Not Intervene To Curb Risky Fentanyl Prescriptions
A fast-acting class of fentanyl drugs approved only for cancer patients with high opioid tolerance has been prescribed frequently to patients with back pain and migraines, putting them at high risk of accidental overdose and death, according to documents collected by the Food and Drug Administration. The F.D.A. established a distribution oversight program in 2011 to curb inappropriate use of the dangerous medications, but entrusted enforcement to a group of pharmaceutical companies that make and sell the drugs. (Baumgaertner, 8/2)

Politico: How Drug Companies Are Beating Trump At His Own Game
A July tweet from President Donald Trump sent panic through the C-suites of some of the world’s biggest drug companies, prompting Pfizer and nine other companies to roll back or freeze prices. But there’s less to those announcements than meets the eye. The gestures turned out to be largely symbolic — efforts to beat Trump at his own game by giving him headlines he wants without making substantive changes in how they do business. The token concessions are “a calculated risk,” said one drug lobbyist. “Take these nothing-burger steps and give the administration things they can take credit for.” (Karlin-Smith, Owermohle and Restuccia, 8/3)

The Associated Press: With Scant Record, Supreme Court Nominee Elusive On Abortion
Twice in the past year, Brett Kavanaugh offered glimpses of his position on abortion that strongly suggest he would vote to support restrictions if confirmed to the Supreme Court. One was in a dissent in the case of a 17-year-old migrant seeking to terminate her pregnancy. The other was a speech before a conservative group in which he spoke admiringly of Justice William Rehnquist's dissent in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that established a woman's right to abortion. (8/3)

Sacramento Bee: How To Improve California’s Mental Health Services Act
In coming weeks, the Legislature will have the opportunity to pass a measure that would change the lives of thousands of Californians at risk of serious mental illness, increase access to quality mental health treatment, and ultimately turn the tide in our homelessness crisis. But it means being more strategic and accountable in how we deliver mental health services in California. (Darrell Steinberg and Scott Wiener, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: American Women Are Having Too Many Caesareans, At Too Much Risk
In 1976, a young, first-time mother entered the hospital in spontaneous labor. She had not missed any prenatal visits, those visits had revealed no abnormalities, her pregnancy was full-term, and she carried one fetus positioned headfirst. In other words, hers was a prototypical low-risk pregnancy. She felt great. Then a physician ruptured her amniotic sac, hastening labor. “I went,” she told me years later, “from feeling nothing to being totally in excruciating pain.” A nurse attached her to what was then a relatively new device — an electronic fetal monitor. Physicians reviewed the monitor strip and told the mother she had to make a decision, and fast. “They said either that I would die, or my baby would die, or both of us would die, if I didn’t have a caesarean. They said her heart was in distress.” At about 10.5% of births, caesareans were far less common in the United States in 1976 than they are today, when almost one in three births is by caesarean section. (Jacqueline H. Wolf, 7/29)

The Mercury News: Visiting Migrant Children Reveals Extent Of Outrage
As leaders in legal advocacy for youth and immigrant children, my colleagues and I at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley recently joined fellow lawyers, interpreters, social workers and other volunteers in visiting federal detention centers across the country where migrant children are being detained. The primary purpose of our visits was to determine whether children being held by the U.S. government after crossing the border had access to the most basic provisions as outlined in the Flores Settlement Agreement, on which the Law Foundation serve as co-counsel. (Andrew Cain, 7/31)

Los Angeles Times: Are The Recent Spate Of Deaths At DCFS Coincidental, Or Part Of A Larger Pattern Of Failure?
The death of a child from suspected abuse or neglect is a horrific tragedy twice over — first, and most obviously, because of the death itself, sometimes following unimaginable physical and emotional torture inflicted by exactly those adults on whom children should be able to depend for love, support and protection. ... The human mind is quick to see patterns where sometimes there is just coincidence. Yet sometimes there really is a pattern, and while the deaths of Anthony and Damian (and the near-death of the girl whose name has not yet been released) must be investigated individually, the spate of incidents within a short period of time requires the county to search for any systemic connection. (7/27)

The Sacramento Bee: What Does It Cost To Have A Baby In The United States?
I’d written about health care for seven years. Worked on the business side of a clinic for two years. Was raised by a nurse. So I thought I had a pretty good understanding of health care in the U.S. Then I got pregnant. Navigating the system for nine months was a refresher course in how convoluted, secretive and occasionally magical American health care can be. (Audrey Dutton, 8/2)