Latest California Healthline Stories
Los Angeles Times Profiles King/Drew Patient, Examines Potential Impact of Trauma Center Closure
The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday profiled the case of Leroy Eppright, a 19-year-old Los Angeles resident treated for a gunshot wound at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center.
Pfizer To Add ‘Black Box’ Warning to Bextra Label for Potential Skin Reaction
Pfizer officials on Friday announced that the company likely will add a “black box” warning to the label of its COX-2 inhibitor Bextra, after a few patients taking the drug — which is similar to Merck’s recently withdrawn Vioxx — experienced a serious skin reaction, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports.
Children’s hospitals across the state are planning expansions and improvements after the passage on Nov. 2 of a ballot measure that expands their funding, as critics continue to contend that the measure is “a clever attempt to get the state to help underwrite their existing expansion plans,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Securities and Exchange Commission Accounting Rule Leads to Shortage of Childhood Vaccines
A Securities and Exchange Commission accounting regulation has caused three of the four manufacturers of children’s vaccines for the national stockpile to exit the Vaccines for Children Program, leaving the “cushion against shortages or emergencies … seriously understocked,” USA Today reports.
Medicare Advisory Committee Appears To Support Coverage for Bariatric Surgeries
Members of a Medicare advisory committee that met last week to consider whether CMS should approve coverage for bariatric surgeries agreed that “there’s good scientific data showing” the procedures can provide “important health benefits,” USA Today reports.
Los Angeles Times Examines Small ‘Cadre’ of ‘Pot Docs’
The Los Angeles Times on Saturday looked at “a tight-knit cadre of about 15 California physicians” who “blithely claim credit for nearly half” of the estimated 100,000 marijuana recommendations that have been issued since the state in 1996 legalized the drug for medicinal purposes.
Garamendi To Make ‘Major Announcement’ on Anthem/WellPoint Merger
Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi (D) has said he will make a “major announcement” at a press conference Tuesday on a proposed merger between California-based WellPoint Health Networks and Indiana-based Anthem, the Sacramento Bee reports.
White Bay Area Women Have Some of the Highest Breast Cancer Rates in the Worldwide
Although researchers for years have reported that women in Marin County have the highest rate of breast cancer in the Bay Area, data released by the Northern California Cancer Center, a regional registry and research institution, indicates that women in San Francisco County have breast cancer rates similar to Marin County, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley (R) on Friday told the county Board of Supervisors in a letter that they violated the law when they decided in private meetings to close the trauma center at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Santa Barbara County Supervisors Vote To Increase Traffic Fines To Fund Medical Services
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to increase fines, penalties and other charges related to traffic violations to offset the cost of unpaid hospital and emergency department bills, the Associated Press reports.