Viewpoints: Response To Allegations Against USC’s Gynecologist Just Latest Fumble By University’s Leaders
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Why Are So Many Misconduct Complaints Falling On Deaf Ears At USC?
For the second time in less than a year, the University of Southern California is drawing scrutiny not just for the alleged misconduct of one of its doctors, but also for the way campus leaders handled the situation. Any organization the size of USC is bound to have problematic employees. The issue is how the organization responds: Is it bad luck? Bad supervision? Or a bad organizational culture? (5/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Vulnerable Young Women. A Gynecologist Accused Of Violating Them. Where Was USC?
You take off your clothes, and put on a thin cotton gown. You sit on a padded table covered with a crisp white piece of paper that crackles every time you move. Your bare feet dangle. You stare at the walls and wait. And wait. Then the doctor walks in. If the doctor is a man, he comes in with a female chaperone. The doctor tells you to lie back, put your legs in the metal stirrups on either side of the table and scoot down. Toward him. (Robin Abcarian, 5/17)
Los Angeles Times:
California's Historic And Successful Right-To-Die Law Is Itself On Life-Support
California's right-to-die law is nothing less than historic, certainly one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in the last several years. More than 100 people have used it to take their own lives since it was approved in 2015. Families have said repeatedly that the law has brought comfort to their relatives who took advantage of it, in many cases by offering an alternative to pain and suffering. Furthermore, it has wide backing. ... But this important, compassionate and, by all measures, successful law was overturned Monday by a judge in Riverside County. (5/16)
San Jose Mercury News:
Cost Panel Would Cripple Californians' Health Care
At a time when California is leading the nation by expanding health care coverage, our state’s elected leaders must work to help, not hurt, the progress we’ve made over the last decade. That’s why legislators should reject Assembly Bill 3087, which would lead to drastic cuts in health care services, eliminate thousands of health care jobs and harm patient access to care throughout the state. (Cal Knight, 5/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Now Is Not The Time To Expand Medi-Cal To Undocumented Adults
Advocates of a single-payer healthcare system in California have struggled to come up with a realistic and feasible way to pay for it, so this year they're pushing for more incremental steps toward universal health insurance coverage. The most far-reaching of these would be to expand Medi-Cal, the joint federal and state insurance program for poor and disabled Californians, to cover low-income residents who are living in the country illegally. Now is not the time to take that step, however. (5/16)
Sacramento Bee:
What California Should Do About Record STD Rates
This week, the California Department of Public Health released a new report showing STD rates have hit an all-time high in California, with 300,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and early syphilis reported – a 45 percent increase compared to five years ago. ...With this year’s budget showing a projected surplus, it’s time for the governor and our elected lawmakers to make STD funding a priority in this year’s state budget, and provide the leadership and resources needed to get the job done. (Julie Rabinovitz, 5/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Mandatory Armed Guards In California's K-12 Schools? No Thank You
According to David Ropeik, a Harvard scholar who studies risk, the chance of a child being shot and killed in school is far lower than the chance that he or she will have an accident on the way to or from school, catch a potentially fatal disease while in school, or suffer a potentially deadly injury playing sports at school. Of course that doesn't mean that school shootings shouldn't worry us, or that we shouldn't take serious steps to prevent them. But it does suggest that, despite the attention and news coverage they get, these events are relatively infrequent and not imminent at any given school — and that we should be tactical and thoughtful about the best way to prevent them. That's not the case with Assembly Bill 2067, which would mandate that an armed security officer be posted at every publicly funded school in California, including elementary schools and charter schools. The state would pick up the tab, estimated at $1 billion per year, according to the office of the bill's author, Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). (5/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Where Do Prescription Drugs Come From? Good Luck Answering That Question
Frances Richmond, chairwoman of the Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences at USC's School of Pharmacy, told me that because all facets of the supply chain must meet strict FDA safety standards, it shouldn't matter to consumers where drugs or their ingredients originate. But she acknowledged that some drug companies probably don't want people knowing that 80% of active ingredients — yes, 80% — come from China and India. (David Lazarus, 5/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Trump’s Drug Plan Shows He Isn’t Willing To Take On Big Pharma
Donald Trump promised to rein in drug prices. It was his only sensible campaign promise. But the plan he announced Friday does little but add another battering ram to his ongoing economic war against America’s allies. (Robert Reich, 5/15)
Sacramento Bee:
Farm Bill Will Take Food From Hungry
Farmers in the Central Valley have been waiting for a federal farm bill that makes the investments that will ensure California’s agricultural industry continues to lead the nation, and the world. Unfortunately, the proposed bill moving through the U.S. House leaves behind the people who harvest, sort, sell, prepare and serve the Valley’s agricultural bounty. It would make it more difficult for millions of Californians, including working parents and many low-wage workers, to put food on the table by cutting their assistance through CalFresh. (Jared Call, 5/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Undermining An Effective Birth Control Funding Program To Promote Abstinence Is The Height Of Stupidity
For nearly half a century, the Title X Family Planning Program has been a crucial source of federal dollars for family planning and related healthcare services for low-income Americans. ... But the biggest provider of Title X services is also the GOP's current favorite healthcare punching bag: Planned Parenthood, which operates 13% of the clinics funded under the program and cares for about 40% of the patients. And now the Trump administration is steering the program itself in the wrong direction. (5/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Why California Leaves Its Homeless Out In The Sun
When most people think about the city of Anaheim, Disneyland or the Angels baseball team probably comes to mind. But until recently it was also home to one of California’s fastest-growing housing developments: a homeless encampment. ... Rising vagrancy in Southern California is creating a Catch-22: People don’t want the homeless living on their streets, but they don’t want homeless shelters in their neighborhoods either. (Allysia Finley, 5/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Koreatown Needs A Homeless Shelter. It Also Needs City Officials To Learn From The Mistakes Of The Past
As executive director of the Korean American Coalition, I often find myself in this somewhat fraught position — a bridge between the limited-English-speaking Korean immigrant community and the service providers who have the resources to help them. ...Our goal was to develop a process to count the invisible ethnic Korean homeless population, identify the causes of its spread and brainstorm possible solutions to the growing issue. (Joon Bang, 5/18)
Los Angeles Times:
How Jack Nicklaus And Dr. Sanjay Gupta Hyped An Unproven Stem Cell Treatment — And Why This Could Harm You
Just last week, the Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration filed lawsuits to shut down clinics in California and Florida that have been purveying unlicensed and unproven treatments to thousands of patients. The target clinics have histories of causing harm to their customers, according to the lawsuits. That, Knoepfler observes, "illustrates just how much it is a jungle out there for consumers interested in stem cells." (Michael Hiltzik, 5/14)