- Public Health and Education 2
- Stanford School of Medicine Partners With Chan Zuckerberg Initiative To Fight Alzheimer's
- When It Comes To Drug-Related Deaths In San Diego, Ones Like Xanax Are Right Behind Opioids
- Around California 1
- Disabled Youth Discriminated Against In Kern County's Correctional Facilities, Lawsuit Alleges
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Ding Dong! The Obamacare Tax Penalty Is(n’t) Dead
When President Donald Trump signed the nation’s new tax law, he also killed the Affordable Care Act’s tax penalty — but not until 2019. Despite widespread confusion, experts caution that consumers still need to pay the tax penalty if they were uninsured last year or will be this year. (Emily Bazar, )
More News From Across The State
California AG To Assign Team Of Lawyers To Focus On Fighting Pollution
“The harsh reality is that some communities in California — particularly low-income communities and communities of color — continue to bear the brunt of pollution from industrial development, poor land-use decisions, transportation, and trade corridors,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
San Francisco Chronicle:
California AG Launches Environmental Justice Unit Focused On Poorer Communities
Frustrated by declining federal regulation of the environment and health disparities between poorer and wealthier communities, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday appointed a team of lawyers to fight pollution. The four attorneys assigned to the new Bureau of Environmental Justice will focus on low-income Californians and people of color who suffer a “disproportionate share of environmental pollution and public health hazards,” according to Becerra’s office. (Fimrite, 2/22)
Stanford School of Medicine Partners With Chan Zuckerberg Initiative To Fight Alzheimer's
The initiative, which is the charity project the couple launched with the birth of their daughter, will fund five-year and three-year grants to scientists studying neurodegenerative diseases.
The Mercury News:
Zuckerberg Plans Stanford Award To Fight Alzheimer's Disease
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be funding five-year and three-year grants to scientists, including one that will support early-career investigators willing to pursue bold, innovative ideas to fight the diseases, Stanford Medicine announced Tuesday. (Lee, 2/22)
In other public health news —
Sacramento Bee:
New Eyeglasses With Tiny Fitness Tracker Make Debut
Rancho Cordova-based VSP Global embedded a tiny new fitness tracker into the temple of a new line of eyeglasses known as Level smart glasses, and the company is launching sales in the Sacramento region. The devices keep track of information such as the number of steps taken, calories burned, distance traveled, and it transmits all the data via Bluetooth technology to a mobile app on smartphones. (Anderson, 2/22)
When It Comes To Drug-Related Deaths In San Diego, Ones Like Xanax Are Right Behind Opioids
And the San Diego County medical examiner found that 83 percent of the people who suffered a benzodiazepine-related death in 2016 also had an opioid in their system.
KPBS:
Deaths Linked To Anti-Anxiety Drugs Rise, But Fly Under The Radar
Nationwide between 2002 and 2015, according to the National Institute On Drug Abuse, the number of deaths involving benzodiazepines more than quadrupled. Nathan Painter, associate professor at UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy, said these drugs can be risky. And when taken in combination with opioid painkillers, deadly. (Goldberg, 2/23)
In other news related to the opioid crisis —
Sacramento Bee:
Granite Bay Doctor Sent To Prison For Prescribing Vast Amounts Of Opioids To Patients Who Didn't Need Them
On Thursday, the final blow came as Capos, 67, was sentenced to 52 months in federal prison for what U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. called an "amazing" contribution to the nation's opioid crisis. ...The plea agreement Capos signed says he agrees that he prescribed opioid drugs to the undercover agent "without clinical indication," then later prescribed stronger pills at the patient's request. (Stanton, 2/22)
The Associated Press:
Drugs Likely In Deaths Of 3 Found On San Francisco Street
Public health authorities are warning against the dangers of buying drugs potentially laced with fentanyl after three men were found dead near a school in San Francisco's historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood. It's unlikely the medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death Thursday, but the department wanted to alert health care officials and drug users, said Rachael Kagan, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Public Health. (2/22)
Disabled Youth Discriminated Against In Kern County's Correctional Facilities, Lawsuit Alleges
Advocates allege that the youth were not provided with adequate mental health treatment or special education services.
The Bakersfield Californian:
Lawsuit, Report Allege Kern County's Mistreatment Of Disabled Youth
A lawsuit was filed against Kern County on Wednesday by two disability rights groups claiming that youth in the county’s correctional facilities were discriminated against. Disability Rights California and Disability Rights Advocates assert that youths with mental and behavioral disabilities in Juvenile Hall and other county facilities were subjected to restraints, solitary confinement of up to 23 hours a day and pepper spray for non-violent acts more than other youths in 2017. (Luiz, 2/22)
In other news from across the state —
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Santa Rosa Forum Discusses Emotional, Psychological Impact Of Fires
More than five months after the North Bay wildfires, those most affected by the disaster continue to struggle with stress, anxiety and depression with many overburdened by the task of rebuilding their homes and dealing with the devastating loss of community. The ongoing emotional and psychological plight of local residents who lost friends, loved ones, pets, homes and businesses was at the heart of a mental health forum held at the Glaser Center in Santa Rosa Thursday night. (Espinoza, 2/22)
The Cannifornian:
Booming California Cannabis Delivery Businesses Running Afoul Of Law
Nearly two months after California legalized cannabis sales, the black market for marijuana continues to flourish as communities and law enforcement struggle to crack down on door-to-door couriers delivering cheaper, unregulated weed. Only 25 percent of the cannabis consumed in the state is purchased from government-approved brick-and-mortar retailers, according to a report released this week by the Cannabis Growers Association. (Krieger, 2/22)
“Most of these shooters are angry, antisocial individuals you cannot spot in advance, and even if you could, you don’t have the right to institutionalize them.” said Dr. Michael Stone, a forensic psychiatrist at Columbia University. Meanwhile, mental health experts are disturbed by the derisive language President Donald Trump has been using. Media outlets also take a look at the gun research and laws that might come from the shooting.
The New York Times:
Opening Mental Hospitals Unlikely To Prevent Mass Shootings, Experts Say
President Trump called again on Thursday for the opening of more mental hospitals to help prevent mass murders like the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Yet ramping up institutional care, experts say, likely would not have prevented most of the spree killings regularly making headlines in this country. “We’re going to be talking about mental institutions. And when you have some person like this, you can bring them into a mental institution, and they can see what they can do. But we’ve got to get them out of our communities,” the president said during a meeting at the White House with state and local officials. (Carey, 2/22)
CNN:
Trump's Language On School Shooter's Mental Health Could Be Harmful, Experts Say
In a tweet Thursday, President Donald Trump described someone who would shoot up a school as a "savage sicko." At CNN's town hall on the Parkland, Florida, school shootings on Wednesday, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch described the gunman as "an insane monster" who is "nuts" and crazy." And at a White House briefing Thursday, the President again used the term "sicko." The shooter, Nikolas Cruz, struggled with depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism, according to a 2016 Florida Department of Children and Families report. But having a mental health diagnosis does not mean he would become violent, many experts say. And although Trump has said he wants to focus on mental health to stop school shootings, calling Cruz a "sicko" doesn't help, those experts claim. (Christensen, 2/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump’s Stance On Guns Puts Pressure On Congress
President Donald Trump’s calls for changes to gun laws in the wake of last week’s Florida school shooting push Congress toward a new politically fraught debate just months before the midterm elections. For more than a decade, and after multiple attacks on students, lawmakers have shied from making any significant changes to gun legislation in part because of the influence of the National Rifle Association. (Bykowicz, Peterson and Nicholas, 2/22)
The New York Times:
States Mull ‘Red Flag’ Gun Seizures From People Deemed Dangerous
In the last two months, law enforcement authorities in California took a gun away from a 38-year-old man who had threatened to kill himself, his wife and their young child if she left him. They removed three weapons from a 23-year-old ex-Marine who, the authorities said, had developed a paranoia that all males wanted to harm him. And they took a handgun from a 39-year-old man whose terrified neighbors reported that he was firing his weapon in the backyard; the man, who said he thought he was aiming for raccoons and rats, was found to be intoxicated, the police said. (Johnson, 2/23)
The New York Times:
Major Shootings Led To Tougher Gun Laws, But To What End?
Since last week’s deadly shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., a pitched national conversation about gun policy has dominated town hall meetings, a White House summit meeting, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference and the never-ending stream of social media feeds. Below is a brief review of several laws governing guns in the United States and how effective those policies have been in curbing violence. (Qiu and Bank, 2/23)
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Actually, There Is A Clear Link Between Mass Shootings And Mental Illness
"Repeat after me: Mass shooters are not disproportionately mentally ill." This is the opening line of a meme that's been circulating in the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Fla. But this and other efforts to downplay the role of mental illness in mass shootings are simply misleading. There is a clear relationship between mental illness and mass public shootings. At the broadest level, peer-reviewed research has shown that individuals with major mental disorders (those that substantially interfere with life activities) are more likely to commit violent acts, especially if they abuse drugs. (Grant Duwe and Michael Rocque, 2/23)
Sacramento Bee:
California's Gun Violence Restraining Orders Can Save Lives
Rather than wait until the man acted on his impulses, San Diego police turned the information over to San Diego City Attorney Mara W. Elliott, whose deputies used a relatively new California law to obtain a court-imposed gun violence restraining order requiring the man to turn over his gun last month. Legislation pending in roughly other 18 states would follow the lead of California, Washington and Oregon by authorizing gun violence restraining orders. (2/20)
The Mercury News:
Look Past Trump’s False Choices On Gun Controls
In the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school massacre, the nation should look past President Trump and the gun lobby’s false narrative of competing alternatives. Making the country safer doesn’t require keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally ill rather than banning assault weapons. It requires doing both, and recognizing the latter is a much bigger issue. It doesn’t mean restricting bump stocks, which convert semi-automatic weapons to function like machine guns, rather than raising the age to purchase weapons. It means both. (2/23)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Close To Home: Cuts In Mental Health Are A Chilling Setback For County
The county behavioral health team is responsible for taking care of the sickest psychiatric patients, along with patients in times of a psychiatric crisis. As a resident physician at Sutter Santa Rosa Medical Center, I am often forced to discharge a hospitalized patient suffering from severe mental illness directly to jail. I am unable to send such a patient to an inpatient psychiatric hospital for the higher level of care needed due to lack of such psychiatric facilities in Santa Rosa. In fact, the largest psychiatric facility in our county is now the Sonoma County jail, a facility that is not designed to provide comprehensive mental health treatment. Still, every year larger numbers of people with mental illness end up there. (Jacqueline Abdalla, 2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
The Trump Administration Wants To Cut Premiums For The Healthy At The Expense Of The Sick. Again
Despite the Trump administration's best efforts to undermine and bad-mouth Obamacare, it is not collapsing, as the president often claims. The state exchanges where insurers sell policies to Americans who don't get health benefits at work are stabilizing, and enrollment remained about the same last year even after administration actions drove up premiums, slashed marketing efforts and shortened the sign-up period. Yet the White House and congressional Republicans are undaunted, and their efforts to lay waste to Obamacare are continuing. They've taken a series of steps in recent months aimed at helping healthier people cut their spending on insurance. But in each case, their approach would rob Peter to save some bucks for Paul, shifting costs from the healthy onto those who need comprehensive health coverage. (2/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Yes, Obamacare Is Too Expensive For Some Buyers, But Trump's 'Fix' Would Make Things Even Worse
The Trump administration got one thing right in its proposal to loosen Affordable Care Act regulations so insurers could sell skimpier health plans that don't offer the full range of ACA-mandated benefits. It's true, as the White House says, that Obamacare plans can be too expensive for some buyers — those with household incomes exceeding 400% of the federal poverty level, or $48,560 for an individual and $100,400 for a family of four. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/21)
Los Angeles Times:
500-Pound Man's Doctor Says He'll Die Without Surgery. His Insurer Shrugs It Off
Norwalk resident Shawn Alvarado started packing on the pounds as a teenager, gradually becoming one of millions of Americans whose sedentary lifestyle made him a statistic in the country's obesity epidemic. By the age of 24, Alvarado weighed 300 pounds.By the age of 31, he weighed 400 pounds. Today he tips the scale at almost 500 pounds. (David Lazarus, 2/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Will Coffee In California Come With A Cancer Warning?
How do you like your cup of cancer in the morning? I take mine with fake sugar and skim milk. Lame, I know. But there's no accounting for taste in carcinogens. Or, in this case, coffee. You've probably seen the bemused headlines: "Coffee in California may soon come with a spoonful of cancer warnings." There's wacky California, doing its liberalism-through-regulation schtick again. (Alexander Nazaryan, 2/18)
San Jose Mercury News:
Make Farmers Do Their Part To Conserve Water
The State Water Resources Control Board should approve the permanent rules for urban users when it meets next month. The board should also impose a similar set of rules on farmers, including penalties for irrigating low-value crops in dry areas of the state. (2/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Facebook Needs To Kill Its New Chat App For Kids
The benefits of this product to Facebook are clear. Instilling brand loyalty in young users is a way to ensure that they continue to use the social network as teenagers and adults. ... What's also clear is how bad the app could be for children. A growing body of research shows that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens. Time spent on social media has been linked to adolescent depression and dissatisfaction with appearance, family and life in general. Teens who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are more likely to report being unhappy than kids who spend less time on social media, while kids who spend more time with friends in person are more likely to report being happy. For pre-teen girls in particular, time on social media is linked with idealizing thinness and discontent with their own bodies. (Susan Linn, 2/21)
Mercury News:
Investigate 3-Year-Old Foster Child’s Meth Overdose Fatality
A 3-year-old girl dies in foster care after overdosing on methamphetamine for the second time in 13 days. How could this happen? How did little Mariah Sultana Mustafa end up with meth in her system? How could she be returned to the same foster home after the first overdose? The painful story, detailed last weekend by Bay Area News Group reporters Matthias Gafni and David DeBolt, reveals a broken foster care system and officials who display no inclination to fix it. (2/13)
Sacramento Bee:
Is Sacramento Creating Its Own Cannabis District?
Indeed, according to the Power Inn Alliance business group, there are dozens of dispensaries and cultivation startups tucked between Power Inn Road to the west, Fruitridge Road to the north, Elder Creek Road to the south and Watt Avenue to the east. Of the 160 applications submitted to the city for permits, at least 80 are for this swath of south Sacramento, eying 2.5 million square feet of space. (Erika D. Smith, 2/20)