- California Healthline Original Stories 2
- For ‘Dreamers,’ The Dream To Become A Doctor Now ‘At The Mercy’ Of Courts
- Are There Risks From Secondhand Marijuana Smoke? Early Science Says Yes.
- Courts 1
- California Supreme Court Says Public Colleges Have Duty To Protect Students From Foreseeable Violence
- Around California 2
- Pilot Program To Address Homeless At Public Transit Stations Applauded By Officials
- Palo Alto Launches $1.55M Suicide Prevention Efforts With Installation Of Cameras At Caltrain Crossings
- Public Health and Education 1
- Alternative Pap Test Has 'Exciting' Results For Early Detection Of More Cancers
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
For ‘Dreamers,’ The Dream To Become A Doctor Now ‘At The Mercy’ Of Courts
In September, the Trump administration announced its plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, setting off an ongoing political and legal battle that could doom the dreams of immigrant doctors in training. (Ana B. Ibarra, )
Are There Risks From Secondhand Marijuana Smoke? Early Science Says Yes.
Scientists are finding that, just as with secondhand smoke from tobacco, inhaling secondhand smoke from marijuana can make it harder for arteries to expand to allow a healthy flow of blood. (Marissa Ortega-Welch, KALW, )
More News From Across The State
The unanimous decision, among the first of its kind in the nation, centered around a stabbing case at UCLA. The court noted that UCLA had marketed itself as "one of the safest campuses in the country" and developed "sophisticated strategies for identifying and defusing potential threats to student safety."
Los Angeles Times:
In Ruling For Victim In UCLA Attack, California Supreme Court Says Universities Should Protect Students
Katherine Rosen, a pre-med student in her junior year at UCLA, was in chemistry lab when she knelt to put something in her desk drawer. A classmate came up behind her and stabbed her in her neck and chest. She survived the life-threatening injuries, returned to school and sued UCLA for negligence, charging the campus was aware of her classmate's "dangerous propensities" and failed to warn and protect her. On Thursday, nearly nine years after the stabbing, the California Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling and decided Rosen's lawsuit could go forward. (Dolan, 3/22)
Pilot Program To Address Homeless At Public Transit Stations Applauded By Officials
But the costs involved in helping those who are homeless pose an economic threat to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the board says.
KPCC:
Metro Homeless Outreach Program Addresses Crisis On Transit System
Homeless encampments have proliferated around stations, while buses and trains are used as shelter. To address the issue, last year the Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched a pilot program to keep track of homeless people on and near the system and connect them with services. (McCarty Carino, 3/23)
Remote operators will be able to speak live to people spotted on or near the tracks, and new signs will be posted at each intersection letting people know that the area is under video surveillance.
The Mercury News:
New Cameras Being Installed At Caltrain Crossings In Palo Alto
Palo Alto announced this week began installing video systems at four Caltrain crossings to detect potentially suicidal people walking near train tracks and alert police. The cameras will provide live feeds to remote operators as part of a suicide prevention initiative that sprung from two clusters of teen suicides, in 2009 and 2015. The $1.55 million system includes four cameras installed on single poles at the Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive and Charleston Road crossings, and two cameras installed on separate poles at the Palo Alto Avenue crossing. The cameras have the ability to pan, tilt and zoom to view objects up to 1,000 feet away along the tracks, according to the city’s news release. (Kelly, 3/22)
In other news from across the state —
Orange County Register:
People With Marijuana On Their Record Can Clear It Up; Most Haven’t
Prop. 64 was the nation’s first legalization measure that eliminated all cannabis-related criminal penalties for people under 18, with jail time and fines swapped out for community service and drug education courses. The DPA estimates that up to one million people were eligible to have their crimes downgraded or cleared under Prop. 64. (Staggs, 3/23)
The Mercury News:
Saratoga’s Oldest Business Sold To Los Gatos Health Care Group
Saratoga’s longest running business, Our Lady of Fatima Villa, will change hands this summer for the first time in its 68-year history. Kalesta Health Care Group will be the new owner-operator of the senior center at 20400 Los Gatos-Saratoga Road which houses 85 seniors in its skilled nursing and physical therapy facilities and 84 seniors in its assisted living section. (Peterson, 3/22)
Alternative Pap Test Has 'Exciting' Results For Early Detection Of More Cancers
When using a longer brush that sweeps cells from the lining of the uterus, scientists positively identified endometrial cancer in 93 percent of cases and ovarian cancer in 45 percent of cases.
Los Angeles Times:
Modified Pap Tests Can Show Early Warning Signs Of Other Gynecological Cancers
The Pap test has already reduced the incidence of cervical cancer by more than 60%. Now it may become a key step in the early detection of two other gynecological malignancies — ovarian and endometrial cancers — that have been notorious killers because they're typically caught so late. A new study has found that by genetically analyzing the harvest of cells from a Pap smear, doctors could identify 81% of endometrial cancers and 33% of ovarian cancers.Some of those cancers were in their earliest stages, when they're more likely to respond to treatment. (Healy, 3/22)
In other public health news —
The Mercury News:
3 Secrets Of Staying Young As You Age
We all want to find the fountain of youth so some researchers suggest we look to a group of people who seemed to have mastered some of the secrets to staying youthful while aging. Apparently, the Amish, who are better known for eschewing electricity and going agrarian, are also famous for their youthfulness. Even back in 1900, when the average American could only expect to live until 47, the Amish already made it past 70. Now the rest of us have largely caught up in terms of life expectancy but the Amish still have the edge on quality of life late in the game because of their overall good health. They boast lower rates of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. (D'Souza, 3/22)
Congress Staves Off Third Government Shutdown Of Year With Late Night Vote On $1.3T Spending Deal
A measure to stabilize the health law marketplace was not included in the final deal, but medical research, addiction treatment and mental health care won big gains.
The Associated Press:
Congress OKs $1.3 Trillion Budget, Averting Another Shutdown
Congress gave final approval Friday to a giant $1.3 trillion spending bill that ends the budget battles for now, but only after late scuffles and conservatives objections to big outlays on Democratic priorities at a time when Republicans control the House, Senate and White House. Senate passage shortly after midnight averted a third federal shutdown this year, an outcome both parties wanted to avoid. But in crafting a sweeping deal that busts budget caps, they've stirred conservative opposition and set the contours for the next funding fight ahead of the midterm elections. (3/23)
The Washington Post:
In Late-Night Drama, Senate Passes $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill, Averting Government Shutdown
Action by the Senate shortly before 1 a.m. capped a day of suspense, including the late-night revelation that the legislation had been stalled for hours partly because Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) objected to the renaming of a federal wilderness area after a deceased political rival. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also held out against the bill for much of the day Thursday, voicing objections to what he viewed as unnecessary deficit spending while keeping colleagues in the dark about whether he would delay action on the legislation and force a brief government shutdown, as he did last month over an earlier spending deal. (Werner and DeBonis, 3/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Congress Passes Mammoth Spending Bill, Averts Shutdown
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) depicted the bill as “legislation that neither side sees as perfect, but which contains a host of significant victories and important achievements on behalf of the American people.” Among them, he said, are a 15% increase in military spending and funding to combat an opioid epidemic as well as a down payment toward Mr. Trump’s border wall. (Peterson and Hughes, 3/23)
Politico:
McConnell Averts Shutdown With ‘Begging, Pleading And Cajoling’
“This is ridiculous. This is juvenile,” fumed Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who asked McConnell for an explanation of why the chamber was in at midnight. “What has occurred over the last 11 hours that keeps us here voting on a bill that we all know is going to pass?” McConnell didn’t go into detail but acknowledged the difficult path he took to getting the spending bill across the finish line. “My principal responsibility is begging, pleading and cajoling. I have been in continuous discussions, shall I say, with several of our members who were legitimately unhappy,” McConnell said. (Everett, 3/22)
Reuters:
Factbox: What Is In The $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill Before The Congress
The bill allots additional funds to the National Institutes of Health, including a $414 million increase for Alzheimer's disease research, $40 million more for research on developing a universal flu vaccine and $17 million more for antibiotic-resistance bacteria research. Separately, it earmarks an additional $2.8 billion to fund treatment and prevention of opioid addiction and research into the subject. (Becker and Cowan, 3/23)
The Hill:
Spending Bill Includes $10M Increase For Abstinence Education
Abstinence-only education would see a $10 million funding boost under the spending bill released by Congress Wednesday night and advanced by the House Thursday morning. Under the $1.3 trillion omnibus bill, the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) grant program would receive a 67 percent increase in funding, bringing it up to $25 million. (Hellmann, 3/22)
Viewpoints: Shelved Single-Payer Bill Is A Recipe For The Collapse Of Health Care In California
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Orange County Register:
California’s Single-Payer Health Care Proposal Is A Disaster
Senate Bill 562, the single-payer health care proposal passed by the California state Senate in the summer of 2017, and never heard by the California Assembly, is a recipe for the collapse of health care in California. The scheme would produce deficits that could make the unfunded governmental pension liabilities look like child’s play. (Hank Adler, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Bowing To Koch Brothers, House Passes Egregious 'Right To Try' Bill
Few Washington practices are creepier than the exploitation of the desperately ill for ideological ends. That hasn't stopped the sponsors of the egregious federal 'right to try' bill from scheduling the measure for a crucial House vote Tuesday. ... Fernandez Lynch and Steven Joffe, her colleague at Penn, warned in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine that granting patients with life-threatening illnesses a "right to try" experimental drugs without FDA oversight is a steep, slippery slope. "This logic could ultimately extend to patients with serious chronic illnesses and… to all patients who find their approved treatment options unsatisfactory." (Michael Hiltzik, 3/22)
Sacramento Bee:
Health Care Union’s Hardball Tactics Put California Dialysis Patients In The Crossfire
he union wants to use the threat of a ballot initiative to scare dialysis providers into complying with their demands. It is irresponsible and dangerous for UHW to use patients as pawns. The proposed measure would impose unprecedented limits on what health insurance companies are required to pay community dialysis clinics. (Bryan Wong, 3/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
At-Home Breast Cancer Test Nothing To Celebrate
I am not celebrating that the Food and Drug Administration just approved, for the first time, an at-home genetic testing kit to predict the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. It might seem as if direct-to-consumer genetic testing, which doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription, would give more people access to potentially life-saving information about their cancer risk. But the FDA’s approval of 23andMe’s new genetic test is anything but an historic step forward for women at risk of and living with breast cancer. (Karuna Jaggar, 3/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Wants A New War On Drugs
President Trump's opioid response plan might have multiple prongs, but when he unveiled it Monday, he clearly was most interested in the prong that gets "very tough" on drug dealers. We know this because he said so approximately 5,000 times during a speech announcing the new plan in New Hampshire, a state chosen as the backdrop because it is one of those hardest hit by opioid addiction and overdose deaths. (3/20)
Los Angeles Times:
If It Wasn't Related To Abortion, California's FACT Act Would Easily Be Upheld By The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in the case National Institute of Family and Life Advocates vs. Becerra, which challenges a California law requiring reproductive healthcare facilities to inform women of state programs that might assist them. It should be an easy issue to decide — in favor of the California law — but it is not because it arises in the context of abortion. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 3/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Veterans Affairs Caregivers Need Funding And Support, Not Mere ‘Thank-Yous’
While the department has tried to prevent and manage disruptive behavior, these programs go only so far, and their effectiveness is undermined by the lack of funding, staffing and support from the president and VA and congressional leaders. The tragic events at Yountville present the nation and its leaders with an opportunity to finally thank VHA caregivers for their service. (Suzanne Gordon, 3/22)
Orange County Register:
California’s Growing Mental Health And Homelessness Crisis
California is facing a growing mental health and homelessness crisis throughout the state. Let’s start by looking at some troubling statistics from the California Health Care Foundation, which estimates that “nearly 1 in 6 California adults has a mental health need, and 1 in 20 suffers from a serious mental illness that makes it difficult to carry out major life activities.” (Phillip Chen, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Medical Tourists, Undocumented Immigrants And Ballooning Costs: California's Path To Single Payer Is Rocky
After state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) pulled the plug last year on a fast-moving but half-baked Senate bill to guarantee premium-free health insurance to all Californians, the nurses union that sponsored the legislation called it a "cowardly act" and threatened to push for a recall election. The wisdom of Rendon's action became even more apparent last week, however, when UC San Francisco released an Assembly-commissioned report on the path to universal health coverage in California. Based on a series of hearings by a select committee appointed by Rendon, the report shows how many obstacles stand in the way — and how many issues the Senate had left unresolved. (3/17)