Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Postpartum Psychosis Is Real, Rare And Dangerous
Postpartum psychosis is rare but very real, doctors say. And, unlike in some countries, U.S. moms who need inpatient psychiatric care can't bring along their babies, adding to the trauma. (April Dembosky, KQED, )
Good morning! A fierce and bitter dispute over CRISPR technology may be reignited following the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's announcement that the University of California is being granted a long-sought after patent. Legal experts are still trying to suss out what that will mean for the gene-editing landscape. More on that below, but first, here are some of the other top California health stories for the day.
Medical Waivers Have Jumped Sharply Following Enactment Of California’s Strict Vaccination Laws: A recent study warns that physicians are issuing medical exemptions at a higher rate to help parents who want to get around laws that made it hard to skip out on the vaccinations. To fix the problem, lawmakers and experts are looking into borrowing a solution used for veterinarians: to exempt a sick dog from a rabies vaccination, vets have to obtain approval from a health official. “We delegated that authority to licensed physicians, and the problem is we have physicians abusing that authority,” said Democratic state Sen. Richard Pan, in CALMatters’ coverage. “I think we need the health departments to basically say when someone is abusing that authority.” Read more here.
The Winners Behind Kern County’s Recent Health Care Consolidations? The Shareholders: As health care companies across the industry struggle to survive in this turbulent era, many are looking to form partnerships to pool resources and capitalize on their strengths. Often times, the only way for a rural hospital to avoid closure is to merge with a larger institution especially with new requirements for seismic safety upgrades looming. But expert say that it’s not the patients who really benefit from all this consolidation. Read more from the Bakersfield Californian.
Southern California Hospitals Hit With Fines For Safety Violations That Led To Patient Injury, Death: Among the hospitals fined were Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills; UCI Medical Center in Orange; and Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage. The incident at Saddleback Memorial occurred when a safety attendant left three suicidal patients unattended, one of whom ran out of the hospital and onto a nearby freeway where he was struck and killed by a car. The violation at UCI Medical involved a patient with brain cancer who was given 200 times the prescribed dose of a chemotherapy drug. Read more from the Orange County Register.
California Spent $630,320 Of Taxpayers’ Money To Evict And Rehouse 60 Homeless People. Was It Worth It?: State officials launched a plan to evict a shantytown in Coachella and then raze it to the ground. By the end of 2018, Riverside County had spent $86,995 to provide temporary motel stays and $30,720 for long-term housing, while the California Department of Transportation spent $487,605 on demolition and site clean-up and $25,000 for California Highway Patrol officers who patrolled the site the day of eviction. For Caltrans, the plan was a success. For those evicted, the story is a little more complicated. Read more from the Desert Sun.
More News From Across The State
Stat:
University Of California To Get CRISPR Patent, Likely Reviving Legal Dispute
It has taken nearly six years, detours for bitter legal challenges, and tens of millions of dollars in legal fees, but the foundational CRISPR-Cas9 patent for which the University of California applied in March 2013 will soon be granted, according to documents posted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Friday, throwing yet another monkey wrench into genome editing’s tangled IP landscape. (Begley, 2/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Poor, Elderly And Too Frail To Escape: Paradise Fire Killed The Most Vulnerable Residents
Dorothy Mack had crippling back pain and deteriorating eyesight. Helen Pace used a walker and could barely hear. Teresa Ammons suffered a stroke in 2017 and couldn’t drive. Although each woman had a different frailty, their final circumstances were strikingly similar: They were all seniors on fixed incomes, they all lived alone, and they all died when the Camp fire roared through their mobile home park. (Newberry, 2/10)
KPCC:
Comparing And Contrasting Two California Bills Targeting Police Deadly Use Of Force
Dueling bills in Sacramento will aim to make it easier to criminally prosecute police officers who are involved in deadly use of force incidents, setting up another showdown between law enforcement groups and civil liberties organizations over the most effective way to address the issue. (Mantle, 2/8)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
One Year After Parkland, Florida School Shooting, Sonoma County Schools Increase Security
In the year since the Parkland shooting, some local school districts have secured classroom doors with so-called Columbine locks — devices that can lock from the inside of a classroom, named after the Colorado high school that became an indelible euphemism for school shootings two decades ago. Sonoma County schools have increased participation in active shooter training programs, encouraged students to report potential safety threats on a cellphone app and invited law enforcement to conduct safety audits at school sites. At a training session hosted by the county last summer, hundreds of school employees were even taught how to apply pressure to a wound and use a tourniquet in case of an active shooter situation. (Minichiello, 2/9)
The Associated Press:
Gun-Seizure Laws Grow In Popularity Since Parkland Shooting
In the year since the deadly mass shooting at a Florida high school, more and more states have passed laws making it easier to take guns away from people who may be suicidal or bent on violence against others, and courts are issuing an unprecedented number of seizure orders across the country. Supporters say these "red flag" laws are among the most promising tools to reduce the nearly 40,000 suicides and homicides by firearm each year in the U.S. Gun advocates, though, say such measures undermine their constitutional rights and can result in people being stripped of their weapons on false or vindictive accusations. (2/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
House Democrats Assess How Hard To Press Gun-Control Agenda
House Democrats are warming to gun-control legislation once considered risky for all but the safest incumbents, but remain uncertain whether they will vote this year on some of the more far-reaching bills. In a sign of the changing political climate around gun-safety legislation, some of the more vulnerable House Democrats, including those who just ousted GOP incumbents, said they would support a ban on assault-style weapons. For Democrats, such legislation has long been considered a gamble, with its potential to trigger the wrath of the National Rifle Association and voters swayed by the gun lobby. (Peterson, 2/10)
NPR:
School Shooters: Roots Of Violence Often Include Depression And Desperation
It's hard to empathize with someone who carries out a school shooting. The brutality of their crimes is unspeakable. Whether the shootings were at Columbine, at Sandy Hook, or in Parkland, they have traumatized students and communities across the U.S. Psychologist John Van Dreal understands that. He is the director of safety and risk management at Salem-Keizer Public Schools in Oregon, a state that has had its share of school shootings. In 2014, about 60 miles from Salem, where Van Dreal is based, a 15-year-old boy shot one student and a teacher at his high school before killing himself. (Chatterjee, 2/10)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
State Commission Calls For $3 Billion To Avert Health Care Worker Crisis
Every Monday, the phone rings off the hook at Santa Rosa Community Health’s dental clinic on North Dutton Avenue, as more than 500 people vie for an appointment — six weeks out. Outside the year-old clinic, the week starts out with a line of up to 20 people waiting for the same. ...like many other health care providers in the North Bay, Santa Rosa Community Health has the funding, the facilities and the patient demand to bring on new staff. What it doesn’t have are candidates to fill those positions. It’s a quandary that communities across California are facing, according to a new report released this week by a statewide task force that spent the past two years looking into health care staffing shortages. The report, by the California Future Health Workforce Commission, called for an investment of $3 billion over 10 years to address shortages in doctors, nurses, medical assistants, mental health care workers and home care workers. (Espinoza, 2/8)
The California Health Report:
People Of Color And The Poor Disproportionately Exposed To Air Pollution, Study Finds
Latinos, African Americans, Asians and low-income people in California are breathing in significantly more tailpipe pollution than other demographic groups in the state, putting them at increased risk for health problems, a new analysis has found. On average, African Americans and Latinos breathe in about 40 percent more particulate matter from cars, trucks and buses than white Californians, according to the study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. Asians are exposed to about 20 percent more pollution. Households earning less than $20,000 a year and people who don’t own cars suffer vehicle pollution levels about 20 percent higher than the state average, the findings show. (Boyd-Barrett, 2/8)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Two Transgender Women Joined Migrant Caravan. Only One Survived Journey To San Francisco.
Hernandez died from cardiac arrest and complications from HIV in May, sparking outrage and renewing a debate on the treatment of transgender people in detention facilities. The mystery and controversy behind her death lingers — an independent autopsy revealed signs that Hernandez was abused and neglected while in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, according to her family. The agency has contested the allegations. (Sanchez, 2/10)
Capital Public Radio:
California Chef Aims To Help Restaurant Workers Prevent Suicide
A 2016 survey of more than 2,000 restaurant workers by a national nonprofit called Chefs with Issues found that 73 percent reported suffering from multiple mental health conditions. A 2015 study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that food service employees had the highest rates of illicit drug use compared to 18 other occupations. (Caiola, 2/11)
Ventura County Star:
County Speeds Up Fixes For Financial Reporting Issues At VCMC
Managers of the Ventura County Health Care Agency have pushed up the date for correcting problems cited in an audit of fiscal safeguards at the Ventura County Medical Center to the end of the year, six months earlier than originally scheduled. Released last month, the audit report made 42 recommendations for tightening internal controls for the system of hospitals and clinics serving large numbers of low-income patients. Internal controls are checks and balances that ensure accurate financial reporting, prevent and detect fraud, and substantiate that rules and laws are being followed. (Wilson, 2/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Orthodox Jewish EMT Service Faces Fight From L.A. Fire Department, And A Powerful Fire Union
It started with a few bites of ice cream with cashew and ended with a ride in an ambulance run by an Orthodox Jewish emergency medical service. In 2017, 2-year-old Rus Amster was on her way home with her family after Shabbat lunch in Baltimore when she began throwing up. Within minutes, her stomach was swollen with puffy blotches, and she had difficulty breathing. (Miller, 2/10)
The New York Times:
In Surprise Abortion Vote, John Roberts Avoids ‘Jolt To The Legal System’
At Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s confirmation hearings 14 years ago, the first dozen questions were about whether he would respect the Supreme Court’s abortion precedents. He was still answering those questions Thursday night. In a surprise move, the chief justice joined the Supreme Court’s liberal wing in a 5-to-4 decision blocking a Louisiana law that could have severely restricted abortion in the state. Although he offered no reason for his vote, there is little doubt that he wanted to avoid sending the message that the court was ready to discard a 2016 decision, a precedent, in which it struck down a similar Texas law. (Liptak, 2/8)
The Associated Press:
High Court Takes Abortion Vote, But Key Tests Still To Come
Activists on both sides of the abortion debate are reacting cautiously to a 5-4 Supreme Court vote blocking Louisiana from enforcing new abortion regulations. They agree that the crucial tests of the court's stance are still to come. Depending on the viewpoint, the vote represented a temporary victory or setback — but not proof as to how the court might deal with a slew of tough anti-abortion laws working their way through state legislatures and federal courts. (2/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
States Are Shifting Farther Apart On Abortion
Conservative and liberal states are pulling farther apart on the issue of abortion in response to the heightened possibility that the Supreme Court could limit access to some procedures. In Republican-led statehouses, such as Ohio and Kentucky, lawmakers are getting behind proposals to ban the procedure within the first trimester of a pregnancy. In more liberal legislatures, abortion-rights advocates are building momentum for laws like that just enacted in New York that loosen restrictions on late-term procedures and enshrine abortion rights into state codes. (Gershman, 2/8)
Los Angeles Times:
OB-GYNs Remain Conflicted About Abortion, Survey Shows, But Pills May Be Changing Attitudes
With the national abortion debate entering a new stage, a survey of U.S. obstetricians and gynecologists has found that while nearly 3 out of 4 had a patient who wanted to end a pregnancy in the past year, fewer than 1 in 4 were willing and able to perform one themselves. Among the doctors who answered questions about the procedure, 1 in 3 cited personal, religious or moral reasons for not providing abortion services. (Healy, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
Washington Measles Outbreak Draws Crowd To Hearing On Vaccine Law
Anti-vaccine activists packed a public hearing Friday to oppose a bill that would make it harder for families to opt out of vaccination requirements for measles, mumps and rubella amid the state’s worst measles outbreak in more than two decades. An estimated 700 people, most of them opposed to stricter requirements, lined up before dawn in the cold, toting strollers and hand-lettered signs, to sit in the hearing, which was so crowded that staff opened up additional rooms to accommodate the crowd. Many gathered outside afterward for a rally. (Sun and Young, 2/8)
The Washington Post:
Anti Vaxxer Children: Ethan Lindenberger, Teenagers Are Fact-Checking Their Parents
Ethan Lindenberger, frustrated by years of arguments about his mother’s anti-vaccination stance, staged a quiet defection on Reddit. The Norwalk, Ohio, teenager needed advice, he said, on how to inoculate himself against both infectious disease and his family’s dogma. At 18, he was old enough, Lindenberger explained. He wanted to get vaccinated. But he didn’t know how. “My parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme,” Lindenberger wrote days before Thanksgiving. “But, because of their beliefs I’ve never been vaccinated for anything, god knows how I’m still alive.” (Horton, 2/10)
NPR:
Teen Gets Vaccines During Measles Outbreak, Despite Mom's Belief
At a time of widespread measles outbreaks in the Pacific Northwest, causing Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency, more minors are raising questions about whether they can provide their own consent to get vaccines. According to the CDC, for month of January this year, measles have been confirmed in 10 states, with the agency monitoring other outbreaks in New York state and New York City. (Morris and Simon, 2/9)
Politico:
Republicans Can’t Wait To Debate 'Medicare For All'
The only people more eager than progressive Democrats for hearings on Medicare for All are conservative Republicans. GOP lawmakers, fresh off an electoral shellacking fueled in large part by health care concerns, are now trolling Democrats with demands for hearings on the sweeping single-payer bill set to be introduced this month. They're confident that revelations about its potential cost andelimination of most private insurance will give them potent lines of attack heading into 2020 — an election that President Donald Trump is already framing as a debate about "socialism." (Ollstein, 2/10)
The Hill:
Democratic White House Hopeful Hits Medicare For All As 'Bad Opening Offer'
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is mulling a 2020 presidential bid, says a plan to provide "Medicare for all" and take away private insurance, which has the support of several Democratic White House hopefuls, is “a bad opening offer.” Bennet is presenting himself as a moderate possible alternative in next year’s Democratic primary, although he has yet to formally announce his campaign. (Bolton, 2/10)
Politico:
Trump’s HIV Strategy Faces Potential Minefield
President Donald Trump has vowed to end the nation’s HIV epidemic in a decade — but to do so, he’ll need to win over skeptics in the health community and on Capitol Hill, tamp down concerns from faith leaders and navigate hurdles inside his administration. The ambitious State of the Union pronouncement has been undermined by Trump’s own actions: He’s tried to cut nearly $1 billion in global HIV/AIDS funding, roll back protections for patients living with the disease and strike down health benefits for LGBTQ Americans. “There’s a lot of distrust between the community and the administration, understandably,” said Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of the AIDS Institute, who was recently tapped to help lead Trump's advisory council on HIV/AIDS. “This could be a good opportunity to show they’re committed to this.” (Diamond, Cancryn and Ehley, 2/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
A Top Trump Health Administrator Faces Test From Newly Elected Democrats
Seema Verma, head of one of the most powerful federal health-care agencies, granted Republican states the authority to require that Medicaid recipients work to be eligible. Now, after November midterm elections that saw Democrats flip seven governorships and retake the House of Representatives, Democratic-run states are poised to ask for approval to expand coverage, including statewide single-payer or public health options. Ms. Verma has said her goal is to give states more authority over their own health-care markets. Some health analysts say the question now is whether that push for deregulation will also mean her agency approves bolder Democratic plans. (Armour, 2/10)
The New York Times:
House Democrats, Newly Empowered, Turn Their Investigations On Veterans Affairs
The new Democratic leadership of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee said Friday that it would investigate the influence exerted by three members of President Trump’s Florida beach club on the Department of Veterans Affairs. The move was viewed as an early, and powerful, indication that the committee, which has always been known as among the most bipartisan on Capitol Hill, could adopt a harder edge under the new Congress as empowered Democrats move to scrutinize the administration. (Steinhauer, 2/8)
The Associated Press:
FDA Questions Juul, Altria Commitment To Combat Teen Vaping
The head of the Food and Drug Administration is questioning whether electronic cigarette maker Juul and its new partner Altria are following through on pledges to help reverse the boom in underage vaping. FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Friday posted letters he sent to Juul and Altria, the maker of Marlboro cigarettes and other tobacco products. He called for a joint meeting to discuss what he calls "inconsistent" statements from the companies. (2/8)
The New York Times:
‘Pit Of Infection’: A Border Town’s Crisis Has Nothing To Do With Migrants
For generations, residents of the Southern California border town of Calexico watched with trepidation as their river turned into a cesspool, contaminated by the booming human and industrial development on the other side of the border in Mexico. Noxious sewage filled with feces, industrial chemicals and other raw waste regularly comes in through the New River, which flows from Mexico’s Mexicali Valley and through Calexico, leaving neighborhoods along the waterway engulfed in pungent fumes. (Del Real, 2/9)
Reuters:
Trump, Not Especially Vigilant On Diet, Declared 'In Very Good Health'
President Donald Trump was declared "in very good health" by the White House physician on Friday after four hours of examinations in what amounted to a test of whether his doctor's order that he follow a healthier diet has paid dividends. Specific details on Trump's weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure were not released in a statement from White House physician Sean Conley after Conley and 11 specialists put the 72-year-old president through a battery of medical tests. (2/8)