The Associated Press: Nearly 400 People Used California Assisted Death Law In 2017
California health officials reported Friday that 374 terminally ill people took drugs to end their lives in 2017, the first full year after a law made the option legal. The California Department of Public Health said 577 people received aid-in-dying drugs last year, but not everyone used them. The law allows adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs if a doctor has determined they have six months or less to live. They can self-administer the drugs. (6/22)

Sacramento Bee: CA Assisted Death Law Used By Nearly 400 Patients In 2017
According to data compiled by the California Department of Public Health, more than 90 percent of individuals were 60 or older and about 89 percent were white. Almost 55 percent had completed a college education. The patients were nearly evenly split between women (51 percent) and men (47 percent). (Koseff, 6/22)

Capital Public Radio: Hundreds Of Terminally Ill Californians Are Using The State’s End Of Life Act 
The law has been on shaky ground since a Riverside County judge tossed it this spring, citing concerns that it was passed unconstitutionally during a special session. A state appeals court has temporarily reinstated the law. (Caiola, ,6/22)

The California Health Report: California Law Forbids Abusers To Own Guns, But Police Lack Resources To Take Them Away
California has even tougher laws that restrict an abuser’s access to ammunition and require law enforcement to confiscate firearms—either in plain view or discovered during a consensual search—at the scene of a domestic violence incident. In addition, anyone who is the subject of a domestic violence restraining order must relinquish their guns by selling them to a licensed dealer or by giving them to law enforcement within 24 hours. These laws are associated with lower rates of intimate partner homicides, according to a 2017 study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. State relinquishment laws such as California’s are associated with a nearly 10 percent lower rate of intimate partner homicide, and a 14 percent lower rate of gun-related intimate partner homicide. (Kandil, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: USC Faces Massive Litigation Over Doctor's Alleged Sex Abuse
At least 200 former USC students have joined lawsuits against the university, alleging it failed to heed warnings for nearly 30 years that a campus gynecologist was sexually abusing patients. Lawyers representing the alleged victims expect the number of women suing to reach at least several hundred and possibly thousands. If successful, the suits could cost the university hundreds of millions of dollars. (Dolan, 6/24)

Ventura County Star: For Many, Fighting Alzheimer's Is A Team Effort
As the owner of Anacapa Fine Yarns in Ventura, Lois Perry had to close her business in March so she could spend more time taking care of her husband, Gary, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. ...Now on the front lines of the fight for a cure, Perry spearheaded a fundraising effort on Thursday — the longest day of the year — in which she invited longtime patrons of her shop to make afghan blankets that will be distributed to memory-care facilities across Ventura County for people with Alzheimer’s. (Doyle, 6/22)

In other public health news —

San Francisco Chronicle: Risky Teen Leadership Retreats Under Fire As Operators Consider Changes
A prominent judge and social justice activist has called for the suspension of Bay Area youth leadership retreats that employ reckless methods in the name of empathy-building, a reaction to The Chronicle’s recent exposé of programs that have been attended by thousands of local high school students for decades. The call comes amid conversations among retreat leaders nationwide about how suspect, even unethical practices became so embedded in the so-called Camp Anytown movement, an effort initially designed to foster awareness of prejudice and create change. (de Sá, 6/22)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Attorney: Santa Rosa Senior Home Destroyed In Fire Had No Backup Generator To Aid Evacuees
A Fountaingrove senior care home had no backup generator the night an October fire raced into Santa Rosa and cut off electricity to the complex, leaving dozens of infirm residents to evacuate in darkness without an elevator before it burned to the ground, according to an attorney suing the company. Oakmont Senior Living, which operated Villa Capri, revealed the absence of a generator in pretrial discovery responses, said San Francisco attorney Kathryn Stebner, who represents 17 residents and family members accusing the company and its affiliates of negligence and abandonment of residents that night. Oakmont officials also conceded Villa Capri residents didn’t participate in fire drills conducted by the facility’s staff, Stebner said. (Rossmann, 6/23)

In other news from across the state —

Los Angeles Times: White Powder Found In Costa Mesa Motel Room Prompts Hazmat Response
A report of a possible drug overdose at a Costa Mesa motel prompted hazardous-materials crews to respond Friday after paramedics found an unidentified white powder in a room, fire officials said. Costa Mesa Fire & Rescue responded to a medical aid report of a man possibly suffering an overdose at the Motel 6 at 2274 Newport Blvd. shortly after noon, said Capt. Chris Coates. (Fry, 6/22)

The New York Times: Reuniting And Detaining Migrant Families Pose New Mental Health Risks
The chaotic process of reuniting thousands of migrant children and parents separated by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy poses great psychological risks, both short- and long-term, mental health experts said on Friday. So does holding those families indefinitely while they await legal proceedings, which could happen under the president’s new executive order. The administration has no clear plan to reunite migrant families, which is sure to carry a psychological price for migrant parents and more than 2,300 children separated from them at the border in recent months. More than 400 are under age 12, and many are toddlers. (Carey, 6/22)

The New York Times: The Challenges For Doctors Treating Migrant Children Separated From Their Parents
Clinicians at public hospitals in New York City who have started seeing children separated from their families at the border are concerned about the psychological impact of the separation as well as the practical challenge of treating children whose medical history is unknown. At a news conference on Thursday, officials announced that at least 12 such children had been seen at public hospitals including Bellevue, Kings County and North Central Bronx, brought in by their new caretakers. Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and chief executive of NYC Health & Hospitals, described the children “being brought in by loving foster families struggling to take care of these children,” but aware that they have been traumatized by the separation. (Klass, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Separated Immigrant Children Are All Over The U.S. Now, Far From Parents Who Don’t Know Where They Are
Their mothers are missing, their fathers far away. They get pizza, maybe cold cuts. They are exhausted; they cannot sleep. There are other children around, but they had never seen those kids before, and those kids are crying or screaming or rocking or spreading the feeling that everything is not okay. The children who were forcibly separated from their parents at the border by the United States government are all over the country now, in Michigan and Maryland, in foster homes in California and shelters in Virginia, in cold, institutional settings with adults who are not permitted to touch them or with foster parents who do not speak Spanish but who hug them when they cry. (Sacchetti, Sieff and Fisher, 6/24)

Los Angeles Times: Administration Says It Has A Plan To Reunite Immigrant Families; Democrats Are Skeptical
Democrats responded skeptically Sunday to the Trump administration’s assertion that it has a process in place to reunite more than 2,000 “separated minors” with their parents, while Republican lawmakers sought to defend the president’s immigration policies and again promised that all the children taken from their parents in recent weeks were accounted for. Trump himself, however, redoubled his denunciation of all unauthorized arrivals, even those engaging in the legal act of seeking asylum. In a message on Twitter, he suggested that people crossing the border should be deported summarily, without a court hearing. (King, 6/24)

KQED: Leading Immigrant Aid Group Says No Thanks To 23andMe Offer To Help Reunite Detained Families
A leading immigrant aid group is refusing a Silicon Valley DNA testing company's offer to help reunite families separated along the border. In a series of tweets this week, 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki said the company would offer its genetic testing services, amid concerns that immigration officials lacked the records necessary to connect parents with their children. (Hossaini, 6/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: 23andMe’s DNA Kit Offer For Reuniting Migrant Families Raises Privacy Concerns
Mountain View genetic testing company 23andMe has offered to donate DNA test kits to help migrant children in detention centers reunite with their parents — prompting logistical and ethical concerns about an undertaking that genetics experts say would be a first in the United States. (Ho, 6/22)

Bloomberg: The Dems Take Obamacare On The Road
For the first time since it became law in 2010, Obamacare is a political asset for Democrats heading into an election—a striking turn after several cycles in which the law’s unpopularity helped Republicans sweep into power in legislative races across the country. Still, Democrats face a challenge: President Trump’s attacks on Obamacare prompted a broad reassessment of its merits and hurt his party’s political standing. To successfully exploit the issue, Democrats have to find a way to cut through the din of Trump news and scandal coverage and convince voters they’ll defend the health-care law from ongoing GOP sabotage and repeal efforts. (Green and Kapur, 6/25)

Politico: Reversal Of Fortune: Obamacare Rate Hikes Pose Headache For Republicans
Obamacare premiums are once again poised to spike by double digits in 2019, causing heartburn for politicians as voters will head to the polls within days of learning about the looming hit to their pocketbooks. But unlike recent campaign cycles, when Republicans capitalized on Obamacare sticker shock to help propel them to control of Congress and the White House, they’re now likely to be the ones feeling the wrath of voters. (Demko, 6/24)

The New York Times: Medicare Allows More Benefits For Chronically Ill, Aiming To Improve Care For Millions
Congress and the Trump administration are revamping Medicare to provide extra benefits to people with multiple chronic illnesses, a significant departure from the program’s traditional focus that aims to create a new model of care for millions of older Americans. The changes — reflected in a new law and in official guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services — tackle a vexing and costly problem in American health care: how to deal with long-term illnesses that can build on one another, and the social factors outside the reach of traditional medicine that can contribute to them, like nutrition, transportation and housing. (Pear, 6/24)

Politico: Opioid Bills Could Net Millions For Companies
The House is touting passage of dozens of bills that could help combat the national opioid crisis — but a small handful of companies that have spent millions lobbying Congress could reap a windfall if any of the bills become law. In a two-week legislative blitz, the House cleared several narrowly tailored measures that would spur sales for companies that have ramped up their influence game in Washington, according to a review of the more than five dozen bills up for votes. (Cancryn, 6/22)

Politico: House Overwhelmingly Passes Final Opioid Package
The House on Friday overwhelmingly passed sweeping bipartisan opioid legislation, concluding the chamber’s two-week voteathon on dozens of bills to address the drug abuse epidemic. The measure combines more than 50 bills approved individually by the House focusing on expanding access to treatment, encouraging the development of alternative pain treatments and curbing the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. It was passed 396-14, with 13 Republicans and one Democrat voting against the package. (Ehley, 6/22)

The Washington Post: Groups Suing Trump Administration Over Family Planning Express Optimism
A federal judge Thursday challenged a Trump administration proposal to overhaul funding for family planning programs after three national reproductive rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to block the moves. Planned Parenthood and the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association said new grant rules announced in February amounted to a radical shift that would jeopardize the health of millions of low-income patients by requiring providers to prioritize practices such as abstinence over sexual health services, such as contraception. (Hsu, 6/22)

Bloomberg: Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Health Venture Takes Aim At Middlemen
The health venture established by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will take aim at intermediaries in the health-care system as a part of a broad effort to reduce wasteful spending, the venture’s newly named chief executive officer said. The still-unnamed business will initially seek to develop ways to improve care for the more than 1 million individuals who get health insurance from the three firms. Over time, the venture will make those innovations available freely to other companies, meaning that if it’s successful, its effects could be felt more broadly among the more than 150 million people in the U.S. who get their health insurance through work. (Tracer, 6/24)

The New York Times: Thermostats, Locks And Lights: Digital Tools Of Domestic Abuse
The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy. One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there. (Bowles, 6/23)