- California Healthline Original Stories 1
- Eat, Toke Or Vape: Teens Not Too Picky When It Comes To Pot’s Potpourri
- Quality 1
- 'Significant Health And Safety Risks' Rampant At Immigration Detention Center, Including Nooses In Cells And Rotting Teeth
- Sacramento Watch 1
- 'We’re Not Going To Give Up': S.F. Mayor Wants To Continue Push For Safe-Injection Site Following Brown's Veto
- Covered California & The Health Law 1
- Covered California Director Touts Strength Of Marketplace As Signups Begin For Consumers Reenrolling In Plans
- Veterans Health Care 1
- State Sued Over VA Policy That Bars Residents Of Veterans Facilities From Utilizing Aid-In-Dying Law
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Eat, Toke Or Vape: Teens Not Too Picky When It Comes To Pot’s Potpourri
State legalization efforts, as well as the introduction of edible or vaporized cannabis- infused products, may be contributing to experimentation by teens. (Rachel Bluth, )
More News From Across The State
A scathing Homeland Security inspector general report found startling health and safety issues at a private, for-profit immigration jail in Adelanto, California. Among other problems, detainees reported waiting “weeks and months” to see a doctor, and inspectors met with a dentist who dismissed the necessity of fillings, and suggested that detainees use string from their socks to floss, the report said.
The Washington Post:
Nooses, Rotting Teeth And Neglect: Inspectors Find Dismal Conditions At California Immigration Jail
Homeland Security inspectors who made an unannounced visit to a private, for-profit immigration jail in California in May found major violations of federal detention standards, including cells with nooses dangling from air vents, detainees losing teeth from lack of dental care and one disabled inmate left alone in a wheelchair for nine days. The infernal conditions are described in a report issued Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security’s office of inspector general, which audited the facility, overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in Adelanto, Calif. It has a capacity of 1,940 detainees and is run by GEO Group, which owns and operates 71 federal prisons and detention centers with a combined total of 75,500 beds, according to its website. (Miroff, 10/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Nooses In Cells, Rotting Teeth — Report Details Harsh Conditions At Adelanto Immigration Facility
“When we asked two contract guards who oversaw the housing units why they did not remove the bedsheets, they echoed it was not a high priority,” officials with the Department of Homeland Security inspector general’s office wrote in a scathing report made public Tuesday detailing dangerous conditions found at the facility during their unannounced visit. The nooses are just one of many problems posing “significant health and safety risks” identified by federal inspectors at Adelanto, which can house nearly 2,000 detainees as they await the outcome of their immigration cases. (Esquivel and Mejia, 10/2)
USA Today:
Federal Inspectors Find Nooses, "Serious Violations" At ICE Facility
In her response to the Inspector General report, Nathalie Asher, executive associate director of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations, acknowledged that she was "concerned" by the findings. She said the treatment of detainees is "paramount" and announced that the Adelanto facility will undergo a more thorough inspection starting Oct. 10. After a summer when much of the country’s attention was focused on the treatment of families and minors temporarily held in chain-linked holding pens along the border, the Inspector General report highlights the treatment of adult immigrants in long-term detention. (Gomez, 10/2)
The legislation that Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed would have protected the safe-injection facility's staff and participants from state prosecution related to illegal narcotics. San Francisco Mayor London Breed says she wants to make sure she wouldn't be putting anyone at risk with continued efforts to open a facility. Meanwhile, California lawmakers addressed more than a thousand new laws this year — see which ones made the cut.
The Associated Press:
San Francisco Mayor Weighs Drug Injection Site, Despite Veto
Driven in part by family tragedy, San Francisco Mayor London Breed has repeatedly pledged to open what could be the first supervised drug injection site in the country. However, California Gov. Jerry Brown made the promise tougher to keep when he vetoed legislation over the weekend that would have given San Francisco some legal cover to open a site under a pilot program. (Har, 10/2)
Los Angeles Times:
California Lawmakers Wrote 1,016 New Laws This Year. Here's Some Of What Did And Didn't Make It
California’s Legislature revved into high gear when it came to writing laws in 2018, sending the most bills to the governor’s desk in more than a decade. In all, Gov. Jerry Brown weighed in on 1,217 pieces of legislation passed by the state Senate and Assembly. He signed 1,016 into law, and most will take effect on Jan. 1. (Myers, 10/2)
Covered California & The Health Law
“Covered California’s marketplace fosters competition that puts consumers in the driver’s seat and gives them the power to shop and save,” said Executive Director Peter V. Lee. Those who don’t currently have insurance with Covered California will have to wait until Oct. 15 before their enrollment window opens.
The Bakersfield Californian:
Covered California Kicks Off Plan Renewal Period For 2019
People who currently have health coverage under Covered California can now renew their health plans for next year. The renewal period started on Monday, with those looking to renew facing an 8.3 percent rate increase, according to the organization. However, that is below the state average of 8.7 percent. Customers have until January 15, 2019 to renew. Covered California said customers can reduce their rate increase to 6.9 percent if they choose the lowest-cost plan in their tier. (10/2)
State Sued Over VA Policy That Bars Residents Of Veterans Facilities From Utilizing Aid-In-Dying Law
The state's policy is tied to a national VA regulation that forbids federal funding from being used for “assisted suicide.” It, however, is in conflict with a state law that allows California residents to request a lethal prescription.
Capital Public Radio:
Veterans Take State To Court Over California Aid-In-Dying Law
Residents of a veterans’ home in Napa County are suing California for the right to take lethal medication in the event of terminal illness. As it stands, people living in any veterans’ facility in the state who want to access the End of Life Option Act have to pack up and leave. (Caiola, 10/2)
In other veterans' health care news —
The Bakersfield Californian:
State-Of-The-Art Veterans Affairs Clinic Coming To Bakersfield
After years of delays, local military veterans and their families learned Tuesday the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic on Westwind Drive in Bakersfield will be replaced with a new $40 million, state-of-the-art facility. In a press conference convened at his Bakersfield office, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, flanked by veterans, veteran advocates and local politicians, announced that a new clinic will be built in northwest Bakersfield, near Olive and Knudsen drives. (Mayer, 10/2)
The report comes as debate has intensified over whether hospital administrators are doing enough to prevent violence against employees.
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Bites, Punches, Guns: ER Doctors Often Targets Of Assault
Thousands of emergency room specialists are in town this week for the 50th annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and many were happy to discuss the results of their organization’s newly released survey on emergency department violence. ... With an estimated 7,000 emergency medicine physicians from all over the world congregating in San Diego, it was not difficult to find plenty of M.D.s with stories of violence on the job to share. But most seemed to see their chances of getting hurt while trying to heal as relatively old news. This stuff, they all said, has been part of the job forever. (Sisson, 10/2)
FDA Carts Away Thousands Of Documents After Surprise Inspection Of Juul Headquarters
Juul has come under fire recently as more and more young people turn to e-cigarettes as an alternative to traditional smoking. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb went so far as to say the problem has reached "epidemic proportions." The documents seized were related to the company’s sales and marketing practices.
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Seizes Documents From Juul Headquarters
The Food and Drug Administration conducted a surprise inspection of the headquarters of the e-cigarette maker Juul Labs last Friday, carting away more than a thousand documents it said were related to the company’s sales and marketing practices. The move, announced on Tuesday, was seen as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on the company, which controls 72 percent of the e-cigarette market in the United States and whose products have become popular in high schools. The F.D.A. said it was particularly interested in whether Juul deliberately targeted minors as consumers. (Hoffman, 10/2)
Reuters:
FDA Seizes Documents From Juul In Latest E-Cigarette Crackdown
The inspection, completed on Friday, followed a request in April for documents that would help the agency better understand the high rates of use and appeal among youth of Juul products.The FDA also said it conducted inspections of several of Juul's contract manufacturing units earlier this year. "We've now released over 50,000 pages of documents to the FDA since April that support our public statements," Juul Chief Executive Officer Kevin Burns said in a statement, adding the meeting with the regulator was constructive and transparent. (Mathias, Banerjee and Abutaleb, 10/2)
The Washington Post:
FDA Seizes Juul E-Cigarette Documents In Surprise Inspection Of Headquarters
The Juul product, which is sleek and shaped like a USB drive, has surged in popularity, including among high school students. Critics say some of the e-liquid flavors, including mango and creme, make the product especially appealing to minors. But vaping defenders say such flavors are critical to helping adult smokers switch from more dangerous combustible cigarettes to safer e-cigarettes. (McGinley, 10/2)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Conducted Surprise Inspection Of Juul’s Headquarters
The number of high-school students who used e-cigarettes in the past 30 days has risen roughly 75% since last year to about three million, or about 20% of high-school students, according to unpublished preliminary federal data. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in September that teen use of e-cigarettes “has reached an epidemic proportion.” He announced new measures to curb teen vaping and said he was considering banning flavored products. (Maloney, 10/2)
Pharma Holds Breath, Bracing For A Blue Wave To Take The House
Democrats have not been shy about their intent to focus on high drug prices if they regain control of the House, which the pharmaceutical industry doesn't foresee going in its favor. Meanwhile, although lawmakers blocked pharma's last attempt to attach the "doughnut hole" change to the massive opioid package, experts think lobbyists might be successful in the lame-duck months after the elections.
The Hill:
Drug Companies Fear Democratic Congress
Drug companies are gearing up for a fight if Democrats take over the House. Democratic lawmakers say Republicans have gone too easy on the industry and are vowing that will change if they take power in November’s midterm elections. They are promising investigations into rising drug prices and say they will push to allow importation of cheaper medicines from other countries and to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies. (Weixel and Hellmann, 10/3)
Politico:
Why Congress Is Poised To Give The Drug Industry A $4B Windfall
President Donald Trump may rail against drug companies “getting away with murder,” but Congress appears to be moving in the opposite direction — helping to boost industry profits. While the pharmaceutical industry lost an eleventh-hour bid last week to attach a $4 billion windfall to Congress’ bipartisan opioid bill, lawmakers and industry analysts expect it to try again with good prospects of prevailing — perhaps as soon as the lame-duck session after the November election. (Karlin-Smith, 10/2)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Chief Executive Resigns From Merck’s Board Of Directors
Dr. Craig B. Thompson, the chief executive of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said Tuesday that he would resign his seats on the boards of drug maker Merck and another public company, the latest fallout from a widening institutional reckoning over relationships between cancer center leaders and for-profit health care companies. Dr. Thompson has served on the board of Merck, the maker of the blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda, since 2008. He has been on the board of Charles River Laboratories, a publicly traded company that assists research in early drug development, since 2013. (Thomas and Ornstein, 10/2)
The Associated Press:
Proposed Rule Change Worries Some About Radiation Regulation
The EPA is pursuing rule changes that experts say would weaken the way radiation exposure is regulated, turning to scientific outliers who argue that a bit of radiation damage is actually good for you — like a little bit of sunlight. The government’s current, decades-old guidance says that any exposure to harmful radiation is a cancer risk. And critics say the proposed change could lead to higher levels of exposure for workers at nuclear installations and oil and gas drilling sites, medical workers doing X-rays and CT scans, people living next to Superfund sites and any members of the public who one day might find themselves exposed to a radiation release. (Knickmeyer, 10/3)
The New York Times:
In Australia, Cervical Cancer Could Soon Be Eliminated
Cervical cancer could be eliminated in Australia within the next two decades because of a government program to vaccinate children against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus, according to a new report. The study, published this week in The Lancet Public Health, found that by 2028, fewer than four women in every 100,000 could be diagnosed with cervical cancer annually in Australia — effectively eliminating the disease as a public health problem. And by 2066, the researchers say, less than one woman per year could receive that diagnosis. (Albeck-Ripka, 10/3)
The Associated Press:
Study: 1 In 3 US Adults Eat Fast Food Each Day
A government study has found that 1 in 3 U.S. adults eat fast food on any given day. That's about 85 million people. It's the first federal study to look at how often adults eat fast food. An earlier study found a similar proportion of children and adolescents ate it on any given day. (10/3)