Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Medical Failures Contributed To Immigrant Deaths, House Probe Finds
Medical mismanagement and falsified聽records may have contributed to the deaths of immigrants held at for-profit detention centers that are run under contract with the federal government,聽according to a report released Thursday by the聽House Oversight and Reform Committee. The report, based on a year-long investigation by Democratic committee staffers,聽recounts numerous examples of medical misdiagnoses, incomplete or incorrect treatment for chronic illnesses and聽鈥済rossly negligent鈥 responses to infectious diseases including hepatitis, tuberculosis, meningitis聽and HIV. It also notes聽severe delays in emergency response to strokes and heart attacks,聽negligent suicide watches聽and聽deficiencies in psychiatric care that led one detainee to self-mutilate. (Misra, 9/24)
In other news from Capitol Hill 鈥
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Thursday appeared to聽reinforce doubts about the total number of Americans who have died from COVID-19 after a woman called into a virtual town hall聽saying many of the聽fatalities include deaths "from things like heart attacks and slip and falls." His聽comments come聽as聽others in the GOP, including President Trump, Sen. Joni Ernst (Iowa) and Rep. Roger Marshall (Kan.), have downplayed the extent of the coronavirus pandemic by聽pointing to a conspiracy theory that the number of deaths is much lower. (Weixel, 9/24)
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and a conservative legal advocacy group he founded have sued Gov. Kay Ivey (R) over restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic. Moore and the Foundation for Moral Law accused Ivey and State Health Officer Scott Harris of infringing on citizens鈥 rights with requirements that masks be worn in public. (Budryk, 9/24)