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California’s End of Life Option Act went into effect on June 9, 2016. The law created a process for dying patients to ask their doctors for a lethal prescription that the patients can then ingest privately, at home. Since then, at least 500 Californians have received life-ending prescriptions, according to newly released data collected by Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group that promotes aid-in-dying laws nationwide. (O'Neill, 6/7)

Gov. Nathan Deal announced Wednesday the creation of a commission charged with providing recommendations to improve state mental health services for children. The panel is composed of government leaders, children’s advocates and health care experts. (Members are listed below.) It is tasked with submitting a report to Deal on Sept. 1 on potential improvements to Medicaid services, and on ways to increase access to care for uninsured kids. (Miller, 6/7)

The [Charlie Baker] governor has said little publicly and repeatedly rejected interview requests from the Globe over the past year in connection with the Spotlight series “The Desperate and the Dead,” which documented the large number of police shootings and violent crimes involving people with untreated mental illness. Plus, critics say his proposals fall far short of the sweeping changes that are needed to address years of cuts and neglect that have severely hampered the mental health care system. (Wallack, Russell, Helman and Cramer, 6/7)

California's Democratic-controlled state Senate advanced a bill that would establish a $400 billion, tax-supported public health plan that would cover all residents, including undocumented immigrants. The bill would eliminate private insurance. There would be no co-pays or deductibles. Observers say the measure is unlikely to be enacted because it would require a big tax increase, and all tax increases require a two-thirds super-majority in both chambers of California's Legislature. (Lee, 6/7)

Orthopedic surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital repeatedly kept patients waiting under anesthesia longer — sometimes more than an hour longer — than was medically necessary or safe, as they juggled two or even three simultaneous operations, according to a federal lawsuit that alleges frequent billing fraud at the prestigious hospital. Dr. Lisa Wollman, a former anesthesiologist at Mass. General, alleges in the lawsuit that at least five surgeons endangered patients by regularly performing simultaneous surgeries. (Saltzman and Wallack, 6/7)

Virginia Mason Medical Center has adopted a new consent-for-surgery process that informs patients about the prospect of overlapping procedures. Virginia Mason joins Swedish Health, which began testing a new form for neurosurgery patients last month, and the University of Washington, which began using a new form in April. In the past, consent forms from all three institutions spoke generally about the role played by care teams and assistants but didn’t say that surgeons may be running multiple operating rooms at the same time. (Baker, 6/7)

The discovery of a newborn baby found abandoned in a Tempe grocery-store parking lot on Sunday has prompted organizations to remind the public of a long-standing Arizona law that establishes designated areas to safely relinquish the care of a newborn. The Arizona Safe Baby Haven Law was passed in 2001. It says a person can leave their newborn child at a designated location, like a fire station or a hospital, and not face criminal charges as long as the child is less than 3 days old and appears to be unharmed, according to Damien Johnson, director of the Arizona Safe Baby Haven Foundation. (Frank, 6/7)

Joplin city leaders and school officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience campus on Tuesday. Built near the site of what was the parking lot of the old Saint John’s Regional Medical Center, which was destroyed in a 2011 tornado that killed 161 people, the new medical school was described as a “phoenix rising from the ashes.” Like the KCUMB medical school in Kansas City, the Joplin school will teach osteopathic medicine, which supporters describe as a more “holistic” approach to health than that practiced by the majority of doctors and nurses. (Smith, 6/7)

The Department of Community Health said this week that it has “an open investigation’’ of Edna Warren’s death. The GBI recently arrested Hakim Ogunkunle, 43. Newnan Health and Rehabilitation had reported to local law enforcement that Warren, 98, had suffered a broken leg after physical contact with the certified nursing assistant. (Miller, 6/7)

Child welfare workers will have more options to house older and often hard-to-place foster kids through a deal approved Wednesday between Hillsborough County and Eckerd Kids, the agency that runs child welfare in Tampa Bay. Under the agreement, Eckerd will be able to place children age 10 and up in two cottages at the county-run Lake Magdalene group foster home in Carrollwood until they get a longer-term placement. (O'Donnell, 6/7)

For five years, Oregon Health officials used a “dummy” Social Security number to help thousands of teenagers register for free contraceptive care. Turns out, that was no dummy, but the number of an actual person from Minnesota. The Oregon Health Authority began using a dummy number in 2010 for teenagers who did not give their Social Security numbers for care in that state. Medical clinics were directed to enter in the dummy number as a placeholder. A vendor had provided the dummy number. (Chavey, 6/7)

The brain has many more functions, which makes it notoriously difficult to assess the brain’s physical performance in the hospital emergency room, on the sidelines of an athletic event or during long-duration space travel. But a new system developed by a Hennepin County Medical Center neurosurgeon may be on the cusp of assessing brain function in real time in all of those locations. (Carlson, 6/7)

The Virginia Home for Boys and Girls will host three free Youth Mental Health First Aid training sessions later this year... The mental health “first aid” training helps adults understand how to recognize the symptoms of a mental health crisis, how to approach someone experiencing them, and how to interact and support them, she said. (Kleiner, 6/7)

Next fall, Bellevue, Renton and Vashon Island each will open one school-based health center, offering an array of services from annual checkups to behavioral counseling — far more than the school nurses of old used to do. Nationally, the use of such school-based clinics has increased rapidly, particularly in rural areas where families may lack a regular pediatrician, or might have to drive an hour for children’s basic medical care. Not surprisingly, lack of a nearby doctor results in high absenteeism. (Rowe, 6/7)

Hamilton County partnered with the state and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service in this first-of-its-kind partnership meant to elevate food assistance recipients. The National Association of Counties President Bryan Deslodge called it “one of the best innovations in county government.” (Knight, 6/7)

No more than 19 medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to open in unincorporated parts of Hillsborough County. County commissioners voted on Wednesday to cap the number of dispensaries based on population and also approved rules for how those dispensaries are chosen. (Ochoa, 6/7)

When Brian Reedy wanted to market his Berks County plastic surgery practice, he turned to Facebook Live and put his face – and body – on the line. In a series of live streaming videos, Reedy, a board-certified plastic surgeon who sports a muscled physique and not much apparent body fat, undergoes DualSculpting (a nonsurgical way to remove fat) and receives Botox injections. It’s all in the name of introducing viewers, especially men, to the benefits of nonsurgical cosmetic procedures and – not incidentally – to  advertise his wares. (Rush, 6/7)

State lawmakers reached an agreement to make medical marijuana available in Florida, ending an impasse that derailed the issue last month. Reached Tuesday night after weeks of closed-door negotiations, the deal affirms the will of 71 percent of voters who approved a constitutional amendment in November's election that allowed patients with a host of conditions access to the drug. (Auslen, 6/7)