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Morning Briefing

Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

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Tuesday, Jun 6 2017

Full Issue

State Highlights: Del. House Prepares For Vote On Bill Protecting Abortion Rights; Health Officials, Muslim Leaders Join Forces To Combat Minn. Measles Outbreak

Media outlets report on health-related news from Delaware, Minnesota, Washington, Massachusetts, California, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina and Connecticut.

The state House is poised to vote on a bill ensuring that abortion remains legal in Delaware if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. The bill, which narrowly cleared the Senate last month, was scheduled for a House vote Tuesday. Delaware鈥檚 current law allows abortions only if the mother鈥檚 health is at risk, if there is a substantial risk the child would be born with serious disabilities, or if pregnancy results from rape or incest. It also prohibits abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy. (6/6)

Health care and religious leaders are working in tandem to control Minnesota's measles outbreak, which has stricken the state's majority-Muslim Somali community. With another three weeks of Ramadan and its numerous gatherings and prayers yet to come, officials face the challenge of getting through the holy month without the highly contagious disease spreading further. (Zdechlik, 6/5)

The Seattle City Council on Monday approved a new tax on soda and other sugary beverages as way to raise millions for healthy food and education programs. The ordinance calls for a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce to be paid by distributors of beverages such as Pepsi and Coke, sports drinks, energy drinks and other sweetened drinks. The tax excludes diet drinks. (Le, 6/5)

A retired Falmouth doctor who has metastatic prostate cancer can continue pursuing a lawsuit seeking the right to obtain a lethal dose of medication from his doctor and choose when he dies, a Suffolk Superior Court judge ruled. The judge refused to dismiss a case brought against the state by Dr. Roger M. Kligler, a longtime advocate of expanding end-of-life options laws nationwide, who asked a judge to affirm his right to die in this way and to prevent prosecution of doctors who assist. Dr. Alan Steinbach, a physician who wants the option to provide such medication to patients with terminal illnesses like Kligler, is also a plaintiff, the Globe reported in October. (Finucane and Ellement, 6/5)

Matthew Clayton Robinson was off his medications and in the midst of a breakdown. In the back of a vehicle transporting him from a hospital in Chico to a mental facility in Redding on a July night in 2014, he began shouting that someone was following him. He bounced and flailed inside the van, equipped with a 鈥渃age鈥 that separated him from the front seat. He broke an interior light fixture and used shards of plastic to shred the car鈥檚 upholstery. By the time the van arrived at Restpadd psychiatric facility, the driver had summoned police for help in removing Robinson. Within minutes, he was beaten and bloodied, pinned to the ground with a fabric 鈥渟pit hood鈥 pulled over his head. A Sacramento native and graduate of California State University, Chico, Robinson wound up in a coma and died seven days later. (Hubert, 6/5)

A Hennepin County district judge ordered Minnesota鈥檚 top mental-health official to testify Monday on why state psychiatric hospitals are refusing to admit three men who have diagnoses of severe mental illnesses, instead leaving them to languish in Hennepin County jail. The hearing also surfaced ongoing tension between the state Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Hennepin County Sheriff. (Mannix, 6/6)

A Virginia mosque has publicly condemned the words of its leading imam, highlighting lingering divisions among Muslim leaders over the controversial and widely rejected practice of female genital mutilation. The Board of Directors at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church said Monday that Imam Shaker Elsayed鈥檚 seeming endorsement of the outlawed practice as 鈥渢he honorable thing to do if needed鈥 ran afoul of both U.S. and Islamic law. (Hauslohner, 6/5)

Javier Vivo helps carry passengers鈥 bags and pushes wheelchairs at Miami International airport鈥檚 J Terminal, welcoming international travelers to the area. When he was hired as a part time employee, he wasn鈥檛 given a choice whether to take his company鈥檚 health insurance or not. It was take it or leave the job. When Vivo tried to use his insurance at the emergency room to take care of a stomach issue, though, he found out the insurance card did not give him access to much of an insurance plan. (Sayre, 6/5)

Heart surgeons at St. Luke鈥檚 Hospital in Cedar Rapids are beginning to use a revolutionary device in one of the most common heart procedures. The new technology is known as the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 smallest pacemaker.鈥 Previously, pacemakers were inserted in the shoulder and required a long incision and wires leading to the heart. This device is put into the leg and carried to the heart by a vein. The director of the Arrhythmic Center at St. Luke鈥檚, Dr. Mohit Chawla, says it makes a huge difference in how fast patients recover. (Dillard, 6/5)

The family of a Florida autistic man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over a 2016 police shooting in which the man鈥檚 caretaker was wounded. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Miami on behalf of 27-year-old Arnaldo Rios against the city of North Miami and five officers. It says Rios was improperly handcuffed and detained after the incident and includes claims of false imprisonment and battery. (6/5)

The family of an inmate who died at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2016 filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Monday against the jail, its medical provider and nearly three dozen other defendants. Henry Clay Stewart, 60, died Aug. 6, 2016, of internal bleeding from a perforated ulcer in his intestines. He had lost 35 pounds between the time he was transferred to the jail on June 7, 2016, and the day his body was autopsied by the medical examiner, according to the lawsuit. (6/5)

A group of agencies that serve mental-health patients is considering opening a hub where they could work together to more quickly help people in crisis. Now, people who visit emergency departments with mental-health problems often have to wait hours until doctors can determine whether they should be admitted or sent home. (Viviano, 6/4)

A Miami doctor was arrested at his Miami Beach home Monday morning and charged with elder abuse involving two unlicensed assisted-living facilities in the Upper Keys. The doctor, Raul Arcadio Tamayo, 66, is charged with two counts of neglect of an elderly or disabled adult. Bond was set at $200,000. The caregiver who worked under his supervision, Amarylis Maristan, 47, is wanted on the same charges, Deputy Becky Herrin said. (6/5)

Parents of a Grand Terrace Elementary School third grader say that unaddressed bullying by another student led to their son attempting to commit suicide. 鈥淚n kindergarten and first grade, he didn鈥檛 have a whole lot of problems,鈥 said Kevin O鈥橰ourke of his son鈥檚 classmate and alleged bully. 鈥淢ost of the issues with this kid started in second grade.鈥 (Yarbrough, 6/5)

Starting this fall, Duplin County students can visit the school nurse鈥檚 office to see a primary care doctor, a behavioral health specialist, a dentist or a dietician. East Carolina University is teaming up with the county school system on a grant project to bring telemedicine into the schools. Not only will the telemedicine service help kids see a doctor when they are sick, but ECU staff will use the technology to conduct screenings to prevent chronic problems such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. ECU providers will also conduct mental health screenings for issues such as anxiety or depression. (Knopf, 6/6)

The legislature provided the latest example from a dysfunctional session聽Monday聽as a bipartisan effort to legalize recreational marijuana broke down minutes before its public announcement. Reps. Josh Elliott, D-Hamden, and Melissa Ziobron, R-East Haddam, engaged in an argument a few feet from the podium in the Legislative Office Building hearing room where a press conference was scheduled to make the announcement. After 10 minutes, Ziobron left and Elliott conceded the marijuana measure was stalled 鈥 but not dead. (Phaneuf, 6/5)

Next week's special legislative session focused on funding for education and economic development won't include medical marijuana, at least for now. House and Senate leaders remained hopeful that they could strike a deal on the framework for carrying out a voter-approved constitutional amendment that broadly legalizing medical marijuana. But if they don't reach agreement before the special session ends, the Legislature is unlikely to take up the issue later this summer, according to a top senator. (6/5)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
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