Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The 'Destruction Is Almost Unimaginable': Trauma Surgeons Share Experiences With Assault-Style Rifle Wounds
Perhaps no one knows the devastating wounds inflicted by assault-style rifles better than the trauma surgeons who struggle to repair them. The doctors say they are haunted by their experiences confronting injuries so dire they struggle to find words to describe them. At a high school in Parkland, Fla., 17 people were recently killed with just such a weapon 鈥 a semiautomatic AR-15. It was legal there for Nikolas Cruz, 19, the suspect in the shooting, to buy a civilian version of the military鈥檚 standard rifle, while he would have had to be 21 to buy a less powerful and accurate handgun. (Kolata and Chivers, 3/4)
As President Donald Trump calls for more help for those with mental health issues in the wake of the Parkland high school shooting, Congress is considering a bill that would create a three-digit suicide and mental health hotline. Introducing the legislation on the Senate floor in May, Sen. Orrin Hatch said constituents have told him that friends and family who've struggled with suicidal thoughts don't always know where to turn. (Christensen, 3/5)
And in news from the states聽鈥
A Florida bill to assist first responders suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder has found new life in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. (Aboraya, 3/2)
The Florida Senate rejected a proposal to ban assault weapons, and voted for a measure to arm some teachers, weeks after 17 people were killed in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. An amendment that would have banned assault weapons attached to a wider bill failed on Saturday in a largely party-line vote, in response to the Feb. 14 killing of 14 students and three faculty at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Parkland. (Woodall, 3/4)
In gun-friendly Tennessee, President Donald Trump's ideas to ban bump stocks and bar people under 21 from buying semi-automatic guns have put the leading GOP candidates for governor in a tough spot. In response, they have mostly avoided taking firm stances. Trump has added further uncertainty with his ongoing, unpredictable evolution on gun control. On Wednesday he suggested he would support requiring a review of firearm purchases online and at gun shows, ideas the powerful National Rifle Association opposes. (Mattise, 3/2)
A fiery speech about gun rights brought the Virginia House of Delegates to a halt on Friday, with many Democrats walking out of the chamber and then calling for a recess to try to calm their anger. Del. Nick Freitas (R-Culpeper) set off the reaction with remarks that began by defending Republican resistance to gun-control measures in the wake of the Florida school shooting, but wound up blaming 鈥渢he abortion industry鈥 for fostering a broken society and castigating the Democratic Party for segregation and the Japanese internment camps of World War II. (Schneider, 3/2)
The number of counselors in the Baltimore City school system has steeply declined, even as national attention focuses on student mental health in the wake of school shootings. The Baltimore Sun reports the district has seen a 30 percent drop since three years ago, with a current count of 84 counselors. The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-counselor ratio of 250 to 1; Baltimore鈥檚 is 900 to 1. (3/2)
