Unhealthy Conditions At Georgia Jail Violate Rights, Justice Department Says
In other health news: Meta will appeal court rulings over "addictive" social media apps; a school event in Missouri is linked to an E. coli outbreak; an abortion clinic "buffer zone" is challenged in Illinois; and more.
NBC News:Georgia's Fulton County Jail Violates Detainees' Rights With Violence And Filth, Feds Say The Justice Department has found that egregious conditions at Georgia's Fulton County Jail — including pest infestation, malnourishment, a lack of adequate medical care and rampant violence that contributed to multiple deaths — violate the constitutional rights of people in custody. The Justice Department on Thursday announced its findings from a civil rights investigation it opened into conditions at the jail in July 2023. The investigation was opened after the death of Lashawn Thompson, 35, in September 2022, which sparked public outrage. His body was found malnourished in a bedbug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing, and a private autopsy found he was neglected to death. (Lenthang, 11/14)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Bloomberg:Meta To Appeal Orders Letting Schools, States Sue Over Addiction Meta Platforms Inc. said it intends to appeal court rulings allowing dozens of states and hundreds of school districts across the US to proceed with lawsuits blaming "addictive" social media apps for contributing to a mental health crisis among youths. The technology giant filed notices late Thursday that it will ask the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to review separate orders last month by a federal judge in California rejecting the company's requests for dismissal of the complaints. (Blumberg, 11/15)
New Hampshire Public Radio:NH Gun Reform Failed After Hospital Shooting. Advocates Will Try Again In 2025. To families with loved ones at New Hampshire Hospital, Bradley Haas was more than a security guard. Many got to know him on a personal level while visiting the state-run psychiatric hospital in Concord, recalled Susan Stearns, executive director of the mental health nonprofit NAMI New Hampshire. Haas, 63, was fatally shot one year ago on Sunday, when a former patient walked into the lobby of New Hampshire Hospital and opened fire while Haas was on duty. (Cuno-Booth, 11/15)
St. Louis Public Radio:Rockwood Summit High School Tied To E. Coli Outbreak St. Louis County health workers are investigating an outbreak of E. coli infections among people who attended an event sponsored by a Fenton high school. At least 19 students and parents who attended an off-campus event sponsored by Rockwood Summit High School have gotten sick from the outbreak, county officials said. (Fentem, 11/14)
AP:Navy Didn't Understand Well-Documented Risks Posed By Hawaii Fuel Tanks, Watchdog Says Navy officials "lacked sufficient understanding" of the risks of maintaining massive fuel storage tanks on top of a drinking water well at Pearl Harbor where spilled jet fuel poisoned more than 6,000 people in 2021, a U.S. military watchdog said Thursday. That lack of awareness came even though officials had engineering drawings and environmental studies that described the risks, the U.S. Department of Defense's inspector general said. (McAvoy, 11/14)
Abortion updates from Colorado, Illinois, and Florida —
The Colorado Sun:How Will Trump's Presidency Affect Abortion Rights In Colorado Democrats made abortion and reproductive health care access central to the 2024 elections, and voters in seven states, including Colorado, approved constitutional amendments to guarantee the right to abortion. Colorado's abortion rights advocates are hoping the issue will be low on President-elect Donald Trump's priority list. (Fish, 11/14)
The Saluki Local Reporting Lab:St. Louis-Based Anti-Abortion Group Challenges 'Buffer Zone' In Carbondale, Ill. The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade turned Carbondale into a critical medical hub: Following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in 2022, three clinics offering abortion services opened in the small, liberal university town in conservative rural southern Illinois. It's now the closest place for people across a huge swath of the South and Midwest seeking abortions they could no longer access in their home states. But as quickly as the clinics opened, anti-abortion activists became fixtures outside them. (Gist, 11/14)
Health News Florida:Amendment 4 Opponents Drop Lawsuits Alleging Fraud In Petition Gathering After a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights failed to pass last week, abortion opponents are dropping lawsuits alleging fraud in the petition-gathering process that helped get the measure on the ballot. Opponents filed the lawsuits last month in various parts of the state and sought to invalidate what appeared as Amendment 4 on the Nov. 5 ballot. (11/15)
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations..
