Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Hospital Faulted For Denying Care To Woman With Life-Threatening Pregnancy
A Texas hospital that repeatedly sent a woman who was bleeding and in pain home without ending her nonviable, life-threatening pregnancy violated the law, according to a newly released federal investigation. The government鈥檚 findings, which have not been previously reported, were a small victory for 36-year-old Kyleigh Thurman, who ultimately lost part of her reproductive system after being discharged without any help from her hometown emergency room for her dangerous ectopic pregnancy. (Seitz, 6/4)
Federal authorities arrested a man they say collaborated with the bomber of a fertility clinic in May, alleging that he supplied chemicals used to make explosives and traveled to California to experiment with them in the bomber鈥檚 garage months before the attack. The two men connected in fringe online forums over their shared beliefs against human procreation, authorities told reporters Wednesday. The blast gutted the fertility clinic in Palm Springs and shattered the windows of nearby buildings, with officials calling the attack terrorism and possibly the largest bomb scene ever in Southern California. (Ding, Rodriguez and Offenhartz, 6/5)
Smoke from Canadian wildfires worsened air quality in the eastern U.S. on Wednesday as several Midwestern states battled conditions deemed unhealthy by the federal government. The fires have forced thousands of Canadians to flee their homes and sent smoke as far as Europe. In the U.S., smoke lingered on the skylines of cities from Kansas City to Minneapolis, and a swath of the region had unhealthy air quality Wednesday, according to an Environmental Protection Agency map. (Whittle and Karnowski, 6/4)
A swirling gray haze forced Claribel Ramirez to shut her house to block out the fine grit that settled on every flat surface in Puerto Rico. The culprit? A 2,000-mile dust plume blown off Africa鈥檚 Saharan Desert and sent across the Atlantic where it will reach Florida and possibly even Texas later this week. There, it will turn the sky a dull gray during the day and possibly provide some dazzling sunsets. And if the winds mix it down to the surface, the grit will make people sneeze, wheeze and plead for relief from the allergens and grime. (Sullivan and Wyss, 6/4)