Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Justice Department Begins Civil Rights Inquiry Into Nurse's Killing In Minn.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department is conducting a probe of the Jan. 24 shooting of Alex Pretti during a protest against the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security also is investigating the shooting by its agents. (Wasserman, 1/30)
Intensive care nurses immediately doubted the word of federal immigration officers when they arrived at a Minneapolis hospital with a Mexican immigrant who had broken bones in his face and skull. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents initially claimed Alberto Casta帽eda Mondrag贸n had tried to flee while handcuffed and 鈥減urposefully ran headfirst into a brick wall,鈥 according to court documents filed by a lawyer seeking his release. But staff members at Hennepin County Medical Center determined that could not possibly account for the fractures and bleeding throughout the 31-year-old鈥檚 brain, said three nurses familiar with the case. (Brook, Mustian and Biesecker, 1/31)
Pregnant patients increasingly aren鈥檛 showing up for prenatal visits. Those who are are asking if they can have fewer.聽Some are going without proper nutrition because they鈥檙e scared to go to the grocery store. (Luthra, 1/30)
The Trump administration鈥檚 weeks-long immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, which has shuttered schools and terrified students and parents, has left one group particularly vulnerable: children with disabilities.聽(Napolitano, 1/30)
As the Trump administration ramps up federal immigration enforcement, experts say children across the country may be absorbing the fear and uncertainty of ICE operations 鈥 even when they don't understand all the details. (Bragg, 1/30)
It all began after a viral video alleging fraud in Somali-run child care centers in Minneapolis: strangers peering through windows, right-wing journalists showing up outside homes, influencers hurling false accusations. In San Diego, child care provider Samsam Khalif was shuttling kids to her home-based center when she was spooked by two men with a camera waiting in a car parked outside, prompting her to circle the block several times before unloading the children. 鈥淚鈥檓 scared. I don鈥檛 know what their intention is,鈥 said Khalif, who decided to install additional security cameras outside her home. (Balingit and Kramon, 2/1)
In other news about race and health 鈥
California Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 office is demanding a civil rights investigation of Dr. Mehmet Oz, saying he discriminated against Armenians in a video claiming hospice fraud in Los Angeles, the latest front in the state鈥檚 ongoing battle with the Trump administration. The Democratic governor鈥檚 complaint, filed Thursday, came after Oz posted a video on social media in front of an Armenian bakery in Los Angeles, alleging that roughly $3.5 billion in hospice and home care fraud has taken place in the city and 鈥渜uite a bit of it鈥 was run by 鈥渢he Russian Armenian mafia.鈥 (Ding and Swenson, 1/30)