Literature Review

Remedy or gateway drug? Doctors, police differ on path forward for medical marijuana The State; by Anna Wilder; 4/25/24 Medical marijuana blurs lines across law enforcement and the medical community, where advocates and opponents don’t agree whether it is a gateway drug or necessary medical device. With days left in the 2024 session, [South Carolina] House members are hearing from doctors, law enforcement, researchers, pharmacists and others on the highly contested issue. Out of 17 speakers at a Ad Hoc committee meeting Tuesday, eight opposed the bill, nine supported it and one was relatively indifferent. 

1st state passes law to decriminalize medical errors Becker's Hospital Review; by Erica Carbajal; 4/25/24Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear recently signed a bill into law that shields healthcare providers from being criminally charged for medical errors, making it the first state to do so. HB 159 ensures that healthcare providers, including nurses, "shall be immune from criminal liability for any harm or damages alleged to arise from an act or omission relating to the provision of health services." It includes exceptions for negligence and intentional harm. ... In wake of [this article's cited] case, nurses and medical groups nationwide — including the American Nurses Association and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement — have called for systemwide workforce and safety reforms to focus on harm prevention, arguing that the criminalization of errors would discourage workers from reporting mistakes. ... The Kentucky Hospital Association said it supports the new law.

Across the nation, the fight’s on to protect physician-led careAmerican Medical Association - AMA; by Kevin B. O'Reilly; 4/25/24After helping state medical associations and national specialty societies defeat more than 100 bills to inappropriately expand nonphysicians’ scope of practice in 2023, the AMA is again relentlessly joining its allies in organized medicine to continue the fight for physician-led, team-based care in this year’s legislative session. This intensive and effective advocacy effort has ranged across the country, as the AMA has helped battle scope creep in Alaska, Connecticut, Georgia, Oklahoma, New Hampshire and elsewhere.

Debates begin in the Assembly on the “end of life” bill; Catherine Vautrin calls for a “spirit of humanity, listening and respect”Times.News - France; The Minister of Labor, Catherine Vautrin, and the president of the special commission, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, on April 22 at the Assembly; 4/22/24At the opening of the work of the special committee of the National Assembly, ... on the “end of life” bill, the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin, called on the deputies to have a parliamentary debate which takes place in “a spirit of humanity, listening and respect.” ... At the heart of the questions is the fact of offering certain patients the means of committing suicide ... This “assisted dying” will be reserved for adult patients, born in France or residing in the country for a long time, and able to clearly express their wishes. ... “I have heard fears to which I hope we can respond point by point, a strong demand for clarity and precision, an expectation of vigilance with regard to the sensitivity of the subject”, assured Ms. Vautrin. ... Hoping for a debate full of “humility, seriousness and respect for all convictions” ... [From MP Carline Fiat,] “We can disagree but we have to be careful with the words we say,” she told the deputies present in this committee.

5 ways the AMA is fighting for physicians in 2024 AMA - American Medical Association; by Kevin B. O'Reilly; 4/18/2024 ... Physicians face far too many challenges that interfere with patient care. That’s why the AMA is advocating to keep doctors at the head of the health care team, reform the Medicare physician payment system, relieve the burden of overused prior authorizations and so much more. These advocacy initiatives are part of the AMA Recovery Plan for America’s Physicians, which includes:

Legislation allowing doctor-assisted suicide narrowly clears Delaware House, heads to state Senate

Mississippi Capitol sees second day of hundreds rallying for ‘full Medicaid expansion now’Mississippi Today - Legislature; by Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender; 4/17/24Hundreds of people rallied at the Mississippi Capitol for a second day Wednesday, urging lawmakers to expand Medicaid to provide health coverage for an estimated 200,000 Mississippians. ... Speakers recounted their struggles with access to affordable health care in Mississippi and chanted for the Legislature to, “Close the coverage gap now,” and for “Full Medicaid expansion now.” ... [Dr. Randy] Easterling recounted a story of two of his friends diagnosed with similar cancers. One was uninsured and self-employed, and did not get early diagnosis or treatment. He’s now in hospice and on death’s door. The other friend, with insurance, received an early diagnosis and treatment and is now cancer free.

'Speak Up & Speak Out,' LeadingAge members head to the Hill on Lobby Day 2024 HomeCare; 4/18/24 Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) joined Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO of LeadingAge, and hundreds of the association’s nonprofit and mission-driven members for the kick-off of annual Lobby Day activities. More than 225 LeadingAge members, who serve older adults and families nationwide in a range of care settings and community types, ... headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, April 17 ...  [Leading Age members] visited their elected officials in the House and Senate to discuss critical aging services issues to ensure older adults and families can access the care and services they need to age with dignity, including [but not limited to]: 

[Virginia] Marijuana advocates celebrate passing of medicinal use billABC TV 13 News - Lynchburg, VA; by Brittany Slaughter; 4/15/24Virginia NORML is celebrating a win following Governor Youngkin's signing of a bill that expands medical marijuana use protections to public employees, not just private. JM Pedini, Development Director for NORML said a large benefactor from the bill's passage is firefighters who have faced repercussions for legally using weed medically. ... Pedini who also serves as the Executive Director of the State Chapter of Virginia NORML said the original law inadvertently left out public employees when passed in 2021.Editor's Note: Virginia NORML is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

CT Hospice says it can’t provide home care under bill to protect healthcare workersCT News Junkie, by John Ferraro; 4/16/24Connecticut Hospice has warned lawmakers it will be unable to care for gravely ill patients in their homes under a proposed law aimed at protecting home healthcare workers. At issue is Senate Bill 1, which would require organizations that care for people in their homes to conduct background checks on the clients and anyone in the location where care is being given. ... Barbara Pearce, the chief executive officer of Connecticut Hospice, urged lawmakers to remove Connecticut Hospice from entities that would be required to conduct those background checks, noting that the organization which provides end-of-life care is typically called into homes when a patient has days left to live. “Our national hospice organization could find no similar bill in any other state,” Pearce wrote in testimony to the Public Health Committee. “This bill is too broad, too unclear as to requirements, not guaranteed to achieve its aims, duplicative of other procedures required in hospice care, and contradictory to certain regulations of Medicare.” ...Editor's Note: See the previous article in our newsletter today, After death of nurses, CT lawmakers look for solutions: 'We just cannot ignore that risk'.

'I'm dying, you're not': Those terminally ill ask more states to legalize physician-assisted death The Washington Post, by Jesse Bedayn, AP; 4/12/24 On a brisk day at a restaurant outside Chicago, Deb Robertson sat with her teenage grandson to talk about her death. She’ll probably miss his high school graduation. ... “Medical aid in dying is not me choosing to die,” she says she told her 17-year-old grandson. “I am going to die. But it is my way of having a little bit more control over what it looks like in the end.” ... At least 12 states currently have bills that would legalize physician-assisted death. ... Two states have gone in the opposite direction. ...

The Maine Death with Dignity Act Annual Report - Data from calendar year 2023 Produced by Data, Research, and Vital Statistics Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Department of Health and Human Services; 4/12/24 In accordance with 22 MRS § 2140(17), the Department of Health and Human Services (Department) [has generated and made available] to the public an annual statistical report of information collected under the Maine Death with Dignity Act. ... This report is for patients who completed a written request for medication to hasten their death in calendar year 2023. Patients who completed the oral request but not a written request within the calendar year will be included in the subsequent year’s report.

2 federal bills look to boost pipeline of healthcare workers McKnights Senior Living, by Kathleen Steele Gaivin; 4/12/24 Bills introduced in both houses of Congress may bolster the healthcare workforce if they become law. Both pieces of legislation are supported by LeadingAge. The bicameral Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act is meant to address the shortage of healthcare workers across the country. Specifically, the legislation would help internationally educated healthcare workers overcome barriers to working in the United States ...