Posts Tagged: abuse

News

Fighting fentanyl: how California leadership can protect our children

Image by Sonis Photography

OPINION – California’s overdose crisis has ignited fear in the hearts of parents across the state. The thought of our youth being exposed to substances like fentanyl causes anxiety and concern. While Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health have taken steps to address the overdose crisis through the statewide standing order for naloxone, it’s clear that this alone is not sufficient.

Opinion

In California, lawsuit abuse fuels rising prices

An illustration of a California court, with the closeup of a gavel as the centerpiece. (Photo: sirtravelalot, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: There seems to be no end in sight for the nationwide supply chain crunch that is crippling our nation’s economy. For small business owners in California who barely survived the destruction caused by the pandemic, this could not come at worse time.

Opinion

Keep the safeguards in California’s ‘End-of-Life’ law

An illustration of a terminally ill patient comforted by a relative. (Image: Lightspring, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Assisted suicide is already legal in California through the so-called End-of-Life Option Act, narrowly passed by the California Legislature and signed by then-Governor Brown in 2015. The bill was opposed by both Democrat and Republican Assembly members and Senators, but passed during a contested Special Legislative Session on Medi-Cal funding.

News

Rodeos: Activist saddles up against ‘macho crap’

Animal rights activist Eric Mills of Oakland. (Photo: Screen capture, actionforanimals-oakland.com)

California has seen ideological clashes throughout its 170-year history as a state, and they are not all confined to Democrats vs. Republicans, north vs. south, coast vs. inland, or rural vs. urban. One of today’s sharpest battles is between rodeo boosters and those who find rodeos cruel and silly. Foremost among the latter is Eric Mills of Oakland, who calls rodeos “just a bunch of macho crap.”

News

Santa Clara judge creates ‘gold standard’ for mental health courts

Judge Stephen V. Manley on the bench in Santa Clara County. (Photo: Veteransvoices.net)

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Stephen Manley refers to defendants in his courtroom as “clients” – an indication of the unusually informal and conversational tenor of the Behavioral Health Court he created more than two decades ago. “It tends to break through a barrier,” Manley said.

News

Dangerous mix: Law enforcement and mentally ill suspects

A suspect in custody, handcuffed by police. (Photo: Boyfare, via Shutterstock)

Police response to mental-health calls often ends – again and again – in chaotic, noisy hospital emergency rooms, where staff is stretched thin, and a heart attack is likely to take precedence over someone in the throes of a mental-health crisis. “Traditionally, people would be dropped off at the ER, and the only option was to transfer them to a psychiatric facility,” says Dr. Scott Zeller, a nationally known emergency psychiatrist and former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.

Opinion

First 5: Helping children succeed

Children on bikes during a July 4 parade in Pacific Palisades. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

OPINION: In the past 20 years, a lot has happened in California to give young children a better start in life.  Since voters made their voices heard and passed Proposition 10, the tobacco tax that created First 5 commissions in every county, great things have happened.

Opinion

Pharmacy benefit managers target opioid crisis

An open bottle of prescription painkillers. (Photo illustration: Leigh A. Williams)

OPINION: One critical step championed by PBMs is requiring electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) of controlled substances in Medicare. E-prescribing of controlled substances helps ensure each prescription is written by a legitimate prescriber and filled by a legitimate pharmacy.

News

Feds give CA poor reviews on tracking foster care

A photo illustration of an abused child. (Photo: Suzanne Tucker, via Shutterstock)

The federal government has given California bad marks on monitoring the well-being of children in foster care. State officials were slow to investigate complaints of abuse or neglect, failed to notify investigators of serious sexual abuse allegations and didn’t follow up to ensure cases were resolved, according to an audit released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General.

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