Posts Tagged: treatment

News

The Capitol Weekly interview: Sen. Susan Eggman’s long battle for mental health reform

Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty and Jay Obernolte. Image by Associated Press

Widely regarded as the most knowledgeable and effective state legislator on mental health issues in the Legislature, Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) is credited with major, bipartisan legislative accomplishments over nearly 12 years, first in the Assembly, now in the Senate, where she chairs the Senate Health Committee.

Podcast

Big Problem: California’s Behavioral Health Worker Shortage

Graphic representation of Mental Health Disorder. Image via Shutterstock

CAPITOL WEEKLY  PODCAST: We’re joined today by Dr. Janet Coffman of Healthforce Center at UCSF, and Michelle Doty Cabrera, Executive Director of CBHDA. They describe the serious challenges facing the state’s mental health and substance abuse programs, and what is needed to grow and retain a behavioral health workforce that reflects California’s diverse populations.

News

Clinical trials okayed for children with ‘bubble boy’ disease

Andrea Fernandez and her son Jakob, who suffers from 'bubble boy' disease. (Photo: Courtesy of Fernandez family)

Nearly three years after a British firm abandoned a successful therapy for the life-threatening “bubble baby” disease, children will again be treated in a clinical trial backed with millions of dollars from the state of California. “It’s the best Christmas gift ever,” said the mother of an afflicted child, Andrea Fernandez. 

Opinion

Lawmakers: Improve access to mental health drugs

A photo illustration of a young woman in mental anguish. (Image: Photographee.eu, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The California legislature is considering legislative action that would streamline the approval process for people accessing care through Medi-Cal to receive their prescribed medications for serious mental illness without undue delays As a physician who has served our community for more than 25 years, I strongly support this effort.

News

California-backed cure for ‘bubble baby’ disease stalls — again

A pipette drops stem cell research fluid on a special container. (Photo: CI Photos, via Shutterstock)

The “bubble babies” saga and a California-financed cure for their life-threatening affliction has hit another snag, more than two years after a British company abandoned the effort. It is a story that involves more than $40 million from California’s stem cell agency, federal regulators, the University of California, the agonizingly slow pace of science and 20 children who have been denied care — not to mention a company called Orchard Therapeutics PLC.

Opinion

We need effective treatments to fight opioid crisis

Photo illustration of a man who has overdosed on a combination of drugs.(Photo: Victor Moussa, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The man experiencing homelessness was nodding off when a street medicine provider from Venice Family Clinic recognized the signs of an opioid overdose. The provider gave the man a dose of naloxone (Narcan®) and prevented another potential overdose death on the streets of Los Angeles.

News

‘Bubble baby’ treatment shifted to stem cell agency, UCLA

Evangelina Padilla-Vaccaro’s medical team gathers around her on the day she received her gene-therapy stem-cell transplant. (Photo: Padilla-Vaccaro family, via UCLA Health)

A London-based biotech firm has given up its life-saving treatment for the bubble baby disease and turned it over to California’s $12 billion stem cell agency and UCLA, where it was developed with tens of millions of taxpayer dollars.

Opinion

Eliminate the guessing game in step therapy

A doctor writes out a drug prescription for a patient. (Photo: Lisa-S, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Step therapy forces patients to try insurer-preferred medications before approving the medication initially prescribed by the doctor. Utilized by both public and private insurers, step therapy undermines the clinical judgment of doctors and puts patients’ health at risk.

Opinion

Advances in teledentistry shouldn’t imperil patient health

Telemedicine male dentist showing dental X-rays on a screen of an elderly woman's tablet. He explains to the remote patient her problems like cavities and impacted teeth.

OPINION: Orthodontists in practice throughout California embrace new technologies as a way to improve service delivery and access to care, but we want to caution policymakers and consumers that its utilization should not come at the expense of patient health and safety.

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.

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