Health

Most of the nearly 2 million people in Northern California who lost electricity during planned blackouts this week had power restored by Friday, according to Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest utility.

But in many communities, vulnerable residents were grappling with issues such as disrupted health-related routines and equipment or the loss of costly perishable foods in their homes.

In many poor households, or the homes of people who have special health equipment, residents simply didn’t receive good information on how to prepare for California’s unprecedented plans to prevent the spread of potentially deadly wildfires, reports say.

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“You don’t know until it happens how it’s really going to affect you,” Tara Drolma, 72, told the Los Angeles Times.

“You don’t know until it happens how it’s really going to affect you.”

— Tara Drolma, 72, California resident using a wheelchair and heart monitor

After her home lost power this week, she needed to decide whether to use the remaining power in an emergency battery to boost her electric wheelchair or her heart monitor, she said.

“It’s not a little thing,” Crystal Markytan, director of social services for Lake County, told the L.A. Times. “You don’t realize how dependent you are on power.”

PG&E was able to restore power to much of Northern California after workers inspected power lines to make sure they were safe and weren’t likely to spark fires. The utility said it found 30 instances of weather-related damage to its equipment during the shutdown.

By Friday evening, PG&E said it had restored power to 97 percent of the 738,000 homes and businesses affected by the deliberate blackout that began Wednesday. Those sites represented about 2 million power-using people, it said.

About 21,000 customers remained without power. Safety inspections of utility lines and other equipment were expected to resume Saturday morning, the company said.

“It’s not a little thing. You don’t realize how dependent you are on power.”

— Crystal Markytan, director of social services, Lake County, Calif.

Some people in the largely rural Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties and in Northern California’s wine country counties were in their third day without electricity.

Butte County is where a fire started by PG&E equipment last year decimated the town of Paradise and killed 85 people. It’s also home to the highest percentage of medically vulnerable utility customers in the state, the Desert Sun of Palm Springs reported.

CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES RAGE ON, KILLING 2 AND SPARKING WIDESPREAD EVACUATIONS OF 100,000 RESIDENTS

Shelby Boston, director of employment and social services for Butte County, praised the county’s preparation work for the outages, telling the newspaper only two people had called in recent days for assistance with finding an alternative power supply or a need to relocate.

Dialysis patients posed a special concern in many areas. In one PG&E service area, three DaVita KidneyCare centers had closed and three others were running on generators because of the power shutoffs, according to the Desert Sun – meaning many patients needed to make alternative plans.

“Even just going to a different place than you’re used to, or not having the supplies or climate control you’d like in your home can be very stressful for patients,” Wendy Aranda, a renal dietitian for DaVita based in Thousand Oaks, told the newspaper.

“Even just going to a different place than you’re used to, or not having the supplies or climate control you’d like in your home can be very stressful for patients.”

— Wendy Aranda, renal dietitian, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

PG&E faced hostility and second-guessing over the shut-offs, which prompted runs on supplies like coolers and generators and forced institutions to shut down.

Ryan Fisher, a partner in consumer goods and retail practice at global consultancy A.T. Kearney, estimated $100 million in $200 million in fresh food was likely lost because of the outages along with $30 million a day in consumer spending.

PG&E cast the blackouts as a matter of public safety to prevent the kind of blazes that have killed scores of people over the past couple of years, destroyed thousands of homes, and ran up tens of billions of dollars in claims that drove the company into bankruptcy.

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The utility suggested it was already seeing the wisdom of its decision borne out as gusts topping 77 mph (122 kph) raked some hilltops where wildfire risk was extremely high.

Utility CEO Bill Johnson promised if future wind events require similar shut-offs, the utility will “do better” at communicating with customers. It’s unacceptable that its website crashed, maps were inconsistent and call centers were overloaded, Johnson said.

“We were not adequately prepared,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A dying man’s bucket list wish to marry the love of his life came true this summer when friends, family and strangers came together to create his dream ceremony.

Myles Harrison, 27, was diagnosed with a brain tumor at 18 years old, and was recently told there’s nothing else doctors can do for him, according to SWNS.

HONEST OBIT CALLS FOR MORE OPIOID ADDICTION HELP FOR STRUGGLING MOMS

Shortly after, Harrison, of England, decided to propose to his now-wife, Liz, from his bed at North Devon Hospice. Nurses then showered the couple in champagne, flowers and an impromptu photo shoot, which caught the attention of Louise Hedges, a wedding planner.

Thanks to Hedges, the couples’ venue, which was Castle Hill in Filleigh, Devon, their photos, cake, music and honeymoon were all gifted to them free of charge once news spread.

MAN GETS ‘DNR’ TATTOO TO PREVENT COMING ‘BACK AS VEGETABLE’ IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

“We can’t believe what they’ve done and how much they’ve improved our lives,” Harrison said of the people who helped make their big day.

The couple was even surprised with a video message recorded by their beloved Exeter Chiefs rugby team.

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“It was a dream day and more, more than we expected,” Liz told SWNS. “It is amazing what they have managed to arrange for us in such a short space of time, and at such a very difficult time for us. It is absolutely incredible and I want to say a huge thank you, particularly to Louise and everyone at North Devon Hospice.”

A nurse is suing Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, N.J., claiming she was retaliated against after reporting that some of her colleagues working the night shift gave Benadryl to patients to make them sleepy and later falsified medical records.

Lawyers for Patricia R. Moran, of  Wall Township, filed the lawsuit in state Superior Court on Wednesday. Moran, a nurse with more than three decades of experience, is represented by the firm McOmber & McOmber.

In a copy of the lawsuit posted to the firm’s website, Moran claims several nurses within the adult involuntary psychiatric unit, the floor on which she worked, “knowingly misused and administered Benadryl, intentionally administered the medication, not for its intended uses, but instead to make a patient drowsy or fall asleep.”

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“Upon information and belief, the medication was administered by staff to lighten the workload for the night shift nurses,” the suit states.

The medication, an antihistamine, is typically used to treat allergy or cold symptoms such as a runny nose and sneezing. It can also be used to alleviate itching from rashes or insect bites. Drowsiness is a well-known side effect of Benadryl.

The lawsuit also alleges the nurses then “deceptively failed to chart or note a patient received Benadryl for such purposes, which is dangerous (for a variety of reasons) and undoubtedly against hospital policy.”

Moran then reported the nurses to her direct manager, defendant Clare Cinelli, who also manages the other nurses who are accused of administering Benadryl to the patients. But in response, Cinelli, according to the suit, “commenced an immediate retaliatory campaign to justify [Moran’s] termination or compel her resignation.”

“No employee deserves to be treated in such a manner, let alone someone who has dedicated more than 31 years at this particular hospital. Ms. Moran looks forward to her day in court.” 

— Attorney Matthew A. Luber

“[Moran] was denied time on the schedule, she was provided a bogus evaluation, she was subjected to increased scrutiny, and she was otherwise ostracized from her co-workers,” the suit states.

After reporting the nurses, Moran was also allegedly “floated” to a different floor, the pediatric psychiatric unit, where she was “asked to complete a pediatric admission.” But Moran had never completed such a task, telling the charge nurse she lacked training on how to do so. When Cinelli heard of this incident, she allegedly “falsely accused [Moran] of ‘refusing’ an assignment and committing a ‘terminable offense,’” according to the suit.

In the more than 31 years that Moran worked at the hospital, she was never subject to any disciplinary action, the complaint reads, noting she “suddenly found herself under investigation and slated for potential termination.”

Moran was then suspended for 14 weeks without pay and given a “final warning.”

Moran’s attorneys in the lawsuit called the retaliation against their client “obvious” and “shameful” and noted it has “no place in any workplace, let alone a hospital like  [RWJBarnabas Health],” which owns Monmouth Medical Center and is listed as a defendant in the suit.

The lawsuit claims the hospital’s alleged actions against Moran violated the state’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act, colloquially referred to as the “Whistleblower Act.” The act  prohibits employers from taking any retaliatory action against an employee who reports “deceptive conduct in the workplace.”

Moran, who first became aware of the alleged misuse of Benadryl in March, remains employed by Monmouth Medical Center, according to NBC News. She was cleared to return to work earlier this month, though her manager has allegedly refused to give her a shift, according to the lawsuit.

“[Moran’s] career has been destroyed and her reputation has been tarnished, all because she reported clear violations of hospital policy and patient safety issues,” the suit reads.

In a statement, Matthew A. Luber, an attorney representing Moran, said the hospital “turned its back” on his client and “immediately related in an egregious fashion, all because she exposed illicit conduct and sought to uphold the highest standard of care for patients.”

“No employee deserves to be treated in such a manner, let alone someone who has dedicated more than 31 years at this particular hospital. Ms. Moran looks forward to her day in court,” he added.

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When contacted by Fox News, Elizabeth Brennan, a spokeswoman for Monmouth Medical Center, declined to comment on any “individual employee or patient matter,” citing company policy.

“Monmouth Medical Center is fully committed to providing a safe environment for our patients, visitors and staff,” she said in a statement.

The news comes after a nurse at a cancer facility in New York allegedly tampered with injectable opioids, which sickened at least six patients with a rare blood infection. 

A 52-year-old man who said he is in good health has pre-emptively gotten the letters “DNR” (“Do Not Resuscitate”) tattooed on his chest in the event of a medical emergency.

Nigel Thwaites, of Norfolk, England, said he got the idea after watching a video on what could happen when CPR is performed incorrectly.

HONEST OBIT CALLS FOR MORE OPIOID ADDICTION HELP FOR STRUGGLING MOMS

“A number of years ago at work there was a defibrillator course and we all learned CPR,” he told SWNS. “Anyway, they showed us this short video of someone incorrectly applying CPR. A lot of people don’t know how to do CPR correctly and what happens is that the brain becomes starved of oxygen which causes a loss of faculties in that person. So my decision was that I don’t want to come back as a vegetable, and I decided I don’t want to be resuscitated.”

Thwaites, who also is an organ donor and has his blood type tattooed on his shoulder, said he watched his own father’s health deteriorate, and he doesn’t want to put his family through a similar plight.

NURSE RETURNS TO WORK AT HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS TREATED FOR LEUKEMIA AS CHILD

“It’s not just about quality of life, sometimes it’s about the quality of someone’s death too,” he said.

DNR tattoos pose an ethical and legal dilemma for health care providers, especially in the U.S., as DNR laws typically vary state-by-state and must be signed by a doctor. England has similar laws, and according to Keep Calm and Talk Law, the National Health Service (NHS) would likely “be obliged to refuse to honor a DNR tattoo,” unless it complied with the standards for a living will. Honoring the tattoo without a witness signature and patient signature could cause a doctor to lose his medical license, or be sued by the patient’s family or estate. Still, the topic remains open to debate.

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For Thwaites, he said that in addition to the tattoo, he has made a living will.

“I’ve made a living will, and I think the tattoo is one of those things that you hope you never have to use,” he told SWNS.

A salmonella outbreak that’s sickened at least 21 people across 13 states is linked to pet turtles, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this week.

At least seven people have been hospitalized as a result of the Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak, though no deaths have been reported to date.

LEGIONNAIRES’ DISEASE OUTBREAK IN NORTH CAROLINA KILLS 2ND PERSON, HOSPITALIZES 88, OFFICIALS SAY

“Epidemiologic and traceback evidence indicate that contact with pet turtles is the likely source of this outbreak,” the CDC said in a Wednesday announcement. Twelve of the 17 people interviewed said they had contact with a pet turtle prior to falling ill, further supporting the suspected link.

Six cases were reported in California. Illinois, New York, and Washington state have each seen two cases. Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Vermont have also seen at least one case, according to the CDC’s map of reported cases. 

“Ill people reported contact with red-eared sliders and other turtles that were larger than four inches in length. Previous Salmonella outbreaks have been linked to turtles with a shell length [of] less than four inches,” officials said, noting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has since “banned the sale and distribution external icon of turtles with shells less than four inches long as pets.”

Turtle droppings are often a source of salmonella bacteria, according to the CDC, which notes these germs can spread to other areas within the turtle’s water tank or habitat.

LEGIONNAIRES’ OUTBREAK IN NORTH CAROLINA LINKED TO HOT TUBS AT STATE FAIR, OFFICIALS SAY

“People can get sick after they touch a turtle or anything in their habitats,” the CDC says, warning turtle owners against “kissing or snuggling” the reptiles.

Thorough hand washing, cleaning habitats outside the home and not letting turtles roam freely in areas where food is prepared are all ways to prevent illness.

Salmonella infections can cause diarrhea, vomiting, fever and abdominal cramps. Illnesses are more likely to be severe in the elderly and infants, according to the CDC, which estimates salmonella causes about 1.2 million illnesses in the U.S. each year.

A second person has died following an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in North Carolina, while 88 people have been hospitalized, state health officials announced on Thursday.

As of Oct. 9, there were 134 confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease or Pontiac fever, a milder form of the illness, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health.

Residents in “multiple states and North Carolina counties” have been affected, officials said.

LEGIONNAIRES’ OUTBREAK IN NORTH CAROLINA KILLS 1, SICKENS NEARLY 100 OTHERS: OFFICIALS 

The outbreak is linked to the North Carolina Mountain State Fair, which took place from Sept. 6-15 at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher.

More specifically, those sickened were likely exposed to Legionella bacteria near a hot tub display within the Davis Event Center at the Agricultural Center. The event center housed many vendors during the fair, including those for hot tubs.

Those sickened were more likely to say they walked by the hot tub display compared to those who were not sickened, health officials said in an Oct. 3 update. Testing identified Legionella bacteria in at least one water sample taken from the Davis Event Center.

“Low levels of Legionella present were able to grow in hot tubs or possibly some other source in the Davis Event Center leading to exposure through breathing in aerosolized water that contained the bacteria,” authorities said at the time.

LEGIONNAIRES’ OUTBREAK IN NORTH CAROLINA LINKED TO HOT TUBS AT STATE FAIR, OFFICIALS SAY

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia. People contract the disease when inhaling Legionella bacteria; it’s not spread via person-to-person contact. Legionella pneumophila, a bacterium, is usually the cause of the illness, per the Mayo Clinic. It can be found in soil and water, but more commonly causes infection when it multiplies in water systems (e.g., hot tubs and air conditioners).

The disease is treatable with antibiotics and those who are sickened typically recover in full. Symptoms often include fever, chills, cough, and shortness of breath.

The news comes after health officials in Georgia this past August responded to a massive Legionnaires’ outbreak linked to a hotel in Atlanta. At the time, a state health official told Fox News that the Legionella outbreak was the largest ever recorded in Georgia.

A Vermont father whose daughter died of an overdose while seeking treatment has used her obituary to shed light on the harrowing aspects of opioid addiction that saw her children taken away from her and left her loved ones with many unanswered questions.

OPIOID DOCTORS WARNED AGAINST ABRUPTLY ENDING TREATMENT FOR PAIN PATIENTS

“Megan Angelina Webbley, 31, passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, September 29,” her father, Edwin Webbley, wrote in the obituary, which was published in Vermont’s Seven Days. “Specifically, she died of an overdose, finally losing her battle with addiction. She was in Manchester, N.H., seeking treatment for her addiction. We have no clear picture of what went wrong.”

The obituary revealed that in addition to her parents and brother, Webbley is survived by four children. It said that she was first injured in a cliff jumping accident in 2005 that left her with her jaw wired shut.

“They suspected a TBI, but when they prescribed her liberal doses of opiates, she lost control of her life,” the obituary said. “She would be in and out of rehab – and jail – for the next 14 years. To editorialize, I am hoping that the Department for Children and Families rethinks its mission to be the punisher of addicted mothers, the separator of families and the arbiter of children’s futures, and instead embrace a mission of enhanced rehabilitation.”

DR. DREW BLASTS FELLOW DOCTORS FOR FUELING OPIOID CRISIS IN NEW DOCUMENTARY

“We, as a state, are overwhelmed by addiction,” Webbley wrote. “We have almost nowhere to turn. I encourage enhanced funding for treatment in general and using DCF as a gateway for mothers with addiction to get help. Because, as one would guess, once a mother is separated from her children, desperation sets in, even with the brightest and most determined of mothers – and Megan Angelina Webbley was that bright and determined mother… with a fatal disease and a dearth of treatment options.”

OPIOID ADDICTION CRISIS SPURS BRUTAL CANDOR IN OBITUARIES 

In recent years, many families of people who have wrestled with opioid addiction have chosen to deal with the issue head-on in obituaries of their loved ones. Many say they chose to be candid about what killed their loved ones to remove the stigma of addiction as well as to raise awareness.

In 2017, there were 114 drug overdose deaths involving opioids in Vermont, which is a rate of 20.0 deaths per 100,000 persons, compared to the national rate of 14.6 deaths per 100,000 persons, according to Drugabuse.gov. In the same year, Vermont doctors wrote 50.5 prescriptions for every 100 persons, which was lower than the average U.S. rate, and among the lowest in the country, but the rate of overdose deaths involving opioid prescriptions has been increasing steadily since 2014.

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On Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services released guidelines for physicians on how to safely taper opioid doses for chronic pain patients and cautioned against abruptly ending or cutting down dosages. The move follows a similar update provided by the CDC several months ago, after it found physicians had been misinterpreting guidelines sent out in 2016 that saw many patients abruptly cut off and suffering without relief.

Boston health officials this week confirmed a resident has the measles, marking the city’s first case since 2013.

The Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) on Wednesday announced the confirmed case, noting the patient was officially diagnosed with the virus on Oct. 6. It’s not clear how the person was infected.

“During the infectious period, the individual went to locations where other people may have been exposed,” officials said in a press release, noting anyone who does not know their measles vaccination status should receive the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccine if they haven’t already.

MEASLES CASES IN US HIGHEST SINCE 1992, CDC SAYS

“Those who have had measles in the past or have received two doses of [a] measles-containing vaccine are unlikely to become ill even if exposed,” they added.

Locations where the patient may have exposed others to the virus include: Render Coffee in the South End on Oct. 4; Cafe Madeleine in the South End on Oct. 4; Gyroscope in the Fenway on Oct. 4; CouCou in the South End on Oct. 5; and Sir Speedy in the Back Bay on Oct. 5.

People who visited these locations at those times could potentially become ill 21 days after exposure.

“Infected people can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears.”

— CDC

Measles is a highly contagious virus that spreads through the air after an infected person coughs or sneezes. Others can contract measles when they breathe the contaminated air or touch a contaminated surface, and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth.

ARIZONA LEADS COUNTRY IN WEST NILE VIRUS DEATHS: CDC

“Infected people can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears,” the CDC says.

The MMR vaccine can protect both individuals and other people from contracting the virus.

Young children are typically most at risk of contracting measles. The CDC recommends children get two doses of the MMR vaccination, but the first dose is typically given to children when they are between 12 and 15 months old, with the second occurring between ages 4 and 6.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A man who had to call out sick from work when he woke up with vertigo and an earache was shocked when the olive oil he was using to ease the pain actually worked to coax a critter out of his ear canal that had crawled in during the night.

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“I put a couple of drops of olive oil in my ears and decided to go back to sleep for a bit – I could feel tickling in my ear, but put it down to the oil,” Liam Gomez, of Kent, England, told South West News Service, a British news agency. “When I woke up a couple hours later, I could still feel the sensation, but also hear a faint scratching sound, so I decided to investigate with a cotton bud.”

Gomez, who the night before had found a spider’s nest in his doorway, said the spider came out in one fell swoop except for one wayward leg.

ARIZONA LEADS COUNTRY IN WEST NILE VIRUS DEATHS: CDC

“I used a hairpin and the cotton bud to retrieve the spider, making sure to count the legs coming out, then made sure to give my ear a good clean,” he told SWNS.

Gomez, who told SWNS he skipped the doctor and is hoping the spider was male, said he’s taken to sleeping with headphones on to prevent it from happening again.

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“My initial reaction was just to get the bloody thing out of me as fast as possible – I was obviously revolted as I hate spiders,” he told SWNS. “Once I’d calmed down a bit I did think, ‘Well, that’s one for Facebook!’”

A vaccine undergoing testing at the Mayo Clinic has reportedly removed cancer cells in a breast cancer patient.

Florida resident Lee Mercker became the first patient to participate in a clinical trial for a new vaccine after being diagnosed in March with early-stages of the disease.

She told First Coast News she had “DCIS stage zero” breast cancer, meaning the cancer cells had not yet spread. She was left with three options — have a lumpectomy where the cancer cells are removed, undergo a mastectomy where the breasts are removed, or join a clinical trial for a potentially life-saving vaccine to kill the cells and prevent them from coming back.

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“I signed on the dotted line that day,” Mercker said of the 12-week trial at the clinics Jacksonville campus.

“It’s supposed to stimulate a patient’s own immune response so that the immune cells like t-cells would go in and attack the cancer,” said Dr. Saranya Chumsri, an oncologist at the world-renowned medical center.

Mercker said the process entailed a series of shots and tests.

“They always took your blood, you had a physical, they’d make your shot right there on the spot for you,” Mercker said. “It was three shots, all in a row, alternating arms, four shots, two weeks apart.”

“It’s supposed to be just off the shelf, kind of similar to when you get the flu shot or pneumonia shot,” Chumsri said.

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She was still required to get a mastectomy to make sure everything was removed properly. Researchers can view the breast tissue to access how the vaccine works.

The treatment is being used on another patient who is reportedly showing positive results.

Chumsri said clinical trials for patients with other stages of cancer are also showing good results.