An Arizona man is facing charges and was fired from his job after being accused of having sex with a 79-year-old woman’s corpse in the morgue of a Phoenix hospital last month, according to local authorities.
Following weeks of investigation, Randall Bird, 46, was arrested on November 28 and charged with five counts of crimes against a dead person, Phoenix Police Department (PPD) spokesperson Brian Bower told Newsweek in an email.
On October 24, PPD officers responded to a call about suspected misconduct involving a man at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, where investigators said Bird worked as a security guard for the hospital. One of his job duties included transporting dead bodies to the morgue’s freezer. However, security guards were not supposed to open the body bags, local stations KTVK and KPHO report, citing court documents.
A now-former security guard, 46-year-old Randall Bird, is accused of having sex with a woman’s corpse last month in the morgue of a Phoenix hospital, was arrested on Tuesday, Phoenix police told Newsweek. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office
Video surveillance showed the 79-year-old victim’s body arriving at the morgue on October 22, when Bird brought her to the morgue, according to court documents, which allege that two witnesses arrived at the morgue sometime after but found the doors locked from the inside.
The two witnesses said they saw Bird inside the freezer, where he was “sweating profusely” and “acting very nervous,” according to court documents. The witnesses told police that Bird had removed his duty belt, his zipper was open, and his uniform looked “messy.” The victim’s body bag was unzipped, and she was facing down, which is not how bodies were supposed to be placed in the freezer, court documents allege.
The witnesses said when they entered the morgue, Bird tried covering the victim’s body and told them that he had a medical episode, the court documents show. Bird told them that he fainted and grabbed the victim’s body as he fell, ripping open the bag. However, the witnesses later disputed this claim to police, saying the bag and zipper weren’t broken, according to the court documents. The pair then reported Bird to their supervisor who called the police.
Police questioned Bird on October 25, who said that he had a medical episode and couldn’t remember what happened. Investigators collected evidence from the victim and Bird, and his DNA was found on the victim, KTVK and KPHO report.
It was unclear at the time of publication whether Bird had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Banner Health spokesperson Becky Armendariz confirmed to Newsweek in an email that Bird was no longer an employee. In a statement, she said that Banner Health officials are “saddened and appalled by the alleged actions.”
“Recently, Banner team members identified and reported concerning behavior of an employee in the hospital morgue,” Armendariz said. “Banner initiated an internal investigation, filed a report with law enforcement and terminated the employee. Banner Health has and remains committed to high standards that require each of our team members to treat everyone, at every stage of life, with compassion, dignity, and respect. We are grateful for the work of the Phoenix Police Department in the investigation and handling of this matter, and we will continue to cooperate with law enforcement. Out of respect for the family, we will not further comment at this time.”
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Naya Qeshta was born in Rafah on November 11. Her mother, Samah, was one of tens of thousands of pregnant women in Gaza relying on a health care system that has been crippled by Israel’s ongoing siege.
The last time I stepped on a plane for vacation, for fun, was more than three years ago. I haven’t been able to visit California, whose coast I adore. Nor Rome, where my husband and I lived for some time.
And yet, I’m told, I’ve been on a journey. Two journeys, actually: First, a “traumatic-brain-injury journey,” experienced at Johns Hopkins Hospital after I banged my head and developed trouble with my balance and gait. More recently, I’ve been a traveling companion on my husband’s “cancer journey” at Memorial Sloan Kettering, in New York City.
These are two of the highest-ranked hospitals in the country. The care was excellent in both places. But neither of these journeys resembled our bike ride in Ireland or the wine-tasting trip in Sonoma a few years before.
So much of being seriously ill has been rebranded in American health care as a kind of adventure. Experts speak of stroke journeys. Hospital systems invite people on kidney-transplant journeys. The language has trickled down into advertising: Take a hair-loss journey or a weight-loss journey (newly popular thanks to Wegovy and similar drugs). The heart-failure journey even comes with a map.
A map? But on these journeys, you don’t get to go anywhere—except maybe the hospital or doctor’s office, which is likely, too, to have bought into the travel concept. In the past two decades, American hospitals have gotten into the business of hotel-like hospitality (illness can be fun!) rather than confine themselves to the business of disease (what a downer). And although the care might stay solid, the focus on luxurious amenities and the fancy new buildings that house them is one of the factors that have helped send costs for patients soaring that much higher, to prices well above those in other developed countries.
In this version of health care, I’m no longer a patient. I’m a client, a customer, or (worse) a guest, no matter that I didn’t choose this journey cum illness. I appreciate a little luxury and privacy as much as the next person. But, at a time when Americans’ life spans are getting shorter and four in 10 adults say they’ve delayed or gone without necessary care because of cost, is it worth it?
In recent years, tight budgets, staffing shortages, and burnout have hit American hospitals. At the same time, many health centers in the U.S.—including the most prestigious ones, and even some community hospitals—have morphed into seven-star hotels. New hospital buildings, such as recent projects at the University of Michigan Medical Center and Valley Hospital in Paramus, New Jersey, offer all-private rooms, in many cases with couches and flatscreen TVs. A hospital might now boast about its views, high-thread-count sheets, or food provided by a Michelin-starred chef.
Those commissioning and designing these pavilions cite research showing that private rooms are better for healing, because they offer a better chance at sleep and a lower chance of infection. (Actually, the evidence is pretty murky.)
But we’re suckers for this type of thing, and the industry knows that even small comforts can make us feel better, regardless of whether we’re actually getting better. Back in 2008, researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research estimated that a hospital investing in amenities would increase demand by 38 percent, whereas a similar investment in clinical quality would lead to only a 13 percent increase. More recently, hospital executives told The Boston Globe that the main reason hospitals have moved in this direction is that “people’s expectations have changed,” and it creates a “competitive advantage” that can be marketed to potential customers.
And so the Mayo Clinic now offers complimentary concierge services, which can help with recommending nearby restaurants and finding pet care. I think that’s the hospitality version of what used to be called the hospital “help desk,” whose function was merely to explain to visitors how to get to patient rooms. Cleveland Clinic, which employs a team of curators, owns one of the largest contemporary-art collections in the region, and its leaders see that collection as one tool for “positively affecting patient outcomes.” Patients at Cedars-Sinai can experience its “therapeutic art collection” of Chagalls, Picassos, and Oldenburgs.
Hospital food has gotten so good that in some area,s people go to their local hospital for haute cuisine rather than medical needs. And when you look at the numbers on your hospital bill, remember that all of this adds up. For the amount that American patients (or their insurers) pay for some luxury hospital journeys, they could sign up for a Virgin Galactic suborbital joy ride.
This transformation from hospital to hospitality has filled up hospital C-suites with chief experience officers, whose function is to “manage patients’ experiences throughout their healthcare journey,” as described by the publication HealthTech. The Cleveland Clinic was the first major academic medical center to add one, back in 2007; now some health systems hire for this and similar positions directly from the hospitality industry, picking people who’d previously been managers at a Ritz-Carlton or a Trump hotel. 
The American Hospital Association acknowledges and defends the transformation. “These are not just ‘nice to haves,’” Nancy Foster, AHA’s vice president of quality and patient-safety policy, wrote to me in an email. “Actions hospitals can take to reduce stress and provide other psychological support can have a meaningful impact on one’s physical and behavioral health, including the ability to recover more rapidly.” But pretending that illness is an Abercrombie & Kent safari is actually harmful. These amenities have a cost, and they are not worth nearly what we’re paying for them as we’re billed for $100,000 joint replacements and $9,000 CT scans. Room charges in many hospitals can exceed $1,000 a night. And “facility fees” for outpatient procedures and even office visits can reach hundreds of dollars, and simply don’t exist elsewhere. A hospital’s function is to diagnose and to heal, at a price that sick people can afford. I dream of a no-frills Target- or Ikea-like hospital for care.
That doesn’t mean hospitals need to resemble prisons. Hospitals certainly have room to improve on breakfasts featuring Lilliputian plastic cups of orange juice and rubbery eggs. But to understand one of the many reasons Americans pay so much for health care, consider this: The best hospitals in Europe are utilitarian structures that most resemble urban high schools. When I got stitches for a deep cut in my forehead in Gemelli Hospital—where the pope gets health care—I sat on a gurney in a big dark room with other patients.
Instead of providing free coffee and a piano in a soaring, art-filled marble lobby, how about focusing on the very basic things that health systems in the U.S. should do, but—in my experience—in many cases do not, like making it easier for patients to schedule appointments? Shortening the now lengthy wait times to see physicians who take insurance plans? Paying for adequate staffing on nights and weekends, so patients don’t linger in bed pointlessly for two days until social workers return on Monday? Or ending those two-day stays in emergency rooms when all inpatient beds are full? (Hotels aspire to run at full occupancy to maximize revenue; hospitals, I’d argue, should not.)
This winter, I’m planning a journey where I’m looking forward to some good food and art. We haven’t yet determined the exact destination, but it will not be a U.S. hospital.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is marketed by some suppliers as a painkiller, e.g. for osteoarthritis of the knee. Animal experiments have shown that the substance, which is extracted from the hemp plant, has an anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effect in arthritis. As pain researchers at MedUni Vienna were now able to show for the first time in humans, CBD is not effective as pain medication, even in high doses. The results of the clinical study involving patients from the Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna have just been published in the prestigious scientific journal “The Lancet Regional Health – Europe”.
86 men and women with an average age of around 63 years who suffered from severe pain due degeneration of the knee joint (osteoarthritis) were involved in the study. While one half of the patients received high-dose cannabidiol (CBD) by the mouth, the other group was given a placebo that was not recognizable as such, i.e. a drug without an active ingredient. The strictly controlled study period of eight weeks showed that CBD did not have a stronger pain-relieving effect than the placebo.
This means that CBD is not an alternative for pain therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee, so the search for more effective options must continue.”
Sibylle Pramhas (Division of Special Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesia, General Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at…
An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer and his front-seat passenger were killed in a car crash early Saturday after a drunk driving suspect sped through a red light in Northridge and slammed into their vehicle, authorities said.
Officer Darrell Cunningham Shamily, a four-year veteran of the department in his early 30s, and the unidentified passenger were killed in the crash that occurred about 1:15 a.m. near Roscoe Boulevard and Lindley Avenue, police said during a news conference Saturday. An off-duty San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy, who was riding in the backseat of Cunningham Shamily’s car, was also injured and transported to a hospital.
“These were all individuals who were known to each other as lifelong friends,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore, who called the incident an act of “senseless violence” by the driver of the other vehicle. He said the department would do everything possible to support Cunningham Shamily’s “fiancée, two young boys, mom & two brothers.”
Brian David Oliveri, 20, the driver of the other vehicle, was injured in the crash and was transported to a hospital, police said. Based on preliminary evidence, it is suspected that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision, police said.
Oliveri is expected to be arrested and charged with gross vehicular manslaughter, Moore said.
He is believed to have been driving his black BMW at more than 100 mph down Roscoe Boulevard when he ran a red light at Lindley Avenue and crashed into Cunningham Shamily’s white Infinity, which was traveling northbound on Lindley, police said.
Oliveri’s passenger, an unidentified female in the front seat, was able to exit the vehicle on her own, police said.
“All others were trapped because of the force and the level of damage created by this horrific collision,” Moore said. L.A. Fire Department personnel were able to free Oliveri and the San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy in the other vehicle using the Jaws of Life. One the vehicles sheared off a fire hydrant in the crash, the fire department reported.
All three survivors of the crash suffered a number of injuries and are being treated at a nearby hospital, police said. Oliveri was in critical condition.
The sheriff’s deputy was being treated for a broken hip and other injuries; the woman’s condition was not immediately known. Both were expected to survive.
Cunningham Shamily and another passenger died at the scene.
Cunningham Shamily, who worked the overnight shift at LAPD’S West L.A. station, was a “hardworking, honest, a person you can go to get the job done, with a great attitude,” Moore said. “As a department we’re grieving today, but we will work through this and will hold the line, and we’ll work in tribute to the reputation that he held and the work that he did in protecting the citizens of this great city.”
Moore said that he did not consider a suspected DUI crash to be an accident. “You don’t drive down Roscoe Boulevard at over 100 mph through a red trilight as an accident. That’s willful and gross negligence and criminality, in the sense of reverence for other people’s lives,” he said.
A gunman shot one person outside the Grove before fleeing the high-end shopping center in a Lamborghini, according to Los Angeles police.
Police were investigating the incident, which was reported at 3:22 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot near Beverly Boulevard and the Grove Drive.
The victim went to a hospital on their own and was later described as stable. Police said the shooter used a handgun, but they had no details of how the shooting occurred. Officers were on their way to the hospital to follow up, a spokesperson said late Thursday afternoon.
The shooter was described as a man with dreadlocks, standing 6 feet tall and wearing a white shirt and black pants. The license plate of the car he was driving was 8WWS816.
Police were outside the popular shopping destination for more than an hour to investigate the shooting.
No additional information was immediately available.
Four children younger than 10 were found in a Lancaster home suffering from severe lacerations, and two of them have died, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The children were found early Sunday in a bedroom of the home by deputies who were responding to a child abuse call.
The youngsters are siblings, said Sheriff’s Lt. Daniel Vizcarra, and two of them were expected to survive.
The children’s father, Prospero Serna of San Bernardino, was detained by investigators as a “person of interest,” sheriff’s officials said.
Vizcarra said deputies were still reeling from what they encountered in the bedroom in the 1800 block of East Avenue J-2 as investigators worked to piece together key details.
“It was traumatic for everyone involved,” he said. “They are children and truly innocent victims who don’t deserve anything like this.”
The call, which was received at 11:50 p.m., stated that there was “child abuse in progress,” Vizcarra said. The children’s mother directed deputies to an apartment, where they found all four children in a bedroom with lacerations. Vizcarra said the mother did not have any visible injuries.
Two of the children were taken to a hospital, where they died. Two are in stable condition with non-life-threatening injuries. Vizcarra said he could not release the children’s exact ages.
“We don’t know what weapon was used at this point,” Vizcarra said.
Social service officials have been notified, Vizcarra said. It is not yet known whether the children or adults had come to their attention before Saturday’s fatal incident.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services said in a statement Sunday that state law “prohibits confirming or commenting on whether a child or family has been involved with the department.” The department has faced intense scrutiny in recent years over its handling of a series of highly publicized deaths and injuries to children on its watch.
“As a workforce dedicated to the safety and well-being of Los Angeles County’s children and families, we are deeply disturbed and saddened to learn of the deaths of two young children in the City of Lancaster and injuries sustained by two others as reported by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” the department said in a statement.
Officials urged anyone with information about the incident to contact the sheriff’s homicide bureau at (323) 890-5500. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477).
“It sounded like a bomb went off in a movie. It was the loudest sound I’ve heard in my life, it was just a ringing,” Abigail Winters recalls, after being shot three times by her ex-boyfriend.
Winters, 23, from Kansas City, Missouri, was with her ex-boyfriend for several years, even welcoming a child together in 2021. She admits that there were red flags for a long time, but after their son, Staisles, was born, she made the decision to separate for his sake.
“He wanted to control who I was talking to on the phone, what I was doing, who my friends were, what I wore,” Winters told Newsweek. “I didn’t think leaving him was ever on the cards because I just wanted to help. I always thought that the world had wronged him, and I just wanted to be there for him.”
Several months after separating, the tattoo artist met her current boyfriend, Jordan Taylor, 23, on Tinder in February 2022. They instantly hit it off and Winters was grateful to finally be in a happy and healthy relationship.
Abigail Winters, 23, pictured during her pregnancy and after having her son, in 2021. Winters left her ex-partner shortly after her son was born in 2021 as she didn’t want to expose her son to any unhealthy behaviors. @snapbackssandtattoos / TikTok
When word got to her ex-partner that she was with someone new, he was blinded by jealousy and did everything he could to disrupt their relationship. This led to a shocking sequence of events on May 2, 2022, when Winters went to visit him at their old apartment where he shot her three times.
She continued: “I remember every single part of the shooting. I was texting my boyfriend, telling him I was sorry that I was there because I knew I wasn’t supposed to be. I heard something, and I looked up and I saw him behind the biggest gun I had ever seen.
“I put my hands up to try to protect my face and he shot me through my fingers. Then I remember looking at my hands and seeing the blood and thinking that in movies they put pressure on it. So, I took my hand and I tried to put pressure on my face, and when I did there was nothing there.”
Abigail Winters, 23, from Kansas City, pictured with her son Staisles. Winters was shot by her ex-partner in May 2022, requiring surgery on her heart, lung, spine, and face. @snapbackssandtattoos / TikTok
Intimate partner violence is a serious public health problem in the U.S which has a profound and lifelong impact on the victims. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 41 percent of women and 26 percent of men will experience it at some point in their lifetimes.
Physical violence can include firearm offences, for which women are often targeted by perpetrators due to their sex, and it’s regularly by people they know. According to a study published in 2016, around 4.5 million women had been threatened by an intimate partner with a gun, and almost 1 million had been non-fatally shot.
Winters never expected to be part of those statistics, but state law in Missouri permits people to carry concealed handguns in public without a license, and without any background checks. There is also no part of the law which prohibits domestic abusers from possessing guns, often putting their victims at risk.
The new mom was immediately taken to hospital where she underwent two heart surgeries, as well as surgery on her lung, face, and spine. The gunshots to her face had broken her cheekbone, causing the whites of her eye “to fall out,” leaving her blind in one eye and requiring a prosthetic eyeball.
In the aftermath, Winters was informed by local police that her ex had turned the gun on himself and ended his own life. The news only compounded her grief because he would never know what he put her through or face the repercussions.
“I was supposed to die, there’s no medical reason I should be here. I deserve for him to understand what he put me through, he’s never going to see my face and what he did to me.”
Abigail Winters pictured in hospital following the shooting in 2022. Winters required numerous surgeries following the shooting, which left her with permanent scarring on her face and without one eye. @snapbackssandtattoos
Experiencing an abusive or controlling relationship is traumatic and devastating for any individual to go through, which can have reverberations for years thereafter. Mental health administrator Alea Jackson encourages people to recognize the signs of coercive control early and to take action.
“This type of relationship creates an unequal power dynamic between the perpetrator and the victim. Many people report not recognizing the signs of controlling behavior because it may not include physical violence,” Jackson, of Riverside University Health Systems, told Newsweek.
“It involves a pattern of behaviors that goes beyond physical violence and strips the individual of their autonomy, leaving them feeling trapped and powerless.”
Warning signs of a controlling relationship may include:
Isolation
Monitoring and Surveillance
Manipulation and Gaslighting
Jealousy and Possessiveness
Micromanaging
Financial Control
Emotional Abuse
Threats and Intimidation
Sexual Coercion
Lack of Boundaries
Blaming and Shifting Responsibility
Emotional Rollercoaster
She encourages anyone who fears they may be experiencing this to seek help, in order to prevent further harm. She added that the pattern of behavior can lead to physical violence down the line, so understanding the signs early on is vital.
Abigail Winters, 23, pictured in the hospital following the shooting that took place in May 2022. Following the shooting, Winters required surgery on her heart, lung, and on her face, leaving her with permanent scarring. @snapbackssandtattoos
‘I Could Not Understand Why Someone Would Love Me’
Overcoming that trauma has been a constant battle for Winters, both physically and mentally. She has been left wondering why she survived and struggling to recover her sense of identity after being changed forever.
Winters told Newsweek: “It’s very strange to be a medical mystery, and I don’t really know why I’m here. I think it has something to do with the fact that I wasn’t ready to leave my boyfriend or my son. I knew that life still had more for me, and I knew that I could help people.”
As she reflects on that day she’s left with countless questions, but the one person who has been able to help her find resolve is Taylor, who stayed by her side throughout.
At first, she feared that the only reason Taylor stayed with her was “out of pity” and because he didn’t want to look bad for leaving. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth, and the recovery would have been very different if he wasn’t there to support her.
“I physically could not understand why somebody would love me. It’s very hard for me to love myself and I’m very insecure, as I struggle a lot with depression and PTSD. But I can see myself being happy in the future now, and that isn’t something I could ever foresee before.
“I definitely think it helps for Jordan and I to rely on each other. At the end of the day, he is there for me, and he loves me and he’s going to show me the kindness that I deserve.”
Abigail Winters, 23, pictured with her boyfriend Jordan Taylor, also 23. The couple met online shortly after Winters ended her previous relationship, and she felt an instant connection with him and she knew it was right. @snapbackssandtattoos / TikTok
The shooting didn’t only affect Winters, as she added that Taylor has also had to overcome a sense of guilt that he wasn’t there when she was shot. The young couple have lived through something that very few can understand, and relying on each other has helped create an unbreakable bond.
Not only has it improved her mental state, but it’s changed her goals for the future too.
“My relationship has changed the way I view the world. I know there’s kindness and there’s gentle love. My ex and I never kissed, we never held hands, we had no physical connection, but I have all of that with my boyfriend now,” Winters said.
“I never wanted this before in my life, but I want to get married now. I never wanted to be tied to someone like that before, as I didn’t want to feel as though I couldn’t escape. But now I do want that.”
‘I Want to Save One Person From Being Me’
In 2023, a year after the shooting, Winters shared her story in a series of TikTok videos (@snapbackssandtattoos) to answer people’s questions, and to shed light on her experience.
One of her most popular videos has been viewed more than 5.4 million times, and received over 267,000 likes, as Winters explained that sharing her story is “the only justice [she] will ever get.”
Abigail Winters, 23, pictured in hospital after the shooting, and beside her new partner. Winters claims that her ex grew jealous of her current relationship, leading to his devastating actions. @snapbackssandtattoos
Being so vulnerable and personal was a difficult decision at first, but connecting with other survivors has been so rewarding.
Winters told Newsweek: “Usually, I get very positive responses. I get survivors saying that they understand and telling me that they’re here for me, and they’ve been through it too. We’re all here to share our stories with each other and grow.
“I want to save one person from being me, and to show what could happen with an abusive relationship. I never thought that this would happen to me. I never thought that I would live and have to overcome all of this. I just want to let all the survivors know that you can do this, and you deserve love.”
Anyone seeking help should call The National Domestic Violence Hotline, a free and confidential hotline available 24/7 that can be reached on 1-800-799-7233 or TTY 1-800-787-3224. The Hotline also provides information on local resources. For more information, visit https://www.thehotline.org/.
Newsweek reached out to Kansas City Police Department on 10/17/23 to provide comment, but did not receive a response.
Have you noticed any red flags that made you end a relationship? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
President Joe Biden wrapped his visit to Israel on Wednesday with a show of support for the United States ally—along with a measured warning for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to de-escalate as his government forces lay siege to Gaza. “Justice must be done,” the president said, calling the October 7 Hamas sneak attack “Israel’s 9/11.” “But I caution this: While you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it.”
“You are a Jewish state, but you’re also a democracy,” Biden added. “And like the United States, you don’t live by the rules of terrorists. You live by the rule of law.”
The remarks came as Israeli forces bombard Gaza ahead of a possible ground invasion—and a day after a deadly blast at a Gaza hospital that has been point of dispute. Israel has denied responsibility, and Biden, during his visit, said that “it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.” Hamas officials, for their part, have insisted that the Israeli military was responsible for the attack.
The president has tried to walk a fine line between his steadfast support for Israel in the wake of tragedy and concerns about Netanyahu’s military response, which has now resulted in 3,500 deaths in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. “I think it’d be a big mistake” for Israeli forces to occupy Gaza, Biden said on 60 Minutes Sunday, as his administration pressed Netanyahu to allow aid into the embattled strip. His remarks in solidarity with Palestinian civilians Wednesday went a touch further—and came with a promise of $100 million in American aid to Gaza. “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people,” he said Wednesday.
But while the president explicitly warned Israel against repeating the US “mistakes” after 9/11, his tempered remarks didn’t go far enough: Not only did he decline to call for a ceasefire, as a growing number in his party are demanding; the US also rejected a United Nations Security Council resolution seeking a “humanitarian pause” in Gaza. Biden came to Israel with “tough questions” for his counterparts, the National Security Council’s John Kirbytold reporters on Air Force One Wednesday. But this crisis, which the World Health Organization said Wednesday is “spiraling out of control” in Gaza, calls for a lot less contemplation and a lot more action.
Still reeling from an explosion outside Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City, medical workers spoke of the destruction that left hundreds there dead. “We haven’t seen anything like this in our lives,” said one doctor.
[ad_2]
Soliman Hijjy, Mark Boyer, Chevaz Clarke and Neil Collier
Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that cannabidiol (CBD), often used to treat anxiety and nausea, can potentially harm a developing fetus.
The paper was published in Molecular Psychiatrytoday.
People consume cannabis or a non-psychoactive component cannabidiol (CBD) to help with nausea and anxiety during pregnancy because they think it is safe and healthy. But CBD crosses the placenta and accumulates in the fetal brain.
Until now, no one knew how fetal exposure to CBD affected brain development, said Emily Bates, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
“We found oral consumption of a high dose of CBD during pregnancy impaired problem solving in female mice,” said Bates, who worked with Karli Swenson, a graduate student in her lab.
Along with fellow researchers, Won Chan Oh, PhD, Luis Gomez-Wulschner and Victoria Hoelscher, the team discovered that fetal exposure to CBD reduced the excitability of the pre-frontal cortex, a part of the brain important for learning.
They also found that increased pain sensitivity occurred only in male mice while cognitive impairments happened only in females. Bates said more research is needed to understand why the effects of CBD are sex-specific.
The perceived benefits of CBD are widely accepted in the U.S. where many view it as a safe alternative for treating the nausea, anxiety, and pain associated with…
The New York Times gained rare access to a military field hospital in eastern Ukraine, capturing the relentless toll of Russia’s war through the eyes of frontline combat medics and wounded soldiers.
Police at the crash scene near Te Papa Museum in Wellington. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
Two people are in hospital, one in a critical condition, and two others have been arrested after a serious crash in Wellington early on Sunday morning.
Police were called to Cable St about 1.15am after a report of a car hitting two pedestrians.
The car then fled the scene, which is across the street from Te Papa Museum.
Car fled the scene after hitting and injuring two people. Photo / Ethan Griffiths
The two injured pedestrians were transported to hospital – one in a serious condition, and one critical.
When Tess Camp was pregnant with her second child, she knew she would need to get to the hospital fast when the baby came. Her first labor had been short for a first-time mother (seven hours), and second babies tend to be in more of a hurry. Even so, she was not prepared for what happened: One day, at 40 weeks, she started feeling what she thought was just pregnancy back pain. Then her water broke, and 12 minutes later, she was holding a baby in her arms.
Needless to say, she didn’t make it into the hospital in time. But the first contraction after Camp’s water broke at home had been so intense—“immediate horrific pain; I could barely talk”—that she and her husband rushed into the car. He drove through town like a madman, running red lights. They were turning into the ER when she saw the baby’s head between her legs. Her husband tore out of the car, yelling for help. A security guard ran over to a terrified Camp in the passenger’s seat, and in that moment, her son slipped out and into the security guard’s hands. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. An ER nurse finally appeared to take the baby—still blue and limp—and resuscitated him right on the curb.
What Camp experienced is called “precipitous labor,” when a baby is born after fewer than three hours of regular contractions. It is uncommon but not entirely rare, occurring in about 3 percent of deliveries, usually in second, third, or later labors. Having had a previous fast birth, like Camp did, increases the chances of a precipitous labor. But otherwise, doctors can’t predict for sure who will have one, especially among first-time moms with no previous birth experience. Like many topics in pregnancy and childbirth, precipitous labor remains understudied.
Counterintuitively, perhaps, an extremely fast labor is not always a better one. It can even be a terrible one. “It felt like being hit by a truck and dragged along behind,” says Stephanie Spitzer-Hanks, a doula and childbirth-class instructor who had precipitous labors with her two children. “People would tell me I was lucky, and I don’t feel like that. I tell my students, ‘I don’t really wish for you to have this kind of labor.’” In normal labor, each contraction gradually opens the cervix and prods the baby out. In a precipitous labor, the cervix still has to open just as wide, and the baby still has to move just as far—but in much less time. It’s like running the length of a marathon at the punishing pace of a sprint.
Babies born through precipitous labor tend to do just fine, but the process can be traumatic for the mother’s body. In the normal course of labor, says Tamika Auguste, an ob-gyn at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, the back-and-forth movement of the baby’s head during contractions stretches the perineum, a layer of tissue especially likely to tear in childbirth. In one study, precipitous labor multiplied the odds of a severe third-degree perineal tear by 25 and the odds of postpartum hemorrhaging by almost 35. (Precipitous labor is also responsible for one of the most horrifying case reports I have ever come across, whose title contains the phrase “severed external anal sphincter.”)
Even for ER doctors, “a precipitous delivery is right up there with some of the most stressful events that we managed,” says Joelle Borhart, an emergency-medicine doctor also at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. Precipitous labor can happen so fast that even if the mother makes it to the hospital, there is sometimes no time to transfer her from the ER to the labor-and-delivery unit. ER staff are trained in childbirth, but it’s not what they do on a daily basis. Borhart says the emergency department at her large hospital in Washington, D.C., gets about one case a month. Brian Sharp, an emergency-medicine physician at UW Health—a large academic hospital in Madison, Wisconsin—told me his hospital averages a little over once a year; the smaller community site where he also works just had their first case of precipitous labor in years. The rarity of these events means that hospitals aren’t always the most prepared. When Camp arrived with her baby almost born at the entrance of the ER, the hospital sent out the wrong code, mistakenly suggesting that there had been an abduction. No one from labor and delivery came to meet her, because they were counting babies to make sure none had gone missing. The hospital later reviewed her case, Camp told me, to figure how to improve the response in future situations.
All of this means that precipitous labor can be psychologically distressing too. When Bryn Huntpalmer, who runs the podcast The Birth Hour and a childbirth course, talks with postpartum mothers, “more times than not, the person who shares their precipitous labor has that shell-shocked view of it.” Some of the mothers I interviewed talked about feeling out of control and deeply disconnected from their bodies. “I couldn’t get words out. I couldn’t open my eyes. I couldn’t control what my arms were doing,” says Shannon Burke, who had a precipitous labor with her second child. “I couldn’t do anything.” For many people, the experience of childbirth is an experience of ceding control, of letting our most animal instincts take over. But in normal labor, this is at least a gradual process; you can joke and laugh and walk in the early phases, and only hours in, when you’ve mentally prepared yourself, do the screaming and vomiting take over. Burke remembers her 24-hour first labor fondly, in fact; she had spent the early phase at home with her mother and sister, readying the house for the baby. With her precipitous labor, she had no time for any of that. She plunged straight into full-blown pain.
“There’s no buildup to prepare your mind and body,” Huntpalmer, the podcaster who herself went through precipitous labor, told me. “Everything was so compressed.” But in talking about her experience—and talking since on The Birth Hour with hundreds of women about their experiences—she ultimately came to see her precipitous labor as affirming, too: Her body knew what to do. “It was so hands-off from my midwife. I was able to just kind of do it all myself,” she says. Emily Geller, who delivered her second baby during a precipitous labor in a car, told me the same. She had what she felt was an unnecessary C-section with her first child, so she wanted a natural vaginal birth this time—and she did have one, just faster than she planned. It was empowering, she said, to know that she could do it after all.
When Camp got pregnant with her third child, though, she did not want to give birth in the car again. Her husband was terrified too—he kept saying he was going to rent a trailer so they could spend the final weeks of her pregnancy sleeping in the hospital parking lot. “It’s $150 a week to rent a trailer,” she remembers him telling her. They didn’t do that, but she did schedule an induction at 39 weeks. Her daughter was born after two pushes.
At one point, the doctors overheard that the occupying authorities, appointed by the Russians in consultation with Ukrainian collaborators, had become unhappy with the arrangement of payments. So these authorities started pressuring Volodymyr Todosenko, the acting chief of the hospital, to reregister the facility, placing it under Russian jurisdiction. Todosenko’s saving grace: There was no coherent procedure for such a transfer, according to Ukrainian experts on the region, since the Russians, who had enough trouble running the war, had not set up a clear system for governing the area. To some of the members of Snihurivka’s medical team, this bureaucratic conundrum seemed like a bad joke reminiscent of a scene in a novel by Gogol.
Still, as hospital insiders recalled, the Russians persisted in trying to take over the monetary reins of the hospital and its employees. In the middle of August, these sources said, representatives of the occupying authorities came to Todosenko with a Russian FSB officer. The men went into Todosenko’s office while two men with rifles were positioned outside.
The Russian officer—according to Todosenko, whose account was later corroborated by others—said that after the weekend, the chief doctor or one of his designees was to go to Kherson and finally reregister the hospital as a Russian facility. “Otherwise,” the officer declared, “it will become an execution pit.”
Todosenko, chastened, considered his options. Only two other doctors remained in Snihurivka. And he could not imagine that Dvoretska, being a nurse, would be allowed to sign documents, given the hidebound traditions of Russian bureaucracy. Todosenko, sizing up the situation and realizing he had no easy choices left open to him, asked if he could resign and leave. He was informed that if that was his plan, he would first have to report to the so-called mayor of the occupying authorities. Todosenko said that this was indeed his plan. And, taking his leave of the Russian officer, he knew that in deciding to resign he would be risking detention, interrogation, and far worse. Even so, in the back of his mind he suspected that, given the institutionalized chaos of Russian governance, it would take weeks or months for Snihurivka to be reregistered.
Todosenko gathered the hospital staff to explain his decision. He said that his wife, a nurse, instrumental to the functioning of the hospital, needed to go with him as well. “We came to say goodbye and explain our actions,” he told the assembled teams. “We couldn’t just flee. But there was no choice left to us.” He promised to return as soon as he could.
It took the Todosenko family weeks to make it safely into government-controlled territory, including the time they spent in a processing center in the Zaporizhzhya region. And as he had hoped, the procedure for reregistering the hospital stalled, dragging on and on.
The passage of time proved to be a blessing for the Todosenkos—and the hospital. By November, a campaign by Ukrainian forces—coupled with a retreat by Russian troops, who refocused their efforts on the fighting to the east—put Snihurivka back in Ukrainian hands. And after nine devastating, grueling months, the town and hospital were liberated.
Shortly thereafter, the Todosenkos returned to their posts, even though the town still had no electricity or running water, and despite the fact that the region had been heavily mined and was not fully opened for civilians. They were among the exceptions. Of the prewar staff of 215 employees at Snihurivka hospital, only a small number came back. The rest had settled elsewhere, realizing that much of their town had been decimated and knowing the tragic consequences of life in a war zone.
Upon his return, Volodymyr Todosenko learned what had transpired in his absence. For the final three months of the occupation, Natalia Dvoretska, the chief nurse, took charge, even as tensions with the occupying forces remained high. “They hated us and this hospital so much,” recounted Natalia Libedenko, the head surgical nurse. “When there were signs they were leaving, me and Natalia Anatoliivna [Dvoretska] thought that they had left us for the end. Once, when they were walking around, searching, they told us they didn’t like how we behaved and said that the next time our staff didn’t smile at them, they’d undress us and chase us around the city naked.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Negotiations to keep about 10,000 New York City nurses from walking off the job headed into a final weekend as some major hospitals were already preparing Friday for a potential strike by sending ambulances elsewhere and transferring some patients, including vulnerable newborns.
The walkout could start early Monday at several private hospitals, including two of the city’s biggest: Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, each of which has more than 1,000 beds.
They and a handful of other hospitals are bargaining with nurses who want raises and an end to what they say are untenable staffing squeezes, nearly three years into the coronavirus pandemic.
“New York City hospitals have violated our trust through years of understaffing, and that understaffing has only gotten worse since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic,” nurses’ union President Nancy Hagans said at a news briefing Friday. “It’s time they come to the table and deliver the safe staffing standards that nurses and our patients deserve.”
Mount Sinai’s chief nursing officer, Fran Cartwright, acknowledged nurses are stretched thin. But she pointed to the pandemic’s disruptive sweep through people’s working lives, at bedsides and beyond.
“Our nurses are working with patients 24/7, so they’re feeling it, and I’m feeling it with them,” she said in an interview. “It takes years after a pandemic to add stability.”
FILE – Medical workers enter Montefiore Medical Center during the coronavirus pandemic, Friday, April 24, 2020, in the Bronx borough of New York. Negotiations to keep 10,000 New York City nurses from walking off the job headed Friday, Jna. 6, 2023, into a final weekend as some major hospitals braced for a potential strike by sending ambulances elsewhere and transferring such patients as vulnerable newborns. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
After shouldering health risks and huge workloads at the peak of the virus crisis, the profession is facing burnout that has driven many nurses into other jobs, or at least away from full-time hospital work.
Nurses at a Massachusetts hospital went on strike for nearly 10 months ending last January, marking the longest nursing walkout in state history. Thousands of nurses at two California hospitals were on strike for a week in May.
Talks took an acrimonious turn at Mount Sinai, where the union — the New York State Nurses Association — said management had walked away from the bargaining table shortly after midnight and called off negotiations Friday.
“Shame on you, Mount Sinai,” Hagans said.
The hospital retorted with a statement accusing the union of being “reckless” and “jeopardizing patients’ care.”
Mount Sinai said it offered a three-year series of pay raises totaling 19%, matching what the union recently achieved in tentative contract agreements reached with some other hospitals.
Cartwright said the talks hit a roadblock when management tried to move on to staffing and the union still wanted to discuss salaries. She said management was ready to resume talks once the union was willing to address other issues.
Mount Sinai said it started canceling some elective surgeries, diverting most ambulances and transferring some patients — including newborns in intensive care — from its flagship hospital and two affiliates, Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside. Each has about 500 beds.
Cartwright said the flagship was “heartbroken” about having to transfer patients, particularly the infants, but would ensure the right care for them and patients who remain.
Negotiations also continued at Montefiore and the roughly 850-bed BronxCare Health System, while Flushing Hospital Medical Center reached a tentative agreement with nurses Friday evening. Spokespeople for the union and for Flushing Hospital, a 300-bed facility in Queens, confirmed the deal but didn’t immediately release details.
Spokespeople for Montefiore and BronxCare had no immediate comment Friday.
BronxCare said Thursday it was confident about eventually reaching an agreement, while Montefiore Senior Vice President Joe Solmonese said nurses were rejecting a “generous” offer. He said it mirrored raises the union had agreed to elsewhere, while also adding 78 more emergency room nurses and making other increases in pay, benefits and staffing.
On Dec. 30 — a day before their contracts expired — the nurses gave 10 days’ notice of an intended strike. Such notice is legally required so hospitals have time to line up temporary replacements.
One big medical center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, reached a tentative agreement with the union the next day. Maimonides and Richmond University medical centers struck tentative deals Jan. 4.
But “it’s not just about compensation,” Hagans said at a briefing Thursday. “It’s about caring for our patients. It’s about safety.”
The nurses are pressing for commitments to what they consider gold-standard staffing levels, such as having at least one nurse for each of the sickest patients in intensive care, and one nurse to about four patients in a typical medical-surgical unit.
Meanwhile, negotiations also are ongoing with four Brooklyn private hospitals. Nurses there have yet to authorize a strike, though votes are in progress, Hagans said.
AND OVERDOSE CRISES. NEW IT’S SIX. ONE MAN IS IN THE HOSPITAL AFTER A HOUSE EXPLOSION IN SOUTHEAST IOWA. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS PICTURE. LESS THAN AN HOUR AGO, WE GOT THIS PHOTO FROM THE WAPO COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE. IT SHOWS A HOUSE IN SHAMBLES IN CHILLICOTHE. THIS HAPPENED AROUND NOON TODAY. CHILLICOTHE IS ABOUT 15 MINUTES NORTH OF OTTUMWA. MAN’S NAME IS NOT BEING SHARED RIGHT NOW. POLICE DO NOT KNOW THE CONDITION HE IS IN. HE WAS TAKEN TO A HOSPITAL. THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA HOSPITALS AND CLINICS. THE CAUSE OF THE EXPLOSION IS UNDE
Iowa man airlifted to the hospital after house explosion in Chillicothe
Updated: 7:11 PM CDT Oct 4, 2022
One man is in the hospital after a house explosion in southeast Iowa on Tuesday afternoon. The Wapello County Sheriff’s Office says that they received a call about a house that exploded at noon on Tuesday. They say the caller also stated a man was outside the house.When deputies arrived, they located a man near the residence. He was airlifted to the University of Iowa Hospitals. His name is not being released. His condition is unknown.Six different agencies responded to the explosion. The cause of the explosion is under investigation at this time.
CHILLICOTHE, Iowa —
One man is in the hospital after a house explosion in southeast Iowa on Tuesday afternoon.
The Wapello County Sheriff’s Office says that they received a call about a house that exploded at noon on Tuesday. They say the caller also stated a man was outside the house.
When deputies arrived, they located a man near the residence. He was airlifted to the University of Iowa Hospitals. His name is not being released. His condition is unknown.
Six different agencies responded to the explosion. The cause of the explosion is under investigation at this time.
DAVIE, Fla., November 17, 2020 (Newswire.com)
– Today, Spectra Baby USA, creators of Natural Nursing Technology, announce the launch of a NEW line of innovative products, including the Synergy Gold dual-powered electric breast pump, Simple Store feeding solution, and CaraCups wearable milk collection inserts.
Spectra Baby USA’s Synergy Gold provides breastfeeding moms with exclusive technology, allowing for individually tailored pumping sessions. This new design utilizes one separate motor for each side and is independently adjustable. Because of this, moms accustomed to single-pumping and alternating sides can now efficiently and effectively double-pump without compromising suction. Additionally, the Simple Store feeding solution and CaraCups wearable milk collection inserts are compatible with ALL Spectra breast pumps, providing moms with an enhanced pumping and feeding experience.
“Spectra is whole-heartedly committed to supporting every mom throughout their breastfeeding journey, and these products further enhance our mission to provide moms with the best and most up-to-date technology in the industry,” says CEO of Spectra Baby USA, Heidi Humphries. “We’re confident that this new line will simplify breastfeeding—essentially allowing moms to regain the precious time they rightfully deserve.”
Overview of Products:
Synergy Gold dual–powered electric breast pump: The SG is the first breast pump of its kind that permits dual settings, allowing moms to control each side independently. This new patent-pending technology promotes more productive pumping sessions that save time with comfort and ease.
Simple Store: The Simple Store feeding solution kit allows moms to pump, store, and feed from the same bag. Because the transfer of milk from one container to the next is no longer necessary, feeding sanitation is enhanced. The Simple Store Feeding Solution also includes a temperature sensor that indicates the ideal temperature for each feeding session.
CaraCups: CaraCups are designed to make hands-free pumping safe, convenient, and easy. CaraCups are a true closed-system and compatible with all Spectra breast pumps. CaraCups are placed in the bra, allowing moms to express breast milk hands-free.
As of November 27, 2020, The Synergy Gold electric breast pump ($325.00), Simple Store feeding solution ($24.99), and CaraCups ($75.00) will be available for pre-order exclusively on Spectra Baby USA’s website.
The Synergy Gold electric breast pump, Simple Store feeding solution, and CaraCups will be available in select retailers in early 2021.
About Spectra Baby USA
Women-owned, privately held and located in South Florida, Spectra Baby USA is a team of passionate moms, dads, daughters, and sons dedicated to supporting every mother on the beautiful journey of breastfeeding. Founded by Heidi Humphries in 2011, Spectra Baby USA is distinguished for its unique Natural Nursing Technology. Spectra imports and distributes top quality, high performing breast pumps, and accessories that have built a community of active supporters.
The Fund, fueled by donor investments entirely, will serve to create a not-for-profit Kid Ventures play space inside Rady Children’s Hospital
Press Release –
updated: Sep 25, 2019
SAN DIEGO, September 25, 2019 (Newswire.com)
– Kid Ventures will host their Back-to-School Party on Friday, Sept. 27 to inaugurate their Preschool Academy as well as officially kick off their new Fund, the Solomon Family Ventures Fund, a partnership with Rady Children’s Hospital to create a Kid Ventures-type play center inside the hospital.
Kid Ventures was founded by a local mom and dad, Debbie and Darren Solomon in 2008 with the intention to provide a space for children to build social and cognitive skills and stretch their imaginations and muscles in a clean and physically active environment. Debbie and Darren have also brought a ‘mobile Kid Ventures’ to Rady Children’s Hospital in past years which really brought about this vision.
“We are excited to partner with Kid Ventures to offer our patients an interactive play space to bring laughter, joy and much-needed diversion from daily Hospital routines,” said Nicholas Holmes, MD, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Rady Children’s. “The Solomon family has helped to serve countless children across San Diego for more than a decade. It seems only natural that Rady Children’s join their community dedicated to thoughtful, intentional play spaces.”
Kid Ventures has served many families across San Diego County fortunate enough to have healthy kids, and they feel the responsibility to use their skillset, resources and success to create a meaningful legacy. Thus, the Solomon Family Kid Ventures Fund was formed.
Through the creation of this fund, Kid Ventures wishes to bring play, learning and discovery to the kids at Rady Children’s Hospital. The Fund will be used to create an interactive play space for children and their caregivers to enjoy within the hospital campus. Rady Children’s Hospital provides care to 91 percent of the region’s children and more than 247,000 children rely on this hospital every year. Kid Ventures is committed to ensuring that these patients have an opportunity to just be kids during their hospital stay. Studies show that medical facilities yield better health outcomes for their patients when social and emotional elements are incorporated in the hospital environment. The indoor play space is projected to feature amenities like those in Kid Ventures, such as a market, fire station, and more.
“It gives us great satisfaction to know that we are playing a vital role in advancing Rady Children’s mission to restore, sustain and enhance the health and development potential of children through excellence in care, education, research and advocacy,” said Darren Solomon. “We hope to be a leading example of innovative and fun hospital care and inspire other hospitals across the country to do the same.”
Donor investments will fuel this project entirely, and Kid Ventures as well as Rady Children’s Hospital hope to receive help from members and businesses in the community to fund this special project.
To kick off fundraising, Kid Ventures is striving towards an initial goal of $10,000 to be raised at their event this September. The Back-to-School Party will take place on Friday, September 27 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and will feature a Hullabaloo Concert, tasty bites, activities/free play, and tours of the facilities.
Kid Ventures Preschool Academy, formerly Kid Ventures Liberty Station, is located at 2865 Sims Road.
For more information on Kid Ventures Preschool academy, visit www.indoorplaysandiego.com/preschool.
###
Rady Children’s Hospital
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego is the region’s pediatric medical center serving San Diego, Imperial and southern Riverside counties. Rady Children’s Hospital treats children from birth to 18 years old as well as a small number of adults with certain conditions for which we have specialized services.
Kid Ventures
Since 2008, Kid Ventures has provided the next generation in boutique-style indoor family enrichment, education and entertainment centers. Their facilities offer the perfect setting for children to explore and expand their imaginations and talents as parents delight in the experience. Kids play & learn in a fun and stimulating indoor play village, designed to stretch their creative muscles in a healthy and safe way.
/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/57GRAD6ERFHUDJWB23YHSDVMOY.jpg)
