Latest news with #pregnantWomen
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Lawsuit filed against Kansas law nullifying end-of-life choices for pregnant women
Three women and two physicians are suing to block a Kansas law that invalidates a pregnant woman's advance medical directive about end-of-life treatment. The plaintiffs — one of whom is currently pregnant — are challenging the constitutionality of a clause in the state's Natural Death Act that denies pregnant women the option to make advance directives to accept or refuse healthcare if they become incapacitated or terminally ill. Patient plaintiffs Emma Vernon, Abigail Ottaway and Laura Stratton and physician plaintiffs Michele Bennett and Lynley Holman filed the lawsuit on Thursday. It argues that the clause violates the right to personal autonomy, privacy, equal treatment and freedom of speech by ignoring the end-of-life decisions of pregnant women. Cdc Removes Covid Vaccine Recommendation For Healthy Children, Pregnant Mothers Vernon, the pregnant plaintiff, wrote an advance healthcare directive stating that, if pregnant and diagnosed with a terminal condition, she would only like to receive life-sustaining treatment if "there is a reasonable medical certainty" that her child would reach full term and be born "with a meaningful prospect of sustained life and without significant conditions that would substantially impair its quality of life." The lawsuit says her directive has not been "given the same deference the law affords to others who complete directives because of the Pregnancy Exclusion, and therefore she does not benefit from the same level of certainty that the directive otherwise provides." Read On The Fox News App All states have laws allowing people to write advance directives on the medical care they would like to receive if they become unable to make their own health decisions. Nine states, including Kansas, have clauses to invalidate a pregnant woman's advance directive. The physicians who joined the lawsuit said the law requires them to provide pregnant patients with a lower standard of care than other patients and opens them up to civil and criminal lawsuits as well as professional penalties. The lawsuit says the doctors "are deeply committed to the foundational medical principle that patients have a fundamental right to determine what treatment they receive, and that providing treatment without a patient's informed consent violates both medical ethics and the law." New Mom Furious At Husband For Choosing Friends And Barbecue Over Her And Their Newborn "Yet Kansas law compels them to disregard their patients' clearly expressed end-of-life decisions, forcing them to provide their pregnant patients with a lower standard of care than any of their other patients receive," it continues. "It demands this diminished care without offering any clarity on what end-of-life treatment they are required to provide—leaving them to guess at what the law expects while exposing them to civil, criminal, and professional consequences for getting it wrong." The defendants in the lawsuit are Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, Kansas State Board of Healing Arts President Richard Bradbury and Douglas County District Attorney Dakota article source: Lawsuit filed against Kansas law nullifying end-of-life choices for pregnant women
The Independent
3 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Remember Zika virus? Hawaii confirms case after six years of no known exposures
Hawaii officials are investigating a confirmed travel-related case of Zika virus on the island of Oʻahu, reigniting concerns over the mosquito-borne illness that once made global headlines. While this means the Zika virus was not acquired on the island, two other people are also being monitored for potential exposure to the virus, the state's Department of Health said. The Independent contacted representatives from the department for more information. Hawaiian officials are also working to identify potential mosquito breeding sites and urging the public to take precautions, particularly as summer travel and tourism reach their peak. They ask that the public eliminate standing water around homes and use mosquito repellent, especially during dawn and dusk when pests are most active. Zika virus is primarily transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes, but can also be spread through sexual contact. The virus can pose significant health risks, especially for pregnant women. Symptoms of the Zika virus - including fever, rash, joint pain and red eye - are generally mild. They may go unnoticed in many cases, with only one in five people infected with Zika developing symptoms, according to the Cleveland Clinic. However, because symptoms can be similar to those of other mosquito-borne illnesses, such as dengue or chikungunya, proper diagnosis by a healthcare provider is essential, especially for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. Hawaii last reported a travel-related Zika case in 2019, with the highest number of cases, 25, occurring in 2017 when fears of the virus dominated headlines. No locally acquired Zika cases have ever been documented in the state, the HDOH says. The Zika virus attracted international attention nearly a decade ago due to its link to severe birth defects, most notably microcephaly in infants born to mothers infected during pregnancy. The virus prompted global public health responses, especially in the Americas and Southeast Asia.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
Covid-19 shots for healthy children remain on CDC vaccine schedule despite Kennedy's pledge to remove them
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its immunization schedule for children after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s announcement this week that Covid-19 vaccines would be removed from the list of recommended shots for healthy children and pregnant women. However, the vaccines remain on the schedule for kids, although with a slightly different designation. Instead of being listed as 'recommended' by the CDC, they are now listed as 'recommended vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making,' meaning healthy children – those who don't have an underlying condition that raises their risk of severe illness – can get the shots after consulting with a health care provider. According to the CDC, such a provider would be anyone who routinely administers vaccines, including doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and pharmacists. A vaccine listed on the schedule in this category is required to be covered by insurance with no cost-sharing, meaning no co-pays for patients, according to the CDC. Many of the agency's information pages continue to recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant women, but the adult immunization schedule has been changed to specify that the recommendation applies only to adults who aren't pregnant. 'The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,' HHS press officer Emily Hilliard said in a statement Friday. 'The CDC and HHS encourage individuals to talk with their healthcare provider about any personal medical decision. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship. If a parent desires their healthy child to be vaccinated, their decision should be based on informed consent through the clinical [judgment] of their healthcare provider,' the statement said. The change to the vaccine schedule comes days after Kennedy posted a video on social media saying it had happened. 'As of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,' Kennedy said in the video Tuesday, standing beside FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. 'Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another Covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.' The announcement was met with dismay from parents and pediatricians who feared that kids and pregnant women might lose insurance coverage for the vaccines. 'It's been a bit disheartening, to be honest,' said Fatima Ka, co-founder of the nonprofit grassroots group Protect Their Future, which advocated for kids' access to Covid-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic. 'A lot of parents right now have been doing everything they can. They've been calling their representatives, their health departments, anyone who will listen, anyone who is accountable to the public. And it just felt like today we were heard even if it was in a small way,' Ka told CNN. Kids can become severely ill with Covid-19, especially if they're younger than 5. Data presented at the last meeting of the CDC's independent vaccine advisers showed that children 4 and under were hospitalized with Covid at roughly the same rate over the past two respiratory seasons as they were with the flu, and it was a severe influenza season. Fewer than 5% of children hospitalized with Covid-19 last season were up to date on their Covid-19 vaccinations. Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the updated recommendation – which preserves insurance coverage for the vaccines – was a relief. 'After confusing, mixed messages from leaders at Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week, we are relieved to see today that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its schedules for child and adolescent immunizations to allow families to maintain the choice to immunize their children against Covid in consultation with their doctor,' Kressly said in a statement. 'However, the deeply flawed process to reach the recommendation raises serious concerns about the stability of the nation's immunization infrastructure and commitment by federal leaders to make sure families can access critical immunizations, whether for Covid or other infectious diseases,' she added. Pregnancy is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 infections. Early in the pandemic, CDC studies found that pregnant women with Covid were three times more likely to need ICU care and nearly twice as likely to die compared with those who weren't pregnant. Covid infections during pregnancy have also been linked to fetal complications such as stillbirth and preterm delivery. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said it would continue to recommend that people who are pregnant be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'Maternal immunization remains the best way to reduce maternal, fetal, and infant complications from COVID-19 infection, and is safe to be given at any point during pregnancy. Maternal immunization is also associated with improved infant outcomes and decreased complications, including maternal and infant hospitalizations,' the group said in a statement.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
Covid-19 shots for healthy children remain on CDC vaccine schedule despite Kennedy's pledge to remove them
Vaccines Respiratory viruses Children's health Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its immunization schedule for children after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s announcement this week that Covid-19 vaccines would be removed from the list of recommended shots for healthy children and pregnant women. However, the vaccines remain on the schedule for kids, although with a slightly different designation. Instead of being listed as 'recommended' by the CDC, they are now listed as 'recommended vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making,' meaning healthy children – those who don't have an underlying condition that raises their risk of severe illness – can get the shots after consulting with a health care provider. According to the CDC, such a provider would be anyone who routinely administers vaccines, including doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and pharmacists. A vaccine listed on the schedule in this category is required to be covered by insurance with no cost-sharing, meaning no co-pays for patients, according to the CDC. Many of the agency's information pages continue to recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant women, but the adult immunization schedule has been changed to specify that the recommendation applies only to adults who aren't pregnant. 'The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,' HHS press officer Emily Hilliard said in a statement Friday. 'The CDC and HHS encourage individuals to talk with their healthcare provider about any personal medical decision. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship. If a parent desires their healthy child to be vaccinated, their decision should be based on informed consent through the clinical [judgment] of their healthcare provider,' the statement said. The change to the vaccine schedule comes days after Kennedy posted a video on social media saying it had happened. 'As of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,' Kennedy said in the video Tuesday, standing beside FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. 'Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another Covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.' The announcement was met with dismay from parents and pediatricians who feared that kids and pregnant women might lose insurance coverage for the vaccines. 'It's been a bit disheartening, to be honest,' said Fatima Ka, co-founder of the nonprofit grassroots group Protect Their Future, which advocated for kids' access to Covid-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic. 'A lot of parents right now have been doing everything they can. They've been calling their representatives, their health departments, anyone who will listen, anyone who is accountable to the public. And it just felt like today we were heard even if it was in a small way,' Ka told CNN. Kids can become severely ill with Covid-19, especially if they're younger than 5. Data presented at the last meeting of the CDC's independent vaccine advisers showed that children 4 and under were hospitalized with Covid at roughly the same rate over the past two respiratory seasons as they were with the flu, and it was a severe influenza season. Fewer than 5% of children hospitalized with Covid-19 last season were up to date on their Covid-19 vaccinations. Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the updated recommendation – which preserves insurance coverage for the vaccines – was a relief. 'After confusing, mixed messages from leaders at Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week, we are relieved to see today that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its schedules for child and adolescent immunizations to allow families to maintain the choice to immunize their children against Covid in consultation with their doctor,' Kressly said in a statement. 'However, the deeply flawed process to reach the recommendation raises serious concerns about the stability of the nation's immunization infrastructure and commitment by federal leaders to make sure families can access critical immunizations, whether for Covid or other infectious diseases,' she added. Pregnancy is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 infections. Early in the pandemic, CDC studies found that pregnant women with Covid were three times more likely to need ICU care and nearly twice as likely to die compared with those who weren't pregnant. Covid infections during pregnancy have also been linked to fetal complications such as stillbirth and preterm delivery. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said it would continue to recommend that people who are pregnant be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'Maternal immunization remains the best way to reduce maternal, fetal, and infant complications from COVID-19 infection, and is safe to be given at any point during pregnancy. Maternal immunization is also associated with improved infant outcomes and decreased complications, including maternal and infant hospitalizations,' the group said in a statement.
CNN
3 days ago
- General
- CNN
Covid-19 shots for healthy children remain on CDC vaccine schedule despite Kennedy's pledge to remove them
Vaccines Respiratory viruses Children's health Federal agenciesFacebookTweetLink Follow The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its immunization schedule for children after US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s announcement this week that Covid-19 vaccines would be removed from the list of recommended shots for healthy children and pregnant women. However, the vaccines remain on the schedule for kids, although with a slightly different designation. Instead of being listed as 'recommended' by the CDC, they are now listed as 'recommended vaccination based on shared clinical decision-making,' meaning healthy children – those who don't have an underlying condition that raises their risk of severe illness – can get the shots after consulting with a health care provider. According to the CDC, such a provider would be anyone who routinely administers vaccines, including doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and pharmacists. A vaccine listed on the schedule in this category is required to be covered by insurance with no cost-sharing, meaning no co-pays for patients, according to the CDC. Many of the agency's information pages continue to recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for pregnant women, but the adult immunization schedule has been changed to specify that the recommendation applies only to adults who aren't pregnant. 'The old COVID-19 vaccine recommendations for healthy children under 18 and for pregnant women have been removed from the CDC vaccine schedule,' HHS press officer Emily Hilliard said in a statement Friday. 'The CDC and HHS encourage individuals to talk with their healthcare provider about any personal medical decision. Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, HHS is restoring the doctor-patient relationship. If a parent desires their healthy child to be vaccinated, their decision should be based on informed consent through the clinical [judgment] of their healthcare provider,' the statement said. The change to the vaccine schedule comes days after Kennedy posted a video on social media saying it had happened. 'As of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the CDC recommended immunization schedule,' Kennedy said in the video Tuesday, standing beside FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. 'Last year, the Biden administration urged healthy children to get yet another Covid shot, despite the lack of any clinical data to support the repeat booster strategy in children.' The announcement was met with dismay from parents and pediatricians who feared that kids and pregnant women might lose insurance coverage for the vaccines. 'It's been a bit disheartening, to be honest,' said Fatima Ka, co-founder of the nonprofit grassroots group Protect Their Future, which advocated for kids' access to Covid-19 vaccines throughout the pandemic. 'A lot of parents right now have been doing everything they can. They've been calling their representatives, their health departments, anyone who will listen, anyone who is accountable to the public. And it just felt like today we were heard even if it was in a small way,' Ka told CNN. Kids can become severely ill with Covid-19, especially if they're younger than 5. Data presented at the last meeting of the CDC's independent vaccine advisers showed that children 4 and under were hospitalized with Covid at roughly the same rate over the past two respiratory seasons as they were with the flu, and it was a severe influenza season. Fewer than 5% of children hospitalized with Covid-19 last season were up to date on their Covid-19 vaccinations. Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the updated recommendation – which preserves insurance coverage for the vaccines – was a relief. 'After confusing, mixed messages from leaders at Health and Human Services (HHS) earlier this week, we are relieved to see today that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its schedules for child and adolescent immunizations to allow families to maintain the choice to immunize their children against Covid in consultation with their doctor,' Kressly said in a statement. 'However, the deeply flawed process to reach the recommendation raises serious concerns about the stability of the nation's immunization infrastructure and commitment by federal leaders to make sure families can access critical immunizations, whether for Covid or other infectious diseases,' she added. Pregnancy is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 infections. Early in the pandemic, CDC studies found that pregnant women with Covid were three times more likely to need ICU care and nearly twice as likely to die compared with those who weren't pregnant. Covid infections during pregnancy have also been linked to fetal complications such as stillbirth and preterm delivery. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine said it would continue to recommend that people who are pregnant be vaccinated against Covid-19. 'Maternal immunization remains the best way to reduce maternal, fetal, and infant complications from COVID-19 infection, and is safe to be given at any point during pregnancy. Maternal immunization is also associated with improved infant outcomes and decreased complications, including maternal and infant hospitalizations,' the group said in a statement.
