Worldwide Healthcare Headlines of the Week - MedPage Today

The good, the bad, and the ugly in healthcare this week.

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Pope Francis has been discharged following hernia repair surgery for a painful intestinal blockage. (CNN)

The FDA's vaccine advisors recommended the updated fall COVID-19 vaccine only target the XBB strains.

Meanwhile, new CDC data showed the bivalent booster in people 65 and up offered strong protection against COVID-related deaths over 6 months. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)

Suicides and homicides of people ages 10 to 24 rose in recent years, according to CDC data.

A Kansas neurologist drowned after saving his daughter who was trapped under an overturned raft in a river in Colorado. (AP)

Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced a new bill to fund abortion care education for ob/gyn trainees whose states have banned the procedure. (NPR)

Round two? New Yorkers may see more orange skies from wildfire smoke. (Patch)

A Colorado plastic surgeon was found guilty of attempted reckless manslaughter following the death of an 18-year-old patient who went into cardiac arrest during breast augmentation surgery. (Denver Post)

In a survey of former NFL players, Black respondents reported an increased burden of pain compared with their white counterparts. (Pain)

Meningococcal disease cases surged among among people with HIV in 2022. (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report)

Only 39% of U.S. adults said they had "a great deal of confidence" in the scientific community in 2022, according to a NORC poll, down from 48% in 2018 and 2021. (AP)

Kaiser Permanente was fined nearly half a million dollars for violating the confidentiality of thousands of enrollees, according to the California Department of Managed Health Care.

A former Southern California EMT was sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison after selling a fatal dose of fentanyl to a coworker. (CBS Los Angeles)

Seventy bipartisan members of Congress penned a letter to the FDA and HHS demanding more information on the cancer drug shortages.

The Biden administration asked Republican-run states to pare back on their Medicaid cuts. (HuffPost)

The White House's "summit" on naloxone pricing will be missing two big organizations centered on cheaper overdose-reversal medications. (STAT)

In clinical trial news, investigational reproxalap-based eye drops succeeded in a phase III study of allergic conjunctivitis, Aldeyra Therapeutics said.

And enrollment of two studies testing investigational upifitamab rilsodotin in ovarian cancer was halted after five bleeding-related deaths, said Mersana Therapeutics.

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson repeatedly lied to his colleagues in Parliament about breaking COVID lockdown rules, according to a new report. (NPR)

Weekly alcohol intake was linked with 61 different diseases in men, a study of half a million adults in China found. (Fox News)

Beijing will start covering expenses for 16 types of assisted reproduction technology as China seeks to boost its dwindling birth rate. (Reuters)

Kristen Monaco is a senior staff writer at MedPage Today, focusing on endocrinology, psychiatry, and nephrology medical news. Based out of the New York City office, she has worked at the company since 2015, originally having started off in the video production department. After her transition to writing, she managed a long-standing partnership newsletter with the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and was the 2017 recipient of the North American Menopause Society’s media award. She’s also a co-producer of MedPage Today’s medical storyteller podcast, Anamnesis. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a double minor in anthropology and criminal justice from The George Washington University, and is a fellow of the National Press Foundation.