Daily Rounds: Boston Paramedic Tampering; Gay 'Cure' Ban; Dismayed By Uninsured; Drug Warning Delays

Boston to tell 57 they may have been infected by paramedic (The Boston Globe) - "Boston health officials over the weekend began notifying 57 people who, they say, may have been exposed to blood-borne illnesses in the summer of 2011 when they were treated by a city ambulance paramedic now believed to have tampered with vials of painkillers and sedatives. The paramedic, whom officials declined to identify, is believed to have tampered with the powerful drugs during a six-week period in the summer of 2011, but officials said they could not be more specific about the exact dates because of an ongoing criminal investigation. No charges have been filed against the paramedic."

California is first state to ban gay 'cure' for minors (The New York Times) - "California has become the first state to ban the use for minors of disputed therapies to “overcome” homosexuality, a step hailed by gay rights groups across the country that say the therapies have caused dangerous emotional harm to gay and lesbian teenagers. “This bill bans nonscientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide,” Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement on Saturday after he signed the bill into law. “These practices have no basis in science or medicine, and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.”

Doctor: Dismaying number of uninsured Kentuckians (Courier-Journal) "Since moving to Louisville from Boston earlier this year, I have been dismayed and embarrassed by the number of Kentuckians without health insurance. Since 2006 when Mitt Romney signed into law a virtual twin of the Affordable Care Act, approximately 95 percent of the Massachusetts population has been insured. In my Boston practice, then, I was unaccustomed to caring for people without insurance, and my support for national coverage expansion was firm but hypothetical. In my academic clinic at the University of Louisville, however, I am confronted daily with people in need who are unable to afford even basic services."

Related: Health care reform — two sides of the canvas.

Son blames drug warning delays for mom's death (CBC) - "An Ontario man whose mother died from a heart attack after taking a popular anti-depressant believes she would still be alive if she'd been warned about the drug’s known dangers. “She deserved better,” said Mike Schoger, an engineer from the Chatham area, whose 75-year old mother Trudy died in December, just hours after taking her first dose of Cipralex. “Health Canada knew there were issues for months [before fully warning the public],” said Schoger. Trudy Schoger was on a diuretic, but otherwise healthy, when she was prescribed Cipralex for depression. The day she died, her son found her writhing in pain on her bed."