Birth control implants urged for teenage girls
Birth control implants urged for teenage girls
CHICAGO (AP) — Teen girls who have sex should use IUDs or hormonal implants — long-acting birth control methods that are effective, safe and easy to use, the nation’s most influential pediatricians’ group recommends.
In an updated policy, the American Academy of Pediatrics says condoms also should be used every time teens have sex, to provide protection against sexually transmitted diseases other forms of birth control don’t provide, and to boost chances of preventing pregnancy.
Condoms alone are the most common birth control choice among teens, but with typical use they’re among the least effective methods at preventing pregnancy. Both long-acting methods are nearly 100 percent effective, with lower failure rates than birth control pills, patches and injections, the academy says.
IUDs and hormonal implants cost more, usually hundreds of dollars, because inserting them involves a medical procedure typically done in doctors’ offices. But they’re less expensive in the long run than over-the-counter condoms or prescription birth control pills, said Dr. Mary Ott, an adolescent medicine specialist and associate pediatrics professor at Indiana University. She is the policy statement’s lead author.
Teens have to remember to use pills and condoms consistently. By contrast, IUDs typically work for three to 10 years after insertion, while implants typically last three years.
The new guidance was published Monday in Pediatrics. It echoes 2012 recommendations from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The policy emphasizes abstinence is 100 percent effective at preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and says pediatricians should encourage teens to delay sexual activity “until they are ready.” But since many teens don’t heed that advice, the policy also says pediatricians need to provide birth control guidance.
VA settles complaints by 3 whistleblowers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Veterans Affairs Department said Monday it settled complaints filed by three employees who faced retaliation after filing whistleblower complaints about the troubled Phoenix VA hospital.
The employees were among the first to report widespread wrongdoing at the Phoenix hospital, including chronic delays for veterans seeking care and falsified waiting lists covering up those delays. Similar problems soon were identified at other VA medical facilities across the country in a scandal that forced the ouster of former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and a new law overhauling the agency and making it easier to fire senior officials.
Dr. Katherine Mitchell, a former co-director of emergency care at the Phoenix hospital; Paula Pedene, the hospital’s former chief spokeswoman; and Damian Reese, a program analyst, all filed retaliation complaints with the independent Office of Special Counsel. The counsel’s office and the VA announced the settlements Monday in separate statements.
The three employees will remain with the VA and received what the special counsel’s office called “full and fair relief.” Exact terms of the settlements were not disclosed, although at least two of the cases include financial payments to the employees.
The settlements are the first reached by the special counsel’s office since a national uproar this spring about reports of excessive wait times and manipulation of appointment records at VA facilities across the country. The special counsel’s office is investigating more than 125 complaints of retaliation at the VA following employee allegations about improper patient scheduling, understaffing and other problems at the VA’s 970 hospitals and clinics nationwide.
Death toll from GM ignition switches at 23
DETROIT (AP) — At least 23 people have died and 16 people seriously injured in crashes involving General Motors cars with defective ignition switches.
Attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM to compensate victims, updated the totals in an Internet posting Monday.
Feinberg says he has received 153 death claims since August. Of those, 23 were deemed eligible for compensation payments, up from 21 last week.
Sixteen of the 714 injury claimants also received compensation offers.
GM acknowledged it knew about faulty ignition switches in Chevrolet Cobalts and other small cars for more than a decade. Yet, it didn’t recall them until February of this year. The switches can slip out of the “on” position, which causes the cars to stall, knocks out power steering and turns off the air bags.
Feinberg, who previously handled payments to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the BP oil spill, began accepting claims Aug. 1 and set a deadline of Dec. 31. He said GM hasn’t placed any limit on the amount of money that can be spent on settlements. GM set aside $400 million for compensation, but says that could grow to $600 million.
Also Monday, the family of a 7-year-old New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, boy who was injured in a crash caused by a faulty switch, accepted a settlement offer from Feinberg. Attorney Robert Hilliard said in a statement that the family of Trenton Buzard, who is now 7 years old, agreed to the undisclosed offer.
The settlement stems from an April 2, 2009 crash in which Trenton suffered spinal injuries that left him paralyzed from the chest down. According to his family’s lawsuit against GM, Trenton, who was almost 2 years old at the time, was strapped into a car seat in a 2005 Cobalt driven by his great-grandmother, Esther Mathews.
As Mathews drove near Knox, Pa., northeast of Pittsburgh, she tried to avoid another car that she perceived was approaching in her lane. But when she tried to maneuver out of trouble, the Cobalt’s faulty ignition switch caused the car to stall and lose power-assisted steering, according to the lawsuit. “This defective condition directly resulted in a loss of power exactly at the time and place where Esther Mathews most needed these essential functions to avoid this collision and/or lessen the impact,” the lawsuit stated.
The right front of the Cobalt struck the other vehicle, killing Mathews and severely injuring Trenton.
Hilliard said the settlement makes sure that Trenton receives medical care and improved mobility and quality of life.
Trenton’s family is the fourth Hilliard client to settle with Feinberg since the first 15 settlement offers went out last week.
Number of US kids in foster care up after long dip
After dropping for seven straight years, the number of U.S. children in foster care rose slightly last year, according to new federal figures released Monday.
The annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services tallied 402,378 children in the foster care system as of September 30, 2013, up from about 397,000 a year earlier, but still down dramatically from a decade earlier. The peak was 524,000 children in foster care in 2002, and the number had dropped steadily since 2005.
The long-term drop resulted primarily from a shift in the policies and practices of state and county child welfare agencies. Many shortened stays in foster care, expedited adoptions and expanded preventive support for troubled families so more children avoided being removed from home in the first place.
“While we have seen these national numbers hold steady over the past few years, it’s important to note that there is great variation among states and many are still reducing their foster care populations,” said JooYeun Chang, associate commissioner of HHS’s Administration on Children, Youth and Families.
The average length of stay in foster care has been reduced by more than 10 percent since 2002, according to the report. The mean stay is now 21.8 months.
Of the children in foster care a year ago, 52 percent were boys. Twenty-two percent were Hispanic, 24 percent black and 42 percent white; 101,840 of them were available for adoption.
During the 2013 fiscal year, 50,608 children were adopted from foster care, down from 52,042 in 2012, while 23,090 youths in their late teens aged out of the system without being placed with a permanent family.
Boosting the number of adoptions is one of the goals of a multifaceted bill that won final congressional approval on Sept. 18.
Titled the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, it seeks to improve the system of offering incentives to states for facilitating adoptions out of foster care. Among its other provisions, the bill would require state child welfare agencies to promote “normalcy” for youth in foster care — allowing them to more easily participate in age-appropriate social and academics activities.
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