TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 2007
Tuesday Edition: Prison Gray
The Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise examines how prisons are filling up with old folks. Not only are
seniors the fastest-growing age group in prison, but their health and dietary needs can make them expensive to
care for.
The story points out:
The 3,534 inmates older than 60, who are the
fastest-growing group in Texas' prisons, use health care resources at a rate of
four or five times that of younger offenders, according to statistics provided
by the University of Texas Medical Branch, which provides health care for all
prison inmates.
This accounts for costs eight to 10
times those for younger inmates.
The state pays UTMB $7.68 per day or
$2,803 per year for each inmate's medical needs. An inmate over 60 uses health
care resources at a rate of about $61 to $76 per day or $22,425 to $28,032 per
year.
Dr. Owen Murray, chief physician
executive of correctional managed care at UTMB, said the increase in older
inmates arises from a combination of longer sentences and the number of older
people who are being convicted.
With an inmate population of
151,500, Texas' prison system already is reaching the limits of its capacity of
156,000.
By 2011, the system is expected to
need an additional 11,000 beds to house inmates, Texas Department of Criminal
Justice spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said.
For correctional managed health
care, which includes geriatric care, the prison system is asking for $59.3
million.
For 2009, the legislative budget
board believes the prisons will need $62.7 million.
"The costs are driven by an
aging prison population," Lyons said.
FDA Approves Diet Pills for Dogs
Last week, the
Food and Drug Administration approved
the first-ever diet pill for dogs.
Slentrol, produced by
Pfizer Inc., is a response to increasing dog obesity. I bet this story would be popular with
your audiences.
The FDA says:
Surveys have found that approximately 5 percent of dogs in the United States are obese, and another 20 percent to 30 percent are overweight.
MedPage Today reports:
The FDA also warned that humans who
consume Slentrol may suffer abdominal distention, abdominal pain, diarrhea,
flatulence, headache, nausea, and vomiting.
Stephen Sundlof, D.V.M., Ph.D.,
director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said Slentrol is a "welcome addition to animal therapies, because dog obesity appears to be
increasing."
Slentrol is a new chemical entity,
called a selective microsomal triglyceride transfer protein inhibitor, which
blocks the assembly and release of lipoproteins into the bloodstream.
The mechanism for producing weight
loss is not completely understood, said the FDA, but seems to result from
reduced fat absorption and a satiety signal from lipid-filled cells lining the
intestine.
The drug is given to the dog in
varying amounts over the course of the treatment. The dog is given an initial
dose for the first 14 days. After that, veterinarians are advised to assess the
dog's progress at monthly intervals, adjusting the dose commensurately.
After the dog has achieved the goal
weight, the drug's manufacturer recommends continued use of the drug during a
three-month period, while the veterinarian and dog owner establish the optimal
level of food intake and physical activity needed to maintain the dog's weight.
How to care for an overweight
dog.
Dead People Parking
The Chicago Sun-Times
ran an awesome investigation Sunday that finds:
Disabled drivers in Chicago
can get a unique benefit from the city: For $70 and proof of disability, the
city will mark off a parking space steps from the person's door.
In 2006,
11,423 people participated, getting spaces on residential streets from Hegewisch to Rogers Park.
The only problem was, at least 260 of them were
dead.
A Sun-Times investigation found that the
spots sometimes remain for years after the disabled person has moved away or
died, calling into question how well the city is monitoring the program.
Many of the spaces wind up as complimentary reserved
parking for able-bodied relatives or new residents -- adding to the frustration
of neighbors trying to find a space.
The story includes lots of sidebars, including a list of the
people with permits [PDF] on every street in the city to allow readers to get micro-local.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting
is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials
from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis.
When the information comes directly from another source, it will be
attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is
fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the
original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 12:38:49 AM
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