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DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT LATE ABORTION DOCTOR WHO HOARDED FETAL REMAINS: The abortion doctor who stashed more than 2,245 fetal remains in his garage also hoarded personal property throughout his home in Crete, Illinois, leading to a weeklong investigation by police who remain bewildered about his motives.
Officials from Will County, Illinois, are transferring the investigation into Dr. Ulrich “George” Klopfer to Indiana, where Klopfer used to perform abortions before he lost his medical license roughly three years before his death. Klopfer died Sept. 3 at age 75, and the coroner, Patrick O’Neil, would say only that he appears to have died of natural causes.
One of the Indiana clinics where Klopfer practiced for decades was in South Bend. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend since 2012 and a 2020 Democratic candidate said Wednesday: “There’s no question that what happened is disturbing. It’s unacceptable.” Vice President Mike Pence, who used to be Indiana’s governor, tweeted that Klopfer’s “actions should be fully and thoroughly investigated.”
Kevin Bolger, the attorney representing Klopfer’s wife, Sherry, told the Washington Examiner that the garage where the remains were discovered was so full of personal belongings that people couldn’t open the door to walk into it. The rest of the house was similar.
“He was a hoarder and the house was floor to ceiling piled with garbage and boxes, old TVs, typewriters, and computers, you name it … You can barely walk down the hallways in the home,” Bolger said.
Police confirmed Thursday at a press conference that they had not found fetal remains elsewhere in the house or on the property. They also did not find evidence that Klopfer performed abortions at his home.
The findings in Illinois have bolstered abortion foes nationwide who call for tighter restrictions and oversight on the procedure. It has also edged into the 2020 presidential election because one of Klopfer’s clinics that was shut down by authorities was in Buttigieg’s hometown.
When Pence was Indiana’s governor he signed a bill into law that mandated abortion clinics bury or cremate fetal remains. The law wasn’t in effect when Klopfer practiced because it was being contested in court, but the Supreme Court upheld the law earlier this year and the latest discovery at Klopfer’s home could strengthen the push for similar legislation in other states.
Read more about what we uncovered.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
TRUMP GIVES SHOUT-OUT TO PELOSI DRUG PRICE BILL: The president tweeted Thursday that it was “great to see” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveil a bill to lower drug prices, but that he liked another bill that had advanced in the Senate “very much.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley tweeted Thursday afternoon that he met with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar about the bill, but it’s not yet clear whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring it to the full floor for a vote.
FDA SETS RULES FOR E-CIGARETTES TO GET APPROVED: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released guidance about what e-cigarette manufacturers would need to demonstrate when they apply for review with the agency. They will need to provide all of their ingredients, to show that people who aren’t current vapers, including kids, wouldn’t take it up, and to show that former smokers would stop using combustible cigarettes. In the weeks ahead the FDA is going to release its plan to take flavored e-cigarettes off the market.
VAPING-RELATED LUNG INJURIES RISE: The number of cases of lung injuries confirmed as or deemed probably associated with vaping both nicotine and THC have risen from 380 to 530 as of Sept. 17. Dr. Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer and state epidemiologist of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the number of cases in Illinois alone have risen to 69 this week from 54 in previous weeks.
“Not one product or one substance seen in all cases,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. “We need to see what common threads emerge during product analysis.”
FDA laboratories are looking at 150 samples from different patients, an increase from 120 samples. Researchers have recently found vitamin E acetate in samples. Zeller declined to add what else researchers have found that could be poisonous.
“This is an ongoing outbreak, not something we can consider completed,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Principal deputy director Dr. Anne Schuchat told reporters. “There continue to be people with new symptoms onset.”
MAJOR MEDIA CONGLOMERATES PULL ADS FROM E-CIGARETTE MAKERS: CBS, WarnerMedia, and Viacom have all decided to drop the ads from Juul and other companies in the e-cigarette industry. WarnerMedia, the parent company of CNN, is removing the ad spots from their entire portfolio of networks, including TNT and TBS, because of recent warnings from the Centers for Disease Control, the American Medical Association, and the American Lung Association. CNN said last week it would end advertisements from Juul and other e-cigarette companies.
A spokesperson for Viacom, which owns MTV, CMT, BET, and Nickelodeon, said the media company decided to cease airing e-cigarette ads immediately “after reviewing the recent reports regarding the potentially serious health threats posed” by the products.
BUTTIGIEG CALLS WARREN ‘EVASIVE’ ON MEDICARE FOR ALL: Buttigieg went after fellow contender Elizabeth Warren for being “extremely evasive” about how she’d finance her “Medicare for all” plan.
On the Late Night with Stephen Colbert Wednesday, Warren explained her plan and claimed it would provide savings for families, but stopped short of answering Colbert’s question of whether taxes on the middle class would increase.
“Why you wouldn’t just say so and then explain why you think that’s the better way forward?” Buttigieg asked, noting that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has acknowledged that his Medicare for All Act would raise taxes across the board. “Look, people are used to Washington politicians not giving straight answers to simple questions.”
ALABAMA GOVERNOR REVEALS SHE HAS LUNG CANCER: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a 74-year-old Republican, announced Thursday that her doctor found a “tiny, isolated malignancy” on her lung. Ivey said her doctors have assured her that treatment will most likely be successful. Outpatient treatment begins Friday. Ivey said: “None of this will prevent me from continuing to serve as your governor and doing the work you elected me to do.”
COSMETIC SURGEONS SAY THERE’S NO QUESTION BIDEN GOT A FACE LIFT: Cosmetics surgeons say Joe Biden definitely underwent a face lift. Large vertical scars beginning at the top of the outside of Biden’s ear canal to roughly a half inch below the lobe can be seen on both sides of his face, indicative of a facelift carried out before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign, according to leading cosmetic surgeons. “Oh he’s had a facelift, there’s no question,” said leading New York-based cosmetic surgeon Dr. Arthur Perry, who is also an associate adjunct professor at Columbia Medical School. Perry described the size of Biden’s incisions as “incredible” and “fairly recent.”
LISTERIA IS RAVAGING SPAIN WITH 222 CONFIRMED CASES: The bacterial infection listeria has hit Spain hard, primarily in the southern region of Andalucía. Of the 222 confirmed cases, three elderly Spaniards have died and six women have endured miscarriages related to the illness. The outbreak is blamed on a brand of carne mechada, shredded beef marketed and sold in Spain.
The Rundown
CNBC Missouri man dies from vaping-related illness, bringing US death toll to eight
The New York Times Is America’s healthcare system a fixer-upper or a teardown?
NBC News A devastating diagnsis: Doctors trained to spot child abuse can save lives. But when they get it wrong, families are torn apart
Modern Healthcare Dialysis centers claim patients lose with new mandatory payments
The Wall Street Journal Altria’s bet on e-cigarettes is burning its stock
Reuters Trump signs order aimed at development of better flu vaccines
Calendar
SUNDAY | Sept. 22
Sept. 22-26. AHIP National Conference on Medicare, Medicaid, and Dual Eligibles. Agenda.
TUESDAY | Sept. 24
Sept. 24-26. Atlantic Festival. Agenda.
9:15 a.m. 1789 Massachusetts Avenue NW. American Enterprise Institute event on “A new vision for health reform.” Details.
