USA Today - 13.11.2019

NATION

NEWS USA TODAY z WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2019 z 5A

DETROIT – Doctors at Detroit’s

Henry Ford Hospital have performed a

double-lung transplant on a person

with a vaping-related lung injury.

The hospital system announced

Monday that it believes it is the first in

the country to perform the surgery on

someone who had irreparable lung

damage from vaping. It planned a

Tuesday news conference to offer

more details.

E-cigarette or vaping-associated

lung injury, also referred to as EVALI,

has sickened more than 2,000 people

in the U.S. and one U.S. territory since

March, according to the U.S. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among them, 39 people have died, in-

cluding one person in Michigan.

All EVALI patients have reported a

history of using e-cigarette or vape

products. Many who got sick said they

used vape products that contain tetra-

hydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the

chemical that causes most of marijua-

na’s psychoactive effects.

While the CDC has yet to pinpoint

any one compound or ingredient that

has caused these illnesses, health offi-

cials say they have associated vitamin

E acetate, an additive in some THC

products, with EVALI. The CDC report-

ed last week that vitamin E acetate is

“a very strong culprit” in the vape-re-

lated lung injuries.

Until more is known, the CDC rec-

ommends people:

zRefrain from using e-cigarette or

vaping products, especially those that

contain THC.

zAvoid buying any e-cigarette or

vaping products, particularly those

containing THC, off the street.

zDo not modify or add any sub-

stances to e-cigarette or vape products

that are not intended by the manufac-

turer

Adults using e-cigarettes to quit

smoking should not go back to smok-

ing; they should weigh all risks and

benefits and consider utilizing FDA-

approved nicotine replacement thera-

pies.

Hospital:

Surgery is

first of its

kind in US

Says double-lung

recipient ill from vaping

Kristen Jordan Shamus

Detroit Free Press

USA TODAY NETWORK

ATLANTA – Former President Jimmy
Carter is recovering after undergoing
surgery Tuesday morning to relieve
pressure on his brain.
The Carter Center said there are “no
complications” from the surgery, and
Carter is recovering at Emory Univer-
sity Hospital.
“President Carter will remain in the
hospital as long as advisable for obser-
vation,” the organization said in a tweet

. “We do not anticipate any further

statements until he is released from the

hospital. President and Mrs. Carter

thank everyone for the many well-

wishes they have received.”

The Carter Center said Monday that

the pressure on his brain was caused by

bleeding from some recent falls.

Carter, the oldest living former presi-

dent, suffered a minor pelvic fracture

after a fall at his home in Plains, Geor-

gia, in late October.

On Oct. 6,he fell and hit his forehead

on a sharp edge at his home. The injury

required 14 stitches and left him with a

bruised left eye.

“President Carter is resting comfort-

ably, and his wife, Rosalynn, is with

him,” the statement concludes.

Tourists visiting the Carter Center

Museum in Atlanta on Tuesday said

they admired Carter for his tenacity af-

ter the health scares and medical pro-

cedures. Carter remains active, teach-

ing Sunday School at his church and

building homes with Habitat for Hu-

manity.

“You look at all these other presi-

dents and what they did after they got

out of their presidency, he is just driv-

ing them into the ground,” said William

Willkom, who traveled from Moorhead,

Minnesota, with his wife to see the Car-

ter Center. “He’s constantly busy doing

stuff.”

Michael and Annette Dillingham of

Plano, Texas, said they were concerned

about Carter’s health and wished him

peace.

“I respect the man and all that he’s

done for people,” said Annette Dilling-

ham, 70. “I don’t want anybody to hurt.

When God decides that it’s time for him

to go and he doesn’t have anything left

for Jimmy to do here, it’s OK.”

Jimmy Carter recovering from brain surgery

Pressure from bleeding

hospitalizes ex-president

Savannah Behrmann
and Nicquel Terry Ellis
USA TODAY

Former President Jimmy Carter

teaches at Maranatha Baptist Church

on Sundays in Plains, Ga. JOHN AMIS/AP

A San Diego State University fresh-
man died after allegedly attending a fra-
ternity event last week, prompting the
school to suspend all Interfraternity
Council-affiliated organizations.
Emergency responders took Dylan
Hernandez to the hospital Thursday
morning, and his family “gave their
goodbyes late Sunday night,”university
President Adela de la Torre said in a
statement Monday.
Out of the 14 organizations on cam-
pus, six were already suspended and
four were under investigation before

last week’s incident, the university said.

The indefinite suspension notice –

which did not note the cause of Hernan-

dez’s death – prevents all organizations

from hosting activities.

“Each of us, including our students,

must uphold the highest standards that

do not put the health and safety of any-

one at risk,” de la Torre said.

She added: “As a mother, nothing can

replace the profound loss of a child, and

the devastating heartbreak the family

and their loved ones are experiencing.

All of us in the Aztec family are sending

our prayers and are here to support the

family.”

University police are investigating

why Hernandez required medical

attentionafter allegedly attending a fra-

ternity event Wednesday night. Police

involvement began after a 911 call re-

questing help for Hernandez, who was

in a residence hall at the time.

Hernandez, 19, came to the 34,000-

student university from Jacksonville,

Florida, according to a GoFundMe page.

“Dylan was an outgoing, light heart-

edand goofy person who had so much

love to give to everyone he met,” the

page says. “He never failed to make ev-

eryone in the room smile and his laugh

was infectious.”

Campus therapists will be available,

de la Torre said.

San Diego State suspends 14 fraternities after student death

Kristin Lam
USA TODAY

The Theta Chi fraternity house at San

Diego State University May 6, 2008, in

San Diego. DENIS POROY/AP

A longtime Tennessee doctor who
had five patients die of fatal overdoses
in less than a yearintends to plead
guilty to a federal drug crime.
Dr. Darrel Rinehart, 64, who ran a
clinic in Columbia, Tennessee, for dec-
ades, was indicted on 19 counts of dis-
tribution of a control substance in
March. His attorneys last week filed a
motion asking for a court hearing in De-
cember at which “intends to plead
guilty.”
One of Rinehart’s attorneys, James
Simmons, said Monday that Rinehart
would confess to at least one count of
drug distribution. Simmons said the de-
cision to plead guilty came after Rine-
hart’s legal team examined the discov-
ery provided by prosecutors, but de-
clined to speak in detail about the case.
“Obviously, he wouldn’t be entering a
plea if we didn’t feel that was an appro-
priate resolution to the case,” Simmons
said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not im-
mediately respond to a request for com-
ment.
The federal indictment against Rine-
hart states that he “routinely” pre-
scribed opioids and other drugs “with-
out legitimate medical purpose” and
that four patients died while in his care.
In January, Rinehart was also the
subject of a joint investigation by The
Tennessean and The Indianapolis Star.
State health records showed at least five
of Rinehart’s patients suffered fatal
overdosesthat were partially or wholly
caused by drugs he prescribed between
March 2015 and January 2016.
At least six more Rinehart patients
had nonfatal overdoses between 2014
and 2016, and one of those patients
overdosed three times, state health rec-
ords showed.
When asked to defend his prescrip-
tions to state health officials, Rinehart
said he was ignorant of safe prescribing
law and too trusting of his patients.
“You always want to do what you
could to help people,” Rinehart told a
state medical board.
“And, yes, sometimes, people tell you
things, you believe them, you trust
them, you know them, but you know
they’re not always honest. ... That cer-

tainly has altered the way I practice

medicine now.”

Rinehart worked for at least two dec-

ades at Core Physicians, also known as

Family Health Group, a clinic in Colum-

bia, Tennessee. The clinic was pur-

chased by Maury Regional Hospital in

2015, and the new owners were among

the first to take issue with Rinehart’s

prescriptions.

After his prescriptions were ques-

tioned, Rinehartrelocated to Indiana

and worked at least two hospitals. The

Tennessee Board of Medical Examin-

ers agreed to suspend but not revoke

Rinehart’s medical license if he agreed

not to attempt to practice medicine in

Tennessee ever again.

Rinehart was also criminally inves-

tigated by police and prosecutors in

Maury County, who used an informant

to capture undercover video footage

inside his clinic. But the local case nev-

er reached prosecution.

Maury County District Attorney

Brent Cooper said earlier this year that

his office intended to charge Rinehart

with five counts of criminal homicide

but instead gave the case to prosecu-

tors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office who

became interested in Rinehart after

reading about him in The Tennessean.

Cooper said he believed federal

prosecutors could pursue a stronger

case with harsher punishment.

Tennessee doctor to plead

guilty after 5 patients died

Mathew Blackburn, 27, with his son Eli, is one of five patients of Dr. Darrel

Rinehart who died from drug overdoses.BLACKBURN FAMILY PHOTO

Feds: Rinehart ‘routinely’

prescribed opioids

When asked to defend his

prescriptions to state health

officials, Rinehart said he

was ignorant of safe

prescribing law and too

trusting of his patients.

Brett Kelman
Nashville Tennessean
USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE