What We're Reading: Court Trims Birth Control Rule; Guns as Public Health Issue; California Lenient Toward Doctors

Trump Administration Blocked From Enforcing Birth Control Rule

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals narrowed a Trump administration order that had sought to enforce new rules that undermine an Affordable Care Act requirement for employers to provide insurance that covers women's birth control based on moral or religious grounds, Reuters reported. Last year 2 federal judges blocked the government from enforcing the guideline; the Justice Department appealed both rulings. The appeals court said the injunction issued in California should not apply nationwide, but instead only within the 5 states that sued over the policy.

House Democrats to Recast Gun Violence as Public Health Issue

House Democrats are planning to vote next year on legislation to fund research on gun injuries and deaths, reframing the issue as a public health concern. That strategy is aimed at reducing divisions between liberal and centrist Democrats, some of whom are wary about moving too far to the left ahead of their 2020 re-election bids, The Hill reported. An analysis of government data this week found that gun-related deaths last year reached their highest level in almost 40 years, with almost 40,000 people killed.

California Lenient Toward Doctors Accused of Sexual Misconduct, Analysis Says

Despite California being cited as a rigorous example in doctor oversight, very few sexual misconduct complaints are reported to the state medical board, California Healthline reported. Few of the cases—under 200 a year—wind up as a formal accusation. When discipline is found to be warranted, the board tends toward leniency, sometimes granting a few years of probation even in instances of severe misconduct, according to an analysis of medical board records.