Doc’s License Suspended After Deaths; CDC Tracks Plague Threat; Statins and Glaucoma

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Plastic surgeon Ayoub Sayeg, MD, whose Illinois license was suspended after procedures he took part in were linked to eight patient deaths, now has his Michigan license suspended as well. A complaint concluded that he posed an “immediate threat to the public health, safety, or welfare.” (Chicago Tribune via Yahoo!, ClickOnDetroit)

The World Health Organization’s first obesity guidelines for kids and adolescents said that weight-loss drugs and bariatric surgery should not be used in children under 10 years of age.

Support for “Medicare for All” climbed to 66% in 2026 — up from 53% in 2020 — according to a KFF poll.

Since September 2025, the healthcare sector added 372,000 jobs, up 2%, a sharp contrast from other segments of the economy, according to a KFF analysis.

More than one in four Americans had medical debt or a family member with medical debt in 2025, the Urban Institute reported.

The CDC said it is monitoring reports of the suspected case of pneumonic plague in Russia and maintains readiness to respond to emerging threats. (NBC News)

As part of President Trump’s “America First” approach to foreign policy, the agency closed its offices in Angola and South Sudan last week and is expected to shutter its Zimbabwe office by the end of the year. (Politico)

Utah officials warned about four deaths in the state linked to illegal chemical compounds in certain herbal supplements, including kratom products and cat’s claw.

Amid rising cases of the deadly lung disease silicosis, California is preparing to ban the production of man-made quartz countertops. (New York Times)

The FDA cleared a prescription digital therapeutic (Motivista) to treat negative symptoms of schizophrenia in adults in conjunction with clinician-managed outpatient care, maker Click Therapeutics said.

Statin therapy was linked with reduced risk of open-angle glaucoma and treatment escalation in a retrospective analysis. (British Journal of Ophthalmology)

A single-center study of pulse oximeters went from overestimating to underestimating blood oxygen levels over 5 years, with worse inaccuracies in patients of color. (Annals of the American Thoracic Society)

Emergency department (ED) visits among patients born outside the U.S. dropped after immigration enforcement intensified in Los Angeles County, cross-sectional data showed. (JAMA Network Open)

Targeted interventions to address withdrawal, side effects, dependence fears, and housing barriers may boost uptake of ED buprenorphine, a study of adults with opioid use disorder suggested. (JAMA Network Open)

An arbitrator’s resolution means Kaiser Permanente will pay more than 1,100 registered nurses wages that could total tens of millions of dollars due to a payroll error, the nurses’ union said. (KQED)

As healthcare organizations work to defend against cyberattacks and data breaches, they face a new challenge: unauthorized artificial intelligence (AI) agents. (Axios)

The NIH awarded more than $237 million in 58 new research grants through its High-Risk, High-Reward Research program to support studies with potential for broad effects on biomedical and behavioral science.

A former Buddhist monk in Thailand was convicted of misusing donations to a highly praised hospice he established for people with HIV/AIDS and given the maximum term of 50 years in prison. (AP)