(WXYZ) — Hey, you're busy — we get it.
We know a lot happens throughout the week, and you may not catch all of our stories here at WXYZ. So we've decided to gather the most talked-about stories from the past week all in one place that you can check out during your free time over the weekend.
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Here are the buzz-worthy stories from the week of Sept. 30:
'Be informed.' Local woman who fell ill from breast implants after double mastectomy fights for new law
Our Carolyn Clifford has been covering breast implant stories for decades, going back more than 20 years when complaints first started surfacing about issues with silicone implants and how it was causing some women to get sick. Today it has a label – breast implant illness.
A few years ago, women fought and won legislation to have a black box warning on all breast implants, but the fight for informed consent continues. It means doctors would be forced to go over a checklist of problems before breast implants are inserted.
Now, Dawn Pugh is working to get that informed consent signed into law. She underwent a double mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014.
After she had had breast reconstruction surgery, she started having serious health problems. A few years ago, women fought and won legislation to have a black box warning on all breast implants, but the fight for informed consent continues. It means doctors would be forced to go over a checklist of problems before breast implants are inserted.
"2019 was my last surgery after getting my breast implants. It’s been five years since I had my implants removed and I continue to get better," Pugh said.
Today, Dawn is an advocate fighting for the passage of the Informed Consent Bill. It would require a patient checklist for potential health problems. The Michigan legislature is supposed to take it up in the Sspring. Dawn and others fought and won for a black box warning to be on breast implant packages, but she says that warning is not seen when having surgery.
Brownstown police warn of new scam involving threatening emails & pictures of your house
Police in Brownstown Township are warning of a new scam where people are sent a threatening email. In one case, a w3-year-old woman got an email that begins with, "I know visiting (redacted address) would be a more convenient way to contact if you don't cooperate, and then adds, "look familiar?" right above a picture of where she lives.
“This email was so disturbing to her when it gave her name, gave her phone number and a picture of her family home, that she was just petrified that someone was targeting her," said Brownstown Police Deputy Chief Andrew Starzec.
The scammer claims to have installed spyware on an app the person frequently uses, writing, "been keeping tabs on your pathetic existence for a while now." Then the bad actor threatens to share incriminating video of the woman if she doesn't pay nearly $2,000 via a Bitcoin address or QR code within one day.
"Once the suspect knows they can get some money from you, they will likely continue to try and get more money from you," Starzec said.
Learn more about the scam here
New Detroit schools program will pay kids to stay after school and work on reading
The Detroit Public Schools Community District is working on a new program to get students to want to work on literacy. It comes amid the district's struggles with literacy, where more than half of 8th graders read two or more grade levels below where they should be.
"We’re talking about, off the top of my head a couple thousand students that’ll fall into that category," Superintendent Dr. Nikolai Vitti said.
There are a couple of factors that make that battle worse by the time they graduate. It's hard to squeeze in extra lessons on top of necessary credits students need to graduate.
That, coupled with high absentee rates, makes it even harder for students to catch up.
To give struggling students a leg up, DPSCD is planning a program that will pay high school students to stay after school and work on literacy.
But, Vitti said the shortfalls in literacy does not mean DPSCD students can't read.
"Actually, most students can read at that grade level. What their challenge is reading content and answering questions based on what they’re reading," he said.
How much students will be paid and which schools will be included are still being decided.
Local religious leaders call for peace amid escalating conflict in Middle East
Amid the escalating conflict in the Middle East, people with close family ties to loved ones in Israel, Lebanon, Gaza and Iran are sharing emotions around an escalating war.
Community leaders from Ann Arbor and Dearborn Heights see the escalating war from different perspectives, and we asked both for their response to the growing battle.
“There are so many relatives, whether Palestinian or Lebanese or other areas, that’s a very dangerous situation and the person responsible for all this pain and escalation is Netanyahu," said Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi with the Islamic House of Wisdom.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin with the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor said “Hezbollah and Lebanon attacked Israel and continue to attack Israel, Israel is just defending itself. Iran is not just attacking Israel, they are also supplying Russia with missiles.”
Rabbi Asher Lopatin and Imam Mohammed Ali Elahi have both expressed the need for peace to be achieved.
Fans, businesses ready for MLB playoffs to return to downtown Detroit
The Detroit Tigers are moving on to the American League Division Series and will face the Cleveland Guardians in a five-game series in hopes to go to the ALCS.
Detroit will also play at least one home game next weekend when the Tigers host the Guardians in game 3 on Wednesday, the first home playoff game in the last 10 years. Fans and businesses are excited.
“The excitement in the city is so awesome right now," said Frances Billingsley of Detroit, who was at the watch event. "Hopefully, they go to the World Series. That’d be awesome.”
"We got the Lions going strong, we got the Tigers in the playoffs and the Wings are going to start next week," general manager Hugh Leonard said. "This is the start of our busy season so to add this on, to us it’s just even more exciting.”
Meet the nurse practitioner who opened her own clinic to help Southwest Detroit residents
We have covered the health problems that residents in Southwest Detroit face. In fact, life expectancy in that area is almost three years below the statewide average. That's something Scarlett Idema is working to change.
Idema is a family nurse practitioner who was born in Costa Rica. She's fighting to transform healthcare for the community.
In March, she opened Medicina Scarlett, a family medicine and urgent care clinic. Her goal is to increase access to healthcare and break down barriers, like language.
"I'm going to say 90% of my patients are Spanish-speaking and it’s my first language," Idema said. "And I think it's incredibly important to be able to communicate in your own language, especially when it comes to your health."
But it required a lot of work to open up the clinic. Scarlett knew she wanted to be in the heart of the community so patients wouldn’t have to worry about transportation. Many arrive on foot and literally walk in. But the spot she found on Vernor Highway required a lot of work with financial help from Motor City Match.
2 patient rapes, suicide reported at Detroit Receiving Hospital in under 3 months
In the span of 73 days, two patients inside Detroit Receiving Hospital were victims of sexual assaults, according to police. A third patient, admitted after a failed suicide attempt, was able to take her life inside her hospital room.
In each case, the victims were patients who struggled with mental illness or were unable to care for themselves.
A three-month 7 News Detroit investigation reveals that the tragedies—detailed by interviews with current and former employees, police reports and complaints with the state—came amidst claims that hospital is made unsafe by a lack of staff.
“People are dying, people are getting raped,” said one current Detroit Medical Center who asked who filed a complaint with the State of Michigan in June that outlined his concerns. In August, the state found that the hospital failed to meet regulatory requirements. “It’s getting worse out there.”
The longtime DMC employee says understaffing inside the hospital’s crisis center—from not enough nurses to care for patients and sitters to watch them—has allowed for the hospital to become a crime scene.
“Lack of security, lack of staffing,” he said. “The patients are not in a safe environment, and you don’t have adequate staffing to make sure that happens.”
His concerns are echoed in a lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in September, by a former DMC nurse. She claimed she was wrongfully terminated for raising concerns over safety: that on some shifts, three staff members were responsible for 22 or more patients.
7 News Detroit spoke with the mother of a recent Detroit Receiving Hospital patient. Just after midnight on April 10, staff reported she’d been sexually assaulted.
Police records show the woman was medically sedated and strapped to her bed when a male patient approached the woman and began fondling her.
“You have somebody who cannot defend themselves in any capacity: mentally, physically, whatever it may be,” said attorney Bradley Peri, who represents the woman.
“And no one’s monitoring her. No one’s monitoring the other patient.”
For five minutes, according to police, surveillance video showed the sexual assault take place. While it was happening, according to DPD, an employee “can be seen a few feet away” who “appeared to be distracted by her cell phone.”
Eventually, another staff member approaches the man, who is seen walking out of frame.
“I didn’t hear from the hospital at all,” the patient’s mother said, adding that she only learned of he alleged assault from Detroit police.
“It was a phone call,” she said, “that shook me to my core.”
The current DMC employee called the alleged assault upsetting, but not surprising.
“I am surprised…didn’t happen more often,” he said.
Less than two months later, it would.
On June 2, 2024, a pregnant woman who suffered from bipolar disorder was admitted to Detroit Receiving’s crisis center. Like the victim before, she was in four-point restraints. But unlike that the other patient, she was not wearing any clothes.
According to the current DMC employee, the male patient could be seen on surveillance video entering the woman’s room.
“He tries to climb on top of this one but he can’t get her legs open,” he said.
According to Detroit police, the alleged assailant—also a psychiatric patient—would penetrate the woman while she was restrained to her bed.
Like before, police said the encounter was recorded on surveillance camera. But it was only when the victim herself reported the assault—more than 24 hours later—that hospital staff ever learned about it.
“What does that say that they didn’t even know this assault took place?” asked Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
“No one was watching either one of them,” said the current staffer.
Bradley Peri, the attorney representing the first alleged victim, said the hospital was put on notice after his client was assaulted, and should have taken measures to prevent history from repeating itself.
“Clearly, they did not do that,” he said.
After the alleged assault, according to the September lawsuit filed by a former DMC nurse, hospital officials offered the victim an undisclosed sum of money in exchange for not suing the hospital.
7 News Detroit heard a similar story from the other patient’s mother who said hospital executives offered her money they said could be used to find treatment elsewhere.
“What did they offer you?” asked Channel 7’s Ross Jones.
“$250,000 and then a $100,000 for incidentals,” she said. “I think they were trying to bribe me. I think they were trying to coerce me into making it sound like they were doing something really good for my daughter.”
She declined their offer, and has since filed a lawsuit against the hospital.
On June 22, there would be a third patient tragedy here at Detroit Receiving Hospital. This time, it involved a young woman who was admitting after trying to end her life.
Ella Bailey, 21, was admitted after a failed suicide attempt earlier that month. She had downed pills, according to police records, then drove to a bridge with plans to jump off. Another driver found her before she could.
Ella was admitted to the hospital’s behavioral inpatient facility, known as 3Q. Staff knew of Ella’s previous suicide attempt, and she was supposed to be monitored.
But on only her fourth day on the floor, Ella was able to take hang herself in her own hospital room.
Police reviewed the surveillance video outside Ella’s room, and noted a staff member was seen checking on her at 4:15 p.m. that afternoon. But 30 minutes later, at 4:45 p.m., the staffer was seen walking by her door…without ever looking inside. Ella took her life at 5:05 p.m.…discovered not by hospital staff, but her roommate.
“This young lady was able to end her life while she was under care,” said Kevin Fischer, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Michigan. “And as a parent, especially myself being a parent who’s lost a child to suicide, that’s unacceptable.”
He says these three tragedies—happening in close succession—show there are serious problems at one of Detroit’s busiest hospitals.
“If staffing is the issue, then we have to find a better solution,” he said.
“Because the outcomes that we’re experiencing are unacceptable.”
Citing patient privacy, the DMC declined to comment on the specific cases.
They released a statement, saying in part: “The DMC prioritizes the safety of our patients. The DMC has rigorous processes in place to immediately address any potential patient safety issues and take the appropriate actions necessary, including cooperating with law enforcement and regulatory agencies. Federal privacy laws restrict us from sharing patient specific information.”
