Actor Heche remains on life support, organ donation considered
LOS ANGELES — Anne Heche remains on life support and under evaluation for organ donation after a car crash that led to her brain death, a representative for the actor said Friday.
Under current California law, death can be determined by the loss of all brain function and in accordance with accepted medical standards.
While Heche is legally dead, she’s on life support and “her heart is still beating” so that the nonprofit organization OneLegacy can determine if she can be a donor, spokeswoman Holly Baird said in a statement.
The process, which involves assessing which organs are viable and finding an appropriate recipient, could take anywhere from one to several days, Baird said.
In the U.S., most organ transplants are done after the donor has been declared brain-dead.
The actor suffered a “severe anoxic brain injury,” caused by a lack of oxygen, when her car crashed into a Los Angeles-area home Aug. 5 and fire erupted, according to a statement released Thursday that said she wasn’t expected to survive.
She’s been hospitalized at a Los Angeles burn center.
Detectives investigating the crash said narcotics were found in a blood sample taken from Heche, though toxicology tests still had to be performed to differentiate them from drugs she was given for her injuries, Los Angeles police said.
A native of Ohio, Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera “Another World” from 1987 to 1991.
In the late 1990s she became one of the hottest actors in Hollywood, a constant on magazine covers and in big-budget films.
In 1997 alone, she played opposite Johnny Depp as his wife in “Donnie Brasco” and Tommy Lee Jones in “Volcano” and was part of the ensemble cast in the original “I Know What You Did Last Summer.”
The following year, she starred with Harrison Ford in “Six Days, Seven Nights” and appeared with Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix in “Return to Paradise.”
She recently had recurring roles on the network TV series “Chicago P.D.” and “All Rise” and in 2020 was a contestant on “Dancing With the Stars.”
Ky. flood relief: Gov. Andy Beshear called out the Federal Emergency Management Agency for denying too many requests for assistance in floodravaged eastern Kentucky, where the number of people who died as a result of the disaster has risen to 39.
Beshear on Thursday urged those getting turned down to take their cases directly to agency representatives in the region.
Beshear accompanied President Joe Biden during a visit to the stricken Appalachian region Monday, when the president declared the federal government would provide support until residents were back on their feet.
The Democratic governor said he was grateful for the swift federal response to the catastrophic flash flooding late last month and the deployment of FEMA officials. But Beshear flatly said “we need to see better outcomes” for more eastern Kentuckians applying to FEMA for recovery assistance.
Monkeypox renaming: The World Health Organization says it is holding an open forum to rename the disease monkeypox, after critics raised concerns the name could be derogatory or have racist connotations.
WHO said the decision was made following a meeting of scientists this week and in line with current best practices for naming diseases, which aims to “avoid causing offense to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional, or ethnic groups, and minimize any negative impact on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare.”
Monkeypox gained its name in 1958 when research monkeys in Denmark were observed to have a “pox-like” disease, although monkeys are not thought to be the animal reservoir.
NYC polio: The virus that causes polio has been found in New York City’s wastewater in another sign that the disease, which hadn’t been seen in the U.S. in a decade, is quietly spreading among unvaccinated people, health officials said Friday.
The presence of the poliovirus in the city’s wastewater suggests likely local circulation of the virus, health authorities from the city, New York state and the federal government said.
The authorities urged parents to get their children vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease.
New York City is being forced to confront polio as city health officials are struggling to vaccinate vulnerable populations against monkeypox and adjusting to changing COVID-19 guidelines.
One person suffered paralysis weeks ago because of a polio infection in New York’s Rockland County, north of the city. Wastewater samples collected in June in both Rockland and adjacent Orange County were found to contain the virus.
Poland river pollution: Poland’s prime minister said Friday that “huge amounts
of chemical waste” were probably dumped intentionally into the Oder River, which runs along the border with Germany, causing environmental damage so severe it will take the river years to recover.
Tons of dead fish have been seen floating or washed ashore on the Oder’s banks over the past two weeks but the issue only erupted into a major scandal late this week.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose government is under pressure for its handling of what appears to be a major environmental catastrophe, vowed that Polish authorities would hold the perpetrators to account.
German media have reported that the poison is mercury, although this has not been officially confirmed.
Mexico gang violence: A gang riot inside a border prison that left two inmates dead quickly spread to the streets of Ciudad Juarez, where alleged gang members killed nine more people, including four employees of a radio station, security officials said Friday.
The federal government’s security undersecretary, Ricardo Mejia Berdeja, said the violence started inside the state prison after 1 p.m. Thursday, when member of the Mexicles gang attacked members of the rival Chapos.
Two inmates were killed and 20 others injured during the prison riot.
Then suspected gang members outside the prison began burning businesses and shooting up Ciudad Juarez.
Ciudad Juarez has long had a reputation for violence. Gangs like those involved in the riot often serve as proxies and streetlevel enforcers for Mexico’s powerful drug cartels who aggressively exert control over the border crossing routes they need to move their product to the United States.