March 12, 2025 • 22 mins
In Altadena and Pacific Palisades, burned lots are hitting the market. ‘Surge’ of violence in California prison system prompts crackdown. Dr. Jim Keany, Chief Medical Officer at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany talks with Bill about Gene Hackman’s wife dying from Hantavirus, what is it? Should we be getting the measles vaccine booster? And FDA approves new treatment for strokes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty KFI Handle.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here it is a Wednesday morning. It's a rainy Wednesday morning,
March twelfth, coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Jim Keeney.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now, in the aftermath of the fire, Obviously, during the
course of the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire Altadena, it
was covered internationally because well twelve thousand homes and businesses,
structures were destroyed. And as I said, we're going to
be dealing with, we're going to be talking about the
(00:38):
aftermath of the fires, and this one has just kicked in,
and that is the sale of the property.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The vacant lots. The first one in Altadena went up
for sale.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In January, late January, and the listing promised great opportunity
to build.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
A few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Later, half a dozen more and it looks like the
flaggates are about to open up. Jeremy Hardy, a real
estate agent, says, there are so many lots to choose from.
So what's happening two months after the fire. Well, property
owners in Altaden and Pacific Palisades are looking at selling
(01:21):
their burned out lots and.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Not rebuilding and why is that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, if you've ever built before, and I have, I
built the Persian Palace, it was a two year process.
I mean, it is a big, big deal that takes
up an enormous amount of time, and inevitably you always
get in it with the contractor, and inevitably you get
(01:49):
in it with the insurance companies. Which is why when
I talk about Reuben adjusting public adjuster, why I'm such
a fan of a public adjuster. At least that part
is taken away from you dealing with the insurance company.
And so it is a lot of people just saying
I'm not going to take it.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We're not going to take it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So they're selling the property, selling the lots. Who's buying
the lots for the most part developers why, because this
is what they do. This is they wake up in
the morning and they build, and that's basically it. And
they're getting bargains relative bargains because the land is so
(02:28):
valuable Pacific palisades. These are fairly wealthy people. They can
build or not. They can hire contractors, they can borrow money.
For example, if the insurance doesn't pay for all of it,
which inevitably is going to happen. People are underinsured because
not realizing what it costs today to build.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And so Palisades is on one level.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Altadenas on another. Because these are people who don't have
a lot of money. It's a very different socioeconomic level.
And these are people who have been in those homes
for generations. It was one of the few areas where
African Americans could actually buy homes because of the redlining
that went in. Historically, what are they going to do?
(03:19):
They're screwed because look what it takes to build a house.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you have to rebuild, you.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Have to find someplace else to live for a year,
year and a half.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Now are you going to get something that you want?
You're going to get new stuff, But is it worth
the hassle? A lot of people are saying no.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And I did the story about people moving out of
the country because that's one of the reasons people are saying,
you know what, great excuse to bail out. The cost
of living is so expensive here and the cost of
housing becomes insane. Also, keep in mind that you're still
paying property tax on the property. Now it's obviously going
(04:02):
to be adjusted. You're going to see the adjuster just
totally changing the property base because you don't have a
house anymore, you have an empty lot.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And the other fear is the people that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Are going to be willing to buy our people, as
I say, to have money, which means gentrification, and that
is a tough one. Things are going to change traumatically.
Alta Dina is not going to be anywhere near the
neighborhood it was. And this was a historic area. Palisades
was a wealthy area and it's going to stay a
(04:37):
wealthy area. But and we have a couple of people
at who work here at the station and management. I
was talking to one of them, David, and he said, yeah,
he's rebuilding. But it's not just a question of rebuilding
the home. It's a question of your neighbors either rebuilding
or not. And all of a sudden you're living in
(05:00):
a construction site. Even if your home was saved and
not burned up, and a lot of people are not well,
it's going to be a mess for years and years.
Look at the Pallett and look at Paradise. You still
have the town totally devastated where a huge number of
(05:22):
people have not rebuilt. Remember the Watts riots back in
the sixties when Watts South central La burnt where so
many of those homes. They're still empty lots there. It
still hasn't been completely rebuilt. And this was what fifty
years ago, So the fires have done just a whole
(05:46):
lot more than just burning the place.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Down, and we're going to rebuild. It's not that easy
to do, it, really isn't.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It is a very tough, tough experience, all right, some
of it before we get to this prison story, and
I always enjoy prison stories, especially about prisoners.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Which is usually the population of prisons.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I'm deep the big stories that were covering the twenty
five percent tariff on all steel and aluminum.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Import of the United States.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Boom, it kicked in a twelve oh one and it's going.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
To hit Canada the worst.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But the European Union announced its tariffs with industrial farm products.
That was within hours after Trump said the terriffs are
kicking in and the Apartment of Education is on its
way out. US Department of Education is cutting nearly fifty
(06:42):
percent of its workforce.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Not that many people, there's a few thousand that work there.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
But there is a pretty decent argument that, you know,
why is it around? Because remember it kicked in during
the Carter years, and basically it was because of pressure
from the teachers' unions. Was for the most part. Now
a prison story I want to share with you. And
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of California, well, they're
(07:13):
looking at a surge of violence in the prisons.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
The other day I shared a prison joke with.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Neil and Ann and Neil has agreed to tell us
that joke. Nope, no, come on, Neil, nope. Okay, So
with that being done, I won't either because it would
(07:39):
be the last day that we are on the air,
and that's a guarantee. Now, let me tell you what
is happening unfortunately for a lot of people. Seven homicides
in the first nine weeks of the year, and California
prison authorities said, okay, now we're restricting inmate movement, revoking
privilege like visits, phone calls. Now we're talking high security
(08:01):
facilities around the state.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I mean, these are for bad, bad people, and we
don't know at this point how long visiting, phone use,
other privileges would be restricted.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No idea, But the California prison system, man, they have
to do something. Why because the day before the department
announced quote the modified program taking away privileges. Three inmates
were killed at three different prisons, the big one here
(08:38):
one of the most violent prisons in the state of
Sacramento that recorded four homicides in all of twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Four three so far this year.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And these are fights that break out in the yard
and most of these prisoners who die get shanked homemade knights.
Now a couple of them are beat to death, and
it's gangs who are fighting each other. It is people,
(09:12):
I'm assuming, and I've seen enough movies. I don't know
that many prisoners, but I'm assuming their hits out where
you got guys in prison that are somehow being paid.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
But why is this happening?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, because the prisoners who kill these prisoners.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Are doing life. They're doing life with that parole. What
do they have to lose? Nothing?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And that's exactly what one prisoner said when he was
in fact not arrested because he was already arrested. A
convicted rapist received a second life term after the rape
but conviction.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
In twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
He strangled, beat slashed his sell mate and later telling
a psychologist the killing was quote a freebie because he
was already serving life. Now I think the only way
out is to throw them in solitary for the rest
of their lives. But there have been lawsuits that have
(10:19):
been filed saying that that is cruel and unusual punishment
and a prisoner cannot stay in solitary in the shoe
in the box. See, I do watch a lot of
movies about prisoners. Can't do it anymore, and so how
do you handle these people?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, you really can't. Prisoners are very clever. They have
a lot of time on their hands.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
They make knives of everything and anything.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They got nothing else to do. I mean, they go
out and exercise and they're.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You see, these guys are really built because they have
the exercise yards out there with the weights.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You don't want to get on the wrong side of
a prison a prisoner.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Isn't that crazy that in the highest security situation, literally
on lockdown, no access to conventional weapons, that humankind will
still find a way to make a weapon and kill some.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Then again, this is a very rarefied segment of humankind.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Yeah, I get it, they're the dregs, but it just
is fascinating.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean, it is astounding and if you look
at there are museums you know that actually have these weapons.
They have made I think are in prisons. I don't
even know where they are, but I know they're available
for the public to see. And you just shake your
head out of toothbrushes. They're not allowed to have razors,
(12:05):
but they find little pieces of metal and they sand
those down and all of a sudden you have a
very sharp point.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
You have a blade.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Prison is not a lot of fun from what I understand.
All the sex in the world you could ever not want.
But short of that, what do you do You sure
you don't want to tell the joke?
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Neil, It was a good one. You laughed really hard
at it. I'm feeling a little generous.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I'm gonna allow you to pick whether.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
You want to be the woman or the men.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh yeah, And then it goes on from there.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
And we're not gonna get into it. No we're not.
We're not all right. We're done with that. We almost
went there, but not quite now.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Doctor Jim Keeney, chief medical officer for Dignity Saint Mary
Medical Center in Long Beach, and an e doc. Jim,
good morning, and I want to go right into what
happened with Gene Hackman and his wife both found dead.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
In their home for what a week two weeks and
no one.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Knew it was at an international story and it turned
out that she died of hauntavirus and he died of
being ninety five years old and severe Alzheimer's. So let's
talk about hauntavirus because I remember a couple of decades
ago it was the big thing among really young fit
(13:35):
people that were running.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, hantavirus. It was probably like twenty years ago or so,
I remember there was there was kind of this outbreak
and people who were out in the wilderness or especially
camping in those I think even in Yosemite they had
an outbreak in the tents there they clamping that they
have up there, So you know, it's been around for
a while. What it is is basic a virus that's
(14:01):
shed from from rodents and it's in everything though it's
in their saliva, you'urine, their stool. So when people are
in there cleaning out, you know an area maybe with
dried rodent feces that can aerosolize it basically and get
that dust up in the air where they can breathe
it in or if the urine same thing, or you
(14:22):
can get it from a bite if they actually bite
you because it's in their saliva, so you know, it's
not impossible to get Thankfully, it's relatively rare. There's you know,
they've only been about a thousand reported cases over the
last few years. What's the mortality rate, Well, it's pretty
high if you I mean, there's probably tons of people
that get a mild form of this that we don't
(14:43):
know about, right, But once it's identified and it gets
to the pneumonia stage, there's really two stages. The worst
stage is a temorrhagic fever, which is you know, a
lot like ebola, where you basically have difficulty clotting, and
then that results in renal failure, your kidney's shut down,
and that has a very high death rate. But before that,
(15:05):
more commonly people go into pneumonia, and that sounds like
what Gene Hackman's wife had and elderly people, pneumonia will
kill you, and that's you know, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, let's talk about Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Usually don't think of Alzheimer's as a death knell in
and of itself.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Now, obviously dementia, not being able to take care of
yourself at all.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But how does that translate into dying of Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
No, Alzheimer's is definitely something that leads to death in
and of itself, because you know, you do begin to
have dysfunction of different neurons and things like that. You're right, though,
I mean it's all usually secondary things where you get pneumonia,
you get something else. But you know, you can have
difficulties swallowing after some extended time and that results and
(15:57):
you know, aspiration and pneumonia, a lot of different things.
So you know, Alzheimer's is a serious disease because it
does lead to death by itself. And this story, by
the way, is played out in emergency rooms across the
country every day where you have elderly couple living together.
One is the primary caregiver, the other one is very dependent,
(16:17):
and then that primary caregiver something happens to them and
they both suffer from that. So we see that as
a social issue. A lot of times when the primary
caregiver gets sick and comes to the er and we
recognize there's someone back at home, you know, the paramedics
will say there's someone back at home that we had
to bring him in because he clearly can't take care
of himself.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
One of the things I envisioned when I heard the
way it panned out, the haunt of virus and then
severe Alzheimer's and Gene Hackman dying.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
At the age of ninety five.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So it's not you can't argue too much in terms
of the length of his life. But is it severe
enough where he's out there and she's been dead for
a week and he's out there grow in the house
and then ends up dying.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Is it possible he forgot to drink, forgot to eat.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Absolutely. I mean I have a really good friend, very
similar story. They live, you know, in a beautiful mansion
there on on down by the beach here, and successful couple,
lived a great life, and then the same thing white
it was reversed. The wife was the one with Alzheimer's
(17:27):
and the husband had a stroke and then she just
sat down next to him on the floor and sat
with him because she didn't know what else to do,
and they both ended up passing away. So it's, like
I said, common story where you know, the Alzheimer's person
will often just you know, that's maybe the you know,
your memory goes backwards. You start forgetting what you ate
(17:49):
for breakfast, but you remember high school, right, and then
it goes further and further back to you only remember
elementary school. But you'll often a lot of times these
guys will remember their lives, but they won't remember what
they're doing there, even their names, and so they'll just
kind of sit next to them and paramedics find him
that way.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
This is really tough because I look in the mirror
a lot and you've just described me, and it's.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Not real pleasure.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I'll check on here everyone.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, thanks very much, as if I completely forgot what
I had for breakfast yesterday.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
But I'll tell you if.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You're all interested in knowing about the last passenger pigeon
that survived nineteen fourteen Cincinnati Zoo and the species was gone,
okay measles that has sort of kind of exploded, if
you want to use that word, and a couple things
about it before I ask you the question. Number one,
(18:49):
it's primarily among people who have not been vaccinated, or
everybody who has not been vaccinated, and or we don't know.
And the other thing is kind of interesting because you
think it's the anti vax people actually within the Mennonite community,
which is one religious community that I guess, you know,
personal choice kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So with that question is, of course I was.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Given the measles vaccine, the MMR, which everybody gets if
they ever want to go to school, a vaccine booster.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Does that make.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Sense, people, It doesn't make sense. Ninety percent of people
who get the vaccine are going to be protected, so
and if they do get measles, at that point we
call it atypical measles. It's more like a viral illness,
like an annoying viral illness, than something that's going to
result in hospitalization like it does in twenty percent of
people who are unvaccinated. So you know, you can find
(19:43):
out by getting they call it tighter, which it measures
the immunity you have to measles if you're really curious
and you want to. But for the most part, you
know you got a ninety percent chance that you're just
fine if you had the measles vaccine, or if you
had measles as a child. There's still people around right
had measles as a child.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And you can get it again.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can get it again and it's called atypical measles.
I've actually seen it, but it's not that severe. It's
really much much better. You still can get kind of
the rash, which is what tips us off, and then
just out of fun because we want to know is
this really measles again? And then we send a lab
and it tells us, oh, yeah, this is an acute
case of measles.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now, you mentioned ninety percent of the people who are
vaccinated get measles.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Here's the question, is it possible.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Don't get Yeah, No, it's actually higher. Ninety seven percent
of people are Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Okay, sorry bout you got the case of the vast majority.
Is it possible to be exposed and not have.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Measles exposed to the means yeah, if you're exposed to
measles and you are protected, a lot of people won't
get most people, no.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
But let's say you're not vaccinated and you're this is
it almost an automatic?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
That's an automatic? Yeah, Like they say, you know, one
person can walk into like a classroom of kids and
just walk through it and the air for the next
few hours has the measles virus, and ninety percent of
the people in that room who are unvaccinated. We'll get measles. Okay,
So it really is a disease of unvaccinated people. This
is not the vaccinated people. Like I'm saying, you don't
need to Most people don't need a booster. If you're worried,
(21:25):
you can get checked. But you know, it is a
disease of unvaccinated people.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
All right, Jim, as always, thank you. We'll talk again
next Wednesday, as we always do. Have a good day.
Don't kill anybody, or go ahead and kill someone, which
is far more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
All right, guys, we're done.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Gary and Shannon up next and on behalf of Neil
and Amy and Me and Will and and and Cono.
Thank you so much for tuning in. And I just
can't believe I said that. I'm clearly running a temperature.
So I humbly apologize for giving you that load of crap.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
So we will see you tomorrow morning.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Hope, the same bettime, same BAT channel.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, absolutely, KFI am sixty.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to Bill Handle on demand from KFI AM
six forty KFI Handle.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Here it is a Wednesday morning. It's a rainy Wednesday morning,
March twelfth, coming up at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Jim Keeney.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Now, in the aftermath of the fire, Obviously, during the
course of the Palisades Fire, the Eaton Fire Altadena, it
was covered internationally because well twelve thousand homes and businesses,
structures were destroyed. And as I said, we're going to
be dealing with, we're going to be talking about the
(00:38):
aftermath of the fires, and this one has just kicked in,
and that is the sale of the property.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
The vacant lots. The first one in Altadena went up
for sale.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In January, late January, and the listing promised great opportunity
to build.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
A few weeks.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Later, half a dozen more and it looks like the
flaggates are about to open up. Jeremy Hardy, a real
estate agent, says, there are so many lots to choose from.
So what's happening two months after the fire. Well, property
owners in Altaden and Pacific Palisades are looking at selling
(01:21):
their burned out lots and.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Not rebuilding and why is that.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, if you've ever built before, and I have, I
built the Persian Palace, it was a two year process.
I mean, it is a big, big deal that takes
up an enormous amount of time, and inevitably you always
get in it with the contractor, and inevitably you get
(01:49):
in it with the insurance companies. Which is why when
I talk about Reuben adjusting public adjuster, why I'm such
a fan of a public adjuster. At least that part
is taken away from you dealing with the insurance company.
And so it is a lot of people just saying
I'm not going to take it.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
We're not going to take it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
So they're selling the property, selling the lots. Who's buying
the lots for the most part developers why, because this
is what they do. This is they wake up in
the morning and they build, and that's basically it. And
they're getting bargains relative bargains because the land is so
(02:28):
valuable Pacific palisades. These are fairly wealthy people. They can
build or not. They can hire contractors, they can borrow money.
For example, if the insurance doesn't pay for all of it,
which inevitably is going to happen. People are underinsured because
not realizing what it costs today to build.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And so Palisades is on one level.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Altadenas on another. Because these are people who don't have
a lot of money. It's a very different socioeconomic level.
And these are people who have been in those homes
for generations. It was one of the few areas where
African Americans could actually buy homes because of the redlining
that went in. Historically, what are they going to do?
(03:19):
They're screwed because look what it takes to build a house.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
If you have to rebuild, you.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Have to find someplace else to live for a year,
year and a half.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Now are you going to get something that you want?
You're going to get new stuff, But is it worth
the hassle? A lot of people are saying no.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
And I did the story about people moving out of
the country because that's one of the reasons people are saying,
you know what, great excuse to bail out. The cost
of living is so expensive here and the cost of
housing becomes insane. Also, keep in mind that you're still
paying property tax on the property. Now it's obviously going
(04:02):
to be adjusted. You're going to see the adjuster just
totally changing the property base because you don't have a
house anymore, you have an empty lot.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
And the other fear is the people that.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Are going to be willing to buy our people, as
I say, to have money, which means gentrification, and that
is a tough one. Things are going to change traumatically.
Alta Dina is not going to be anywhere near the
neighborhood it was. And this was a historic area. Palisades
was a wealthy area and it's going to stay a
(04:37):
wealthy area. But and we have a couple of people
at who work here at the station and management. I
was talking to one of them, David, and he said, yeah,
he's rebuilding. But it's not just a question of rebuilding
the home. It's a question of your neighbors either rebuilding
or not. And all of a sudden you're living in
(05:00):
a construction site. Even if your home was saved and
not burned up, and a lot of people are not well,
it's going to be a mess for years and years.
Look at the Pallett and look at Paradise. You still
have the town totally devastated where a huge number of
(05:22):
people have not rebuilt. Remember the Watts riots back in
the sixties when Watts South central La burnt where so
many of those homes. They're still empty lots there. It
still hasn't been completely rebuilt. And this was what fifty
years ago, So the fires have done just a whole
(05:46):
lot more than just burning the place.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Down, and we're going to rebuild. It's not that easy
to do, it, really isn't.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It is a very tough, tough experience, all right, some
of it before we get to this prison story, and
I always enjoy prison stories, especially about prisoners.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
Which is usually the population of prisons.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
I'm deep the big stories that were covering the twenty
five percent tariff on all steel and aluminum.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Import of the United States.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Boom, it kicked in a twelve oh one and it's going.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
To hit Canada the worst.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
But the European Union announced its tariffs with industrial farm products.
That was within hours after Trump said the terriffs are
kicking in and the Apartment of Education is on its
way out. US Department of Education is cutting nearly fifty
(06:42):
percent of its workforce.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Not that many people, there's a few thousand that work there.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
But there is a pretty decent argument that, you know,
why is it around? Because remember it kicked in during
the Carter years, and basically it was because of pressure
from the teachers' unions. Was for the most part. Now
a prison story I want to share with you. And
the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of California, well, they're
(07:13):
looking at a surge of violence in the prisons.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
The other day I shared a prison joke with.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Neil and Ann and Neil has agreed to tell us
that joke. Nope, no, come on, Neil, nope. Okay, So
with that being done, I won't either because it would
(07:39):
be the last day that we are on the air,
and that's a guarantee. Now, let me tell you what
is happening unfortunately for a lot of people. Seven homicides
in the first nine weeks of the year, and California
prison authorities said, okay, now we're restricting inmate movement, revoking
privilege like visits, phone calls. Now we're talking high security
(08:01):
facilities around the state.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
I mean, these are for bad, bad people, and we
don't know at this point how long visiting, phone use,
other privileges would be restricted.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No idea, But the California prison system, man, they have
to do something. Why because the day before the department
announced quote the modified program taking away privileges. Three inmates
were killed at three different prisons, the big one here
(08:38):
one of the most violent prisons in the state of
Sacramento that recorded four homicides in all of twenty twenty.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Four three so far this year.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And these are fights that break out in the yard
and most of these prisoners who die get shanked homemade knights.
Now a couple of them are beat to death, and
it's gangs who are fighting each other. It is people,
(09:12):
I'm assuming, and I've seen enough movies. I don't know
that many prisoners, but I'm assuming their hits out where
you got guys in prison that are somehow being paid.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
But why is this happening?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well, because the prisoners who kill these prisoners.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Are doing life. They're doing life with that parole. What
do they have to lose? Nothing?
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And that's exactly what one prisoner said when he was
in fact not arrested because he was already arrested. A
convicted rapist received a second life term after the rape
but conviction.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
In twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
He strangled, beat slashed his sell mate and later telling
a psychologist the killing was quote a freebie because he
was already serving life. Now I think the only way
out is to throw them in solitary for the rest
of their lives. But there have been lawsuits that have
(10:19):
been filed saying that that is cruel and unusual punishment
and a prisoner cannot stay in solitary in the shoe
in the box. See, I do watch a lot of
movies about prisoners. Can't do it anymore, and so how
do you handle these people?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, you really can't. Prisoners are very clever. They have
a lot of time on their hands.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
They make knives of everything and anything.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
They got nothing else to do. I mean, they go
out and exercise and they're.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You see, these guys are really built because they have
the exercise yards out there with the weights.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
You don't want to get on the wrong side of
a prison a prisoner.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Isn't that crazy that in the highest security situation, literally
on lockdown, no access to conventional weapons, that humankind will
still find a way to make a weapon and kill some.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yeah yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Then again, this is a very rarefied segment of humankind.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
Yeah, I get it, they're the dregs, but it just
is fascinating.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I mean, it is astounding and if you look
at there are museums you know that actually have these weapons.
They have made I think are in prisons. I don't
even know where they are, but I know they're available
for the public to see. And you just shake your
head out of toothbrushes. They're not allowed to have razors,
(12:05):
but they find little pieces of metal and they sand
those down and all of a sudden you have a
very sharp point.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
You have a blade.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Prison is not a lot of fun from what I understand.
All the sex in the world you could ever not want.
But short of that, what do you do You sure
you don't want to tell the joke?
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Neil, It was a good one. You laughed really hard
at it. I'm feeling a little generous.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
I'm gonna allow you to pick whether.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
You want to be the woman or the men.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Oh yeah, And then it goes on from there.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
And we're not gonna get into it. No we're not.
We're not all right. We're done with that. We almost
went there, but not quite now.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Doctor Jim Keeney, chief medical officer for Dignity Saint Mary
Medical Center in Long Beach, and an e doc. Jim,
good morning, and I want to go right into what
happened with Gene Hackman and his wife both found dead.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
In their home for what a week two weeks and
no one.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Knew it was at an international story and it turned
out that she died of hauntavirus and he died of
being ninety five years old and severe Alzheimer's. So let's
talk about hauntavirus because I remember a couple of decades
ago it was the big thing among really young fit
(13:35):
people that were running.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Yeah, hantavirus. It was probably like twenty years ago or so,
I remember there was there was kind of this outbreak
and people who were out in the wilderness or especially
camping in those I think even in Yosemite they had
an outbreak in the tents there they clamping that they
have up there, So you know, it's been around for
a while. What it is is basic a virus that's
(14:01):
shed from from rodents and it's in everything though it's
in their saliva, you'urine, their stool. So when people are
in there cleaning out, you know an area maybe with
dried rodent feces that can aerosolize it basically and get
that dust up in the air where they can breathe
it in or if the urine same thing, or you
(14:22):
can get it from a bite if they actually bite
you because it's in their saliva, so you know, it's
not impossible to get Thankfully, it's relatively rare. There's you know,
they've only been about a thousand reported cases over the
last few years. What's the mortality rate, Well, it's pretty
high if you I mean, there's probably tons of people
that get a mild form of this that we don't
(14:43):
know about, right, But once it's identified and it gets
to the pneumonia stage, there's really two stages. The worst
stage is a temorrhagic fever, which is you know, a
lot like ebola, where you basically have difficulty clotting, and
then that results in renal failure, your kidney's shut down,
and that has a very high death rate. But before that,
(15:05):
more commonly people go into pneumonia, and that sounds like
what Gene Hackman's wife had and elderly people, pneumonia will
kill you, and that's you know, that's exactly what happened.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Yeah, let's talk about Alzheimer's.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Usually don't think of Alzheimer's as a death knell in
and of itself.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Now, obviously dementia, not being able to take care of
yourself at all.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
But how does that translate into dying of Alzheimer's.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
No, Alzheimer's is definitely something that leads to death in
and of itself, because you know, you do begin to
have dysfunction of different neurons and things like that. You're right, though,
I mean it's all usually secondary things where you get pneumonia,
you get something else. But you know, you can have
difficulties swallowing after some extended time and that results and
(15:57):
you know, aspiration and pneumonia, a lot of different things.
So you know, Alzheimer's is a serious disease because it
does lead to death by itself. And this story, by
the way, is played out in emergency rooms across the
country every day where you have elderly couple living together.
One is the primary caregiver, the other one is very dependent,
(16:17):
and then that primary caregiver something happens to them and
they both suffer from that. So we see that as
a social issue. A lot of times when the primary
caregiver gets sick and comes to the er and we
recognize there's someone back at home, you know, the paramedics
will say there's someone back at home that we had
to bring him in because he clearly can't take care
of himself.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
One of the things I envisioned when I heard the
way it panned out, the haunt of virus and then
severe Alzheimer's and Gene Hackman dying.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
At the age of ninety five.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So it's not you can't argue too much in terms
of the length of his life. But is it severe
enough where he's out there and she's been dead for
a week and he's out there grow in the house
and then ends up dying.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Is it possible he forgot to drink, forgot to eat.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Absolutely. I mean I have a really good friend, very
similar story. They live, you know, in a beautiful mansion
there on on down by the beach here, and successful couple,
lived a great life, and then the same thing white
it was reversed. The wife was the one with Alzheimer's
(17:27):
and the husband had a stroke and then she just
sat down next to him on the floor and sat
with him because she didn't know what else to do,
and they both ended up passing away. So it's, like
I said, common story where you know, the Alzheimer's person
will often just you know, that's maybe the you know,
your memory goes backwards. You start forgetting what you ate
(17:49):
for breakfast, but you remember high school, right, and then
it goes further and further back to you only remember
elementary school. But you'll often a lot of times these
guys will remember their lives, but they won't remember what
they're doing there, even their names, and so they'll just
kind of sit next to them and paramedics find him
that way.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
This is really tough because I look in the mirror
a lot and you've just described me, and it's.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Not real pleasure.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
I'll check on here everyone.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, thanks very much, as if I completely forgot what
I had for breakfast yesterday.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
But I'll tell you if.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
You're all interested in knowing about the last passenger pigeon
that survived nineteen fourteen Cincinnati Zoo and the species was gone,
okay measles that has sort of kind of exploded, if
you want to use that word, and a couple things
about it before I ask you the question. Number one,
(18:49):
it's primarily among people who have not been vaccinated, or
everybody who has not been vaccinated, and or we don't know.
And the other thing is kind of interesting because you
think it's the anti vax people actually within the Mennonite community,
which is one religious community that I guess, you know,
personal choice kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So with that question is, of course I was.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Given the measles vaccine, the MMR, which everybody gets if
they ever want to go to school, a vaccine booster.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Does that make.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Sense, people, It doesn't make sense. Ninety percent of people
who get the vaccine are going to be protected, so
and if they do get measles, at that point we
call it atypical measles. It's more like a viral illness,
like an annoying viral illness, than something that's going to
result in hospitalization like it does in twenty percent of
people who are unvaccinated. So you know, you can find
(19:43):
out by getting they call it tighter, which it measures
the immunity you have to measles if you're really curious
and you want to. But for the most part, you
know you got a ninety percent chance that you're just
fine if you had the measles vaccine, or if you
had measles as a child. There's still people around right
had measles as a child.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
And you can get it again.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
You can get it again and it's called atypical measles.
I've actually seen it, but it's not that severe. It's
really much much better. You still can get kind of
the rash, which is what tips us off, and then
just out of fun because we want to know is
this really measles again? And then we send a lab
and it tells us, oh, yeah, this is an acute
case of measles.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Now, you mentioned ninety percent of the people who are
vaccinated get measles.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Here's the question, is it possible.
Speaker 1 (20:36):
Don't get Yeah, No, it's actually higher. Ninety seven percent
of people are Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Okay, sorry bout you got the case of the vast majority.
Is it possible to be exposed and not have.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Measles exposed to the means yeah, if you're exposed to
measles and you are protected, a lot of people won't
get most people, no.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
But let's say you're not vaccinated and you're this is
it almost an automatic?
Speaker 1 (21:02):
That's an automatic? Yeah, Like they say, you know, one
person can walk into like a classroom of kids and
just walk through it and the air for the next
few hours has the measles virus, and ninety percent of
the people in that room who are unvaccinated. We'll get measles. Okay,
So it really is a disease of unvaccinated people. This
is not the vaccinated people. Like I'm saying, you don't
need to Most people don't need a booster. If you're worried,
(21:25):
you can get checked. But you know, it is a
disease of unvaccinated people.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
All right, Jim, as always, thank you. We'll talk again
next Wednesday, as we always do. Have a good day.
Don't kill anybody, or go ahead and kill someone, which
is far more entertaining.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
All right, guys, we're done.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Gary and Shannon up next and on behalf of Neil
and Amy and Me and Will and and and Cono.
Thank you so much for tuning in. And I just
can't believe I said that. I'm clearly running a temperature.
So I humbly apologize for giving you that load of crap.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
So we will see you tomorrow morning.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Hope, the same bettime, same BAT channel.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, absolutely, KFI am sixty.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
You've been listening to the Bill Handle Show.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Catch my show Monday through Friday six am to nine am,
and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
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