(NEW YORK) — Two storms are moving across the nation just in time for New Year’s Eve.
The first storm is expected to bring rain and unseasonably warm weather for the Northeast.
If you’re heading to Times Square in New York to usher in the new year, prepare for some rain.
But the temperature will be a mild 51 degrees in Boston and 49 degrees in New York City when the ball drops.
In Buffalo, New York, where residents are still digging out from a deadly and historic snowstorm, a flood watch has been due to ice jams, incoming rain and rising temperatures melting the snow.
It’ll be a mostly dry New Year’s Eve in the middle of the U.S. from Dallas to Chicago.
In the West, a new atmospheric river is set to bring flooding, mudslides and rockslides.
The worst of the atmospheric river will move into Northern California Friday night. The San Francisco area will get the heaviest rain on Saturday morning, with flooding and mudslides possible. Up to 4 inches of rain is expected this weekend in Northern California.
The rain will move into Southern California on New Year’s Eve.
This storm will then move into the Rockies on Sunday night and bring more snow to Denver to start 2023. There’s a very high danger for avalanches in the Colorado mountains.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The Buffalo storm hero who police have dubbed “Merry Christmas Jay” has been identified and is speaking out to ABC News.
Police in the town of Cheektowaga, just outside of Buffalo, credit 27-year-old Jay Withey with saving the lives of two dozen people during the deadly storm by rescuing strangers from cars trapped in the snow and bringing them into a school for shelter.
“I feel 100% that Jay’s actions were heroic and 100% saved lives,” Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould said.
It all began when Withey went to pick up a friend who was stranded. But with only a quarter of a tank of gas left, his car quickly became stuck in the whiteout conditions.
“The wind blowing, the snow falling — you couldn’t see if you stuck your hand out. You couldn’t see the tap of your fingers of your own hand,” he said.
Soaking wet and freezing, Withey decided to seek shelter inside a local school and broke a window to get inside. But instead of hunkering down and resting, he ventured back out into the dangerous conditions to help others who were stranded.
“I can see there’s a couple other vehicles stuck in the vicinity of the school. So I go to them and tell them I’ve broken into the school and that there’s heat in there,” Withey said.
“It was a matter of survival. It was just a very scary situation to be in,” he said.
“I thought we were going to die,” said Sabrina Andino, one of the trapped drivers. “It was scary and unforgettable. But seeing Jay … and getting us in the school really saved us.”
After Withey gathered the stranded drivers inside the school, he pried open the kitchen door so they could find some food. He also went to the school nurse’s office for blankets and water. He left the school’s front door open overnight so anyone looking for safety could join them.
“We all came together,” Andino said.
And now that group of strangers is planning a reunion for the summer.
Police found a note Withey left at the school, apologizing for breaking in.
“I’m terribly sorry about breaking the school window & for breaking in the kitchen … I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter,” the note said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee on Friday publicly released documents related to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns covering the six years from 2015-2020.
The move comes after committee members voted 24-16 last week to release the documents after sensitive information — like bank account numbers and Social Security numbers — had been redacted.
Trump has long fought to keep his tax records private.
Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., told reporters last Tuesday that the committee found there was no ongoing audit of Trump’s tax returns during his presidency until the committee requested them, despite an IRS requirement that tax returns filed by a sitting president or vice president are subject to audit.
Neal said the audit only began in 2019 after he requested the returns and said the audits of the requested returns were never completed.
“The tax forms were really never audited and only my sending a letter at one point prompted a rearview mirror response,” Neal said.
The committee had requested six years’ worth of Trump’s returns from the Treasury Department as part of what it said was an investigation into IRS audit practices of presidents and vice presidents.
Trump has accused the committee of seeking his taxes under false pretenses, saying the probe is just a politically motivated fishing expedition. But the committee said the documents were critical for drafting “legislation on equitable tax administration, including legislation on the President’s tax compliance.”
According to a summary released last week by the committee, Trump and his wife, Melania, together reported $31.7 million in losses and reported $641,931 in net taxes during the first year of Trump’s presidential campaign, in 2015.
During the 2016 presidential election year, the two again reported losing $32.4 million in adjusted gross income and paid just $750 in taxes, according to the committee. During Trump’s first year in office, the couple reported losing $12.9 million and again paid $750 in taxes.
In 2018, their adjusted gross income went up, with them bringing in $24.3 million, and they reported paying $999,456 in taxes. In 2019, the two reported making $4.4 million and paid $133,445 in taxes.
In 2020, they reported losing $4.8 million and Trump paid $0 in taxes.
The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, has said Democrats made a major mistake in a “rush to target” Trump by releasing his tax returns.
“Ways and Means Democrats are unleashing a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond President Trump, and jeopardizes the privacy of every American,” Brady said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — After more than 15,000 flights were canceled over the Christmas holiday, leaving thousands of travelers in a lurch, Southwest Airlines says it’s finally catching up.
The airline said it plans to resume normal operations Friday with “minimal disruptions.” In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America, company CEO Bob Jordan said his airline is “off to a great start.”
“I’m watching the stats and we’ve launched the East Coast and have a great operation under way. It’s our full schedule, 3,900 plus flights,” Jordan said. “I’m very confident we’ll operate a really tight operation today.”
The travel mess began just days before Christmas, as wintery weather hit parts of the U.S. Thousands of passengers were left stranded and some even missed their trips altogether.
Southwest said it is committed to refunding its customers for their canceled flights, as well as other travel-related expenses such as hotels, rental cars and even airfare booked through other airlines.
Other costs will be handled on a case-by-case basis, executives said.
“Our desire is to go above and beyond. We always take care of our customers, that’s our 51-year history here at Southwest Airlines,” Jordan said. “We’ll be looking at and taking care of things like rental cars, hotel rooms, meals, booking customers on other airlines, so that will all be part of what we’re covering here as we reimburse our customers and make good on this issue.”
Refunds are currently underway but officials admitted that clearing the backlog would “take weeks.”
Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called on Southwest to process the refunds in a timely manner, saying his agency would “ensure” the airline complies with its refund obligations and could “penalize” the carrier “if they fail to meet what is required of them to take care of passengers.”
“Under the law, Southwest must provide prompt refunds when a carrier cancels a passenger’s flight or makes a significant change in the flight, regardless of the reason, unless the passenger accepts rebooking,” Buttigieg said in a letter to Southwest earlier this week. “This means Southwest must provide refunds within seven business days if a passenger paid by credit card, and within 20 days if a passenger paid by cash, check or other means.”
The winter storm impacted Southwest far more than its competitors, and Jordan said Southwest, “had impacts beyond the storm.”
“We had record temperatures that did things like froze jetways, froze aircraft, froze de-icing fluid. When you’re trying to solve a problem in so many locations, it becomes very, very difficult. Airlines count on the aircraft and the passengers and the crew members continuing to move and when all that shuts down in so many locations it becomes very, very tough,” Jordan said. “It really was the scope of the problems attempting to be solved, just to move crews around, keep the airline moving.”
Just before the final holiday weekend of the year, Southwest now faces the challenge of winning back customers’ trust. Jordan said beyond safety, there’s “no greater focus” than taking care of customers.
“This is impacting so many people, so many customers over the holidays. It’s impacted our employees and I’m extremely sorry for that. There’s just no way almost to apologize enough because we love our customers, we love our people and really impacted their plans,” Jordan said. “There will be a lot of lessons learned that come out of this. We already had a great plan to invest in tools and technology and processes as we always do, but there will be a lot of lessons learned in terms of what we can do to make sure this never happens again.”
(WASHINGTON) — More discrepancies are emerging about New York Rep.-elect George Santos’ background, adding to a growing list of fabrications and exaggerations that the incoming congressman has told about his life — some of which have drawn the attention of prosecutors.
In addition to having falsely said he attended Baruch College, which he has since admitted, another part of his education has now been challenged.
On an archived version of his 2020 congressional website, Santos said he went to the elite private school Horace Mann in New York City but did not graduate due to financial difficulties for his family. He said he went on to obtain his GED.
But a spokesperson for the school on Thursday confirmed to ABC News — and other outlets — that he never attended Horace Mann.
An attorney for Santos, Joseph Murray, initially pushed back on scrutiny of his background as “defamatory,” claiming it was a biased smear. Murray has since referred ABC News to Santos’ press team, who has not responded to requests for comment.
Another apparent contradiction in Santos’ biography surrounds the death of his mother, Fatima Devolder.
Santos’ wrote in a tweet in 2021 that “9/11 claimed my mother’s life…”
In an archived version of his campaign website, he said that his mother worked in the South Tower of the World Trade Center and survived the terror attack but died “a few years later.”
Today, his website states that his mother died from cancer but does not disclose if it was related to 9/11 and being exposed to Ground Zero.
Santos has seemingly revised the timeline of his mother’s death as well. In a tweet from December 2021, he wrote that the date marked the five-year anniversary of his mom dying — which would have been 2016 — despite previously saying her death was a “few years” after 9/11.
An obituary for his mother states that she died on Dec. 23, 2016, which matches Santos’ tweet last year, but it’s unclear how old she was when she died. The obituary said she was born in 1962, which means she would have been 54, but the obituary states that she was 64.
Santos has admitted to fabricating some parts of his background, including his education and employment history, and also exaggerating his Jewish ancestry. But he’s insisted in interviews that he’s “not a criminal,” suggesting he was guilty merely of “embellishing.”
“I think humans are flawed, and we all make mistakes,” Santos said during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. “I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that once in our life we made a mistake. I’m having to admit this on national television for the whole country to see.”
But Santos seemed to backtrack on some of his admissions of actual falsehoods on his resume during the Fox News interview, saying that his claim that he worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup is “debatable” as Link Bridge, a firm he served as vice president for, did “extensive” business with the two Wall Street giants.
Both Goldman and Citigroup have said they have no record he was employed there.
Santos, a Republican, has said he intends to take his House seat despite the controversy and “be effective” as a lawmaker, as he told The New York Post this week.
He has been facing a growing chorus of criticism from Democrats and some fellow Republicans, including calls that he resign and be investigated by the House Ethics Committee.
Local, state and federal prosecutors are also looking at some of the claims regarding Santos’ background, including his financial disclosures, ABC News reported. He has not been accused of any crimes.
Santos has allegedly been telling local Republican leaders he will not seek reelection in 2024, according to the Nassau County Republican chairman.
In response to that information, Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo said, “I don’t know what party would endorse him as a candidate. This Republican committee will not support George Santos in 2024.”
In Nassau County, in the district where Santos was elected last month, Courage for America and Unrig our Economy on Thursday held a press conference at the courthouse along with community leaders demanding Congress open an investigation.
Linda Beigel Schulman, who said she lived on Long Island her entire life, went after Santos for his false and unsubstantiated statements, such as previously saying in a news interview that he lost employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida. The New York Times reported that it could find no links between the identified Pulse victims and businesses associated with Santos.
Beigel Schulman’s son, Scott Beigel, was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting; he was a geography teacher at the school.
“How dare he try to score political points or gain sympathy by lying about losing employees?” she said.
“I know all too well and all too deep, the sense of loss and grief about someone you know or someone you love, who was killed by gun violence,” she said.
Beigel Schulman also said she took issue with Santos’ exaggerations about his Jewish ancestry, with an earlier version of his biography saying his maternal grandparents fled persecution during World War II and resettled in Brazil. He has said his mother was Jewish.
But The Forward, a Jewish news outlet, reviewed genealogical information and found that Santos’ maternal grandparents were born in Brazil.
During the New York Post interview, Santos said he’s “clearly Catholic” but maintained that his grandmother told stories about being Jewish and later converting to Catholicism.
“I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background, I said I was ‘Jew-ish,'” Santos said.
“Santos’ lies are insulting and demeaning to every child of a Holocaust survivor. How do I know because I am a child of a Holocaust survivor,” Beigel Schulman said on Thursday. “Outright, blatant lying and fabrication by those who want to be our representatives should not be accepted by any of us.”
Santos’ Democratic rival in the November election, Robert Zimmerman, spoke at the event, too.
“We demand that Congress conduct a House ethics investigation into George Santos,” Zimmerman said. “This moment is not about Democrat or Republican politics. This moment is about protecting our democracy, standing up for justice, and standing together in unity.”
Courtesy of Carolyn Rogers and Patti Rogers Harris
(NEW YORK) — Two sisters are celebrating a very special anniversary this year: the 50th anniversary of one donating her kidney to the other.
Usually organ transplants, such as kidney transplants, last 15 to 20 years if the organ came from a living donor, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
The fact that the kidney that Patti Rogers Harris, 68, of Hendersonville, Tennessee, received from her sister, Carolyn Rogers, 72, has lasted 50 years is nothing short of astonishing.
At the time, kidney transplant operations had only been around for 20 years, making it a relatively new procedure.
However, the sisters say they are feeling great and hope to encourage others to become organ donors and help save a life.
‘I didn’t know how sick I was’
When Harris was 4 years old, she had an undiagnosed strep infection that led to post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, or PSGN, which is a rare kidney disease that can develop after certain strep infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
PSGN is an inflammatory disease in which the body mounts an immune response and mistakenly attacks healthy body parts — in this case, the kidneys — and causes damage.
This can lead to kidney disease and, in rare cases, kidney failure.
Harris said throughout the course of her childhood, she always felt like she was sick.
“I was sick,” she told ABC News. “I didn’t know how sick I was, but I do remember having a whole lot less energy than my siblings. I’m kind of sitting on the sidelines watching them having fun.”
Harris’ health deteriorated until eventually, at age 16, she ended up in the hospital and doctors said she was suffering from kidney failure, and she needed to be on dialysis.
Dialysis is a procedure by which a machine helps filter the blood of waste products, toxins and excess fluids — which is supposed to be done by the kidneys.
Towards the end of Harris’ first year on dialysis, doctors approached her family with the idea of a transplant and if anyone in the family could be a match.
“So, it was the end of her first year of dialysis that I went in and started having the test to see who would be a good match,” Rogers told ABC News. “And I was. And then she was on dialysis for another year before we could do the [transplant].”
Rogers said she was unwavering in her determination to give her sister a kidney and Harris remembers that resoluteness.
“I do know people were being tested and Carolyn was adamant she was gonna give me a kidney,” Harris said. “I said, ‘Well, we’ll see what the doctor says.’ [She said], ‘I’m giving you a kidney.’ And I took it thank you very much.”
Transplants then and now
However, organ transplants were much more complicated 50 years ago than they are today.
Dr. Keith Johnson, one of the medical leads on the team that operated on Rogers and Harris, said matching a donor and a recipient has become a much more streamlined process today.
“Each kidney that became available was really a challenge,” Johnson told ABC News. “And the difference today is that there’s now a framework within which everybody works to decide and to very quickly allocate organs from donors, so that the recipients are known very quickly because of the computer system.”
Between 1954, when the first successful organ transplant was performed, through the early 1970s, there was no national system so doctors of individual transplant hospitals were calling transplant programs to see if they could find a suitable recipient.
“They would call transplant programs that they knew or had relationships with, in various parts of the country to find that if they had a recipient that was suitable for the kidneys that were just removed — and that was a very laborious process to try to figure out where the kidneys were going to go,” Johnson said.
The actual surgery itself has become much safer with easier recovery time for patients.
Surgical incisions to remove and transplant kidneys could be six to 10 inches back then. Rogers says her scar goes from the sternum to below the belly button — which she says is about nine inches. Now, incisions can be three inches or less.
“When you take the kidney out, you’re removing the artery and the blood vein from the kidney, you have to be concerned about bleeding,” Dr. Robert Richie, another lead on the medical team that operated on the sisters and the head of Vanderbilt’s kidney transplant program at the time, said. “And so, in order to be exceedingly careful, we had to have maximum exposure and so then we were making long mid-line incisions so that we could get a good look.”
“Over the years, we are now making smaller incisions,” he continued.
Additionally, since then, several drugs have been introduced that suppress the immune system to prevent organ rejection, which lowers the risk of mortality.
Convincing others to be donors
Harris said she doesn’t remember much about the surgery, which took place in September 1972, but Rogers remembers being prepped. She even recently spoke to Johnson about it.
“I remember the operating room and they said, ‘Carolyn, you’ve got to stop talking for [the anesthesia] to take effect’ and that’s the last thing I remember because I finally did stop talking,” she said.
Harris said she does remember how much her physical and mental health improved following the transplant.
“Really now, at 68, I have a lot of energy,” she said. “I feel comfortable in my body. I can’t even find the right adjectives for this topic because there’s not one.”
The pair hopes that their story will convince others to consider registering to be organ donors. Right now, more than 60,000 people are actively waiting on a transplant list to be organ donors, according to UNOS.
Since 1954, more than one million organ transplants have been performed, UNOS data shows.
“It can be such an outstanding gift for someone else to give a bit of themselves,” Harris said.
Rogers added, “What other reason are we on Earth for than to care for each other? Is there any other reason?”
“You can make a huge difference” by being a donor, she said.
(NEW YORK) — Elon Musk earlier this month pledged to step down as the head of Twitter as soon as he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job.”
Musk’s tentative resignation followed a Twitter poll posted by the billionaire entrepreneur in which 57.5% of respondents called on Musk to stop leading the company. Musk said he will retain control over the software and server departments, important teams that will grant him significant control over how the social media platform operates.
It remains possible that Musk may reverse his decision to step down, since he has changed his mind about previous policy decisions at Twitter, such as a proposed content moderation council, which he ultimately abandoned.
He hasn’t shared further details on the search for a successor or the traits he’s looking for in one, but that ambiguity hasn’t stopped some candidates from putting their names forward, including rapper Snoop Dogg and YouTube personality Mr. Beast.
Still, a set of viable candidates will likely emerge in the coming weeks or months.
The position brings formidable challenges. Musk, who admitted he overpaid for the platform at the purchasing price of $44 billion, said last month that the company was losing $4 million a day.
Since Musk retains a major public profile and ultimate authority as owner, the incoming CEO will need to implement Musk’s vision and cede the spotlight, Peter Harms, a professor of management at the University of Alabama who has studied corporate leadership, told ABC News.
“It’s not going to be your typical CEO,” Harms said.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here’s a list of who could be the next CEO of Twitter:
People close to Elon Musk
The next CEO of Twitter is perhaps most likely to come from a group of people close to Musk, whether inside or outside the company.
Jason Calacanis, a friend and public supporter of Musk, carries years of experience in tech and media. A former general manager at Netscape, Calacanis now works as an angel investor with stakes in Robinhood and Uber, among other startup successes.
Another friend of Musk’s, David Sacks, is co-founder and partner at a venture capital firm called Craft, which boasts investments in Lyft, Palantir, Slack and Twitter.
Earlier this month, Calacanis tweeted a poll asking users whether he, Sacks, or a partnership of the two should run Twitter after Musk. The response that garnered the most support was “Other,” which drew 39% of the vote.
A couple of other individuals in Musk’s orbit have drawn attention since his resignation announcement: Sriram Krishnan, a former Twitter employee brought back by Musk in October to help make improvements; and Steve Davis, the CEO of another Musk venture called The Boring Company, who reportedly slept at Twitter headquarters with his wife and newborn to help out with the acquisition, business publication The Information reported.
John Legere
Amid the flurry of half-joking celebrity requests asking to lead Twitter, an experienced candidate volunteered himself for the position: John Legere, former CEO of telecom company T-Mobile.
Legere, who led T-Mobile from 2012 to 2020, drew plaudits for rescuing T-Mobile from difficult times and making it the third-largest mobile carrier in the U.S.
In a Twitter post addressed to Musk, in November, Legere said, “You can stop managing daily business, and ‘content moderation’ and then support product/technology, let someone else ‘run’ @Twitter.”
“I’m expensive but so is what you paid for Twitter,” he added.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor of management at Yale University who convenes gatherings of top CEOs, told ABC News that Legere’s skills match the job, since he knows how to resurrect a well-established company.
Legere “could parachute in tomorrow and make it a lot better,” Sonnenfeld said. “This is a turnaround, a recovery, not an entrepreneurial start up.”
For his part, Musk appeared to rebuke Legere’s candidacy. In response to Legere’s post suggesting he lead the company, Musk simply tweeted, “no.” However, Musk has reversed his position on major decisions before, including the acquisition of Twitter.
Jack Dorsey
Another potential candidate to run Twitter is former CEO Jack Dorsey, a friend of Musk’s who departed the company and returned to lead it on a previous occasion.
Dorsey, who helped found the social media company, posted the platform’s first tweet in 2006 and was named CEO a year later. However, his tenure only lasted until 2008. Years later, however, as user growth plateaued and employee morale flagged, Dorsey came back to lead the company from 2015 to 2021.
Currently, Dorsey runs Block, a fintech company formerly called Square, which he co-founded more than a decade ago.
The return of a former Twitter CEO, like Dorsey, may be unlikely, since Musk has reversed some of the company’s previous policies and sharply criticized others. The company’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 attack, one of the most high-profile choices made under Dorsey, was undone by Musk last month.
Further, Musk has granted journalists access to internal company documents for a series of stories called the “Twitter Files,” in which they allege bias and censorship previously undertaken by the platform.
Meanwhile, Dorsey said in May that he does not want the role of CEO. When a user predicted that Musk would ultimately appoint Dorsey as CEO, Dorsey replied, “Nah I’ll never be CEO again.”
Sheryl Sandberg
Few potential candidates boast the qualifications of Sheryl Sandberg, who stepped down as chief operating officer at Facebook-parent Meta in September.
Facing a pause in advertising from major brands, Sandberg could restore the platform’s credibility on Madison Avenue and ensure that the company optimizes revenue through other means.
Sandberg, who joined Meta in 2008, led a dramatic increase in Facebook’s revenue by revamping its advertising business, turning the operation into an industry powerhouse that helped small and large businesses target users through data collected by the platform. Before that, she served as vice president of global online sales and operations at Google.
She worked closely with Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for nearly 15 years, navigating a relationship with a higher-ranking, tech-focused executive that bears resemblance to the possible dynamic between an incoming Twitter CEO and Musk.
But the sources of potential tension between Musk and Sandberg are manifold. Sandberg holds a significant public profile of her own, built in part on Lean In, a 2013 book that encouraged women to be assertive in the workplace. A powerful CEO, as Sandberg would likely be, could face disputes with Musk over the direction of the company.
Musk and Sandberg could also clash over their political views, especially as content moderation remains a polarizing issue. Sandberg was a major donor to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. By contrast, Musk last month encouraged Americans to vote for Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
(NEW YORK) — Apple is facing a proposed class action lawsuit alleging the Apple Watch’s blood oxygen sensor is racially biased against people with dark skin tones.
Experts say accuracy problems have been reported for these devices industry-wide. It’s not clear if Apple’s products are any better or worse than others.
The product’s feature, the Blood Oxygen app, allows users to measure their blood oxygen level directly from their wrist, according to Apple’s website.
The lawsuit claims plaintiff Alex Morales was aware of this feature when he purchased an Apple Watch between 2020 and 2021, assuming it would work “without regard to skin tone.”
Morales alleges Apple did not disclose any potential “biases and defects” on the product’s label, despite a large body of research indicating similar pulse oximetry devices — usually placed on a fingertip — were “significantly less accurate in measuring blood oxygen levels based on skin color,” the lawsuit states.
“The ‘real world significance’ of this bias lay unaddressed until the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, which converged with a greater awareness of structural racism which exists in many aspects of society,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Dec. 24.
Pulse oximetry devices were widely used during the COVID-19 pandemic to monitor patients’ conditions, which would help determine whether they received certain medicines, oxygen therapies and hospital beds when all were in limited supply.
The devices work by shining a light into a person’s finger or wrist and sensing how much is absorbed by their red blood cells, ABC News medical contributor Dr. Darien Sutton said.
“How much light is absorbed tells you how much oxygen you have because red blood cells carry oxygen,” he said. “The problem is that darker skin also absorbs light, so it can give you a falsely elevated reading.”
While it has been known for decades that the technology tends to overestimate oxygen levels for darker-skinned patients, recent medical studies highlighted the negative impact on such patients. For example, Hispanic and Black patients with the coronavirus were less likely to be recognized as eligible for treatment, according to a study published in May.
Researchers say reliance on the technology and the potentially flawed readings it yielded may have contributed to greater deaths among Black and other dark-skinned patients during the pandemic.
In light of these studies, the Food and Drug Administration recently launched a review of pulse oximeter technology to improve its efficacy and accuracy for all skin pigmentations.
It is unclear if Apple’s technology carries the same problem. An October study found the commercial smartwatch’s blood oxygen sensor is on par with “medical grade” devices, though there was no mention of including people of color in the study.
Apple did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. The company released its own observational study in June, which found that blood oxygen level readings were not meaningfully different between white Apple Watch wearers and nonwhite users.
The company’s website also states that measurements taken with the Blood Oxygen app are “not intended for medical use and are only designed for general fitness and wellness purposes.” Pulse oximeters used in hospitals must meet a higher standard of testing and accuracy, Sutton said.
Doctors stress that anyone who is struggling to breathe should seek emergency care, and at-home devices are prone to false readings due to human error, and a range of other issues.
While the website makes no mention of a user’s natural skin color interfering with the device, it does include a disclaimer that “permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can also impact performance” of the Blood Oxygen app. In 2015, several Apple Watch users said their black wrist tattoos interfered with the device’s heart rate sensor.
Morales filed the lawsuit on behalf of all New Yorkers who purchased an Apple Watch during the statutes of limitations. He also sued on behalf of residents in Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming under those states’ consumer fraud laws.
The lawsuit also accuses Apple of breaches of express warranty, fraud and unjust enrichment, claiming violations of New York General Business Law and State Consumer Fraud Acts.
Morales’ attorney Spencer Sheehan told ABC News that as scientists work to improve pulse oximeter technology, Apple has an obligation to be transparent with consumers about its devices’ possible flaws.
“It’s not comfortable to recognize and to acknowledge that this technology has an inherent bias,” Sheehan said. “But I think that we have to do that in order to chart a better path forward, to have a technology that does a better job in terms of the information it provides without accounting for a person’s skin tone.”
(NEW YORK) — A massive storm has triggered widespread flight cancellations, most notably at Southwest Airlines, which has canceled more than 15,000 flights since last week, stranding droves of customers during peak holiday travel season.
The problems continued for passengers on Thursday, when Southwest canceled about 2,300 flights or 58% of its flights scheduled for that day, according to flight tracking site FlightAware. But the company said in a statement that it plans to return to “normal operations with minimal disruptions” on Friday.
After a flight cancellation, airlines are typically willing to rebook passengers on the next available flight. Since flights are scarce and some airlines are overwhelmed, customers may prefer a refund.
Any potential refund depends on a passenger’s communication with the airline, Clint Henderson, a managing editor for news at The Points Guy, told ABC News.
“Be your own best advocate,” he said. “You really have to appeal to the airline directly – there’s no third party that takes care of it for you.”
Here’s how to get a refund if your flight has been canceled:
Seek a cash refund for the ticket
If an airline cancels a flight and a customer decides that he or she does not want to rebook an alternative one, the customer is entitled to a full refund by law, according to the Department of Transportation. That requirement applies no matter the reason for the flight cancellation, the agency said.
In such a circumstance, the customer can demand reimbursement directly from the airline, Henderson said.
“A lot of times airlines will try to give you a voucher but you’re entitled to cash back,” he said.
Pursue a refund for food, lodging and other expenses
In light of the holiday disruption that has stranded many customers, Southwest Airlines has vowed to “honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation,” the company said.
The offer to refund non-flight expenses only stands for customers who suffered a cancellation or “significant delay” between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2, Southwest Airlines said.
It remains unclear exactly what costs Southwest Airlines will cover. Before affected customers take on sizable costs, they should note that “there’s a lot of wiggle room in the word ‘reasonable,'” Henderson said.
Ultimately, Southwest Airlines will refund customers for food, travel and lodging fees, even if they exceed typical rates, Henderson predicted, since the company will want to restore its reputation and respond to criticism from elected officials.
“I do think they’ll make good even if you’re spending $1,000 on a last-minute flight or renting a car for $300 a day or airport hotel prices jumped dramatically and you spend $500 a night for a hotel,” he said.
Send receipts to the airline as soon as possible
Southwest Airlines has posted a web page where customers can submit receipts for expenses that resulted from travel disruptions over the holidays.
The company has warned, however, that reimbursements may take an extended period of time due to the severity of the current problems.
“As our focus remains on stabilizing and restarting our operation, of which we’re seeing very positive signs, our teams will then take on the task of processing the requests. It will take some time given the scale,” Southwest Airlines told ABC News.
In turn, customers can expedite the process as much as possible by submitting receipts to the company soon after the relevant purchases.
Henderson said he did not know how long reimbursements would take but said customers should not expect them anytime soon.
“Usually this kind of thing takes weeks and weeks, if not months,” he said. “I don’t think there will be a speedy timeline.”
(WASHINGTON) — A congressional investigation into the Food and Drug Administration’s review process for an Alzheimer’s treatment found that the agency “deviated” from its standard procedures to approve the Aduhelm drug with inconsistent data.
Aduhelm is notable for being the first drug in recent years approved to treat the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s, a disease with no known cure that is characterized by progressive dementia that affects more than six million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
The joint 18-month investigation between the House’s Oversight and Reform Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee, released on Thursday, criticizes the FDA for “atypical collaboration and interactions” with Biogen, the drug’s manufacturer.
In statements, Biogen and the FDA both said their interactions prior to Aduhelm’s green light were appropriate in the context of the approval process.
“One of my top priorities as Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Reform is ensuring that the American people have access to effective and affordable medications,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, said in a statement.
The FDA “remains committed to the integrity of our drug approval process, which includes ensuring that safe and effective new treatment options are available to the millions of people with Alzheimer’s disease living in the U.S.,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
“The FDA’s decision to approve Aduhelm was based on our scientific evaluation of the data contained in the application, which is described in the approval materials. … That said, the agency has already started implementing changes consistent with the Committee’s recommendations,” the statement said, in part.
The report also blasts Biogen for “an unjustifiably high price for Aduhelm” that it says was meant “to make history.” One year of the Aduhelm treatment originally cost $56,000 for a person of average weight, the report says.
“Biogen stands by the integrity of the actions we have taken,” the company said in a statement to ABC News. “As stated in the congressional report, an FDA review concluded that, ‘There is no evidence that these interactions with the sponsor in advance of filing were anything but appropriate in this situation.'”
“Alzheimer’s is a highly complex disease and we have learned from the development and launch of Aduhelm. That process is continuing to inform our work as Biogen introduces new innovative treatments to the market,” the statement read, in part.
Aduhelm was considered for FDA approval under the agency’s traditional pathway before the agency switched to consider the drug under its Accelerated Approval Program, according to the report.
The change in course — which the congressional investigation says occurred “abruptly” — came after the FDA internally found Aduhelm lacked “demonstrated clinical benefit necessary for traditional approval,” House investigators found.
Under the accelerated program, the FDA can approve some drugs that meet both “an unmet medical need” and “treat serious conditions,” according to the agency’s website. Aduhelm is not the only drug to be approved under this pathway, which the FDA carved out specifically to give more options to patients with diseases for which virtually no treatments exist. Accelerated approval is typically contingent upon the pharmaceutical company completing larger, longer-term studies.
During the monthslong approval process, the FDA and Biogen collaborated closely. FDA and Biogen officials met, spoke or otherwise had substantial email exchanges at least 115 times, according to the congressional investigation.
Although it is typical for drug companies to work closely with the FDA during the approval process, such collaboration between Biogen and its federal regulators “exceeded the norm in some respects,” according to the FDA’s own internal review, the report says.
The cooperation came after an independent review of Aduhelm’s effects on people with Alzheimer’s cast doubt on its ability “to effectively slow cognitive and functional impairment” in patients.
And when the FDA initially approved the drug for all Alzheimer’s patients, the congressional investigation found that the move concerned some Biogen advisers who were wary of such broad approval. The advisers did not communicate such reservations to regulators, the report says.
The FDA later walked back its broad approval of the drug, eventually recommending the drug’s use in only a narrower subset of patients with early-stage disease, which more closely mirrored the group included in Aduhelm’s clinical trials.
Following the FDA’s accelerated approval of Aduhelm, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services established that Medicare would only pay for the drug under limited circumstances in which patients are part of approved studies.
That move severely limits the availability and practical implications of Aduhelm, essentially making it available only to people who can pay out of pocket for treatment.
And as part of the stipulations associated with accelerated approval, Biogen has more than six years to complete the final trial, per the report. Aduhelm remains available in the meantime.
Thursday’s report comes as the FDA evaluates two additional Alzheimer’s-related drugs, with a green light from the agency possible in the coming months. Biogen helped develop one of those drugs.
“FDA must take swift action to ensure that its processes for reviewing future Alzheimer’s disease treatments do not lead to the same doubts about the integrity of FDA’s review,” the congressional report says.
