In brief: Settlement would limit use of shackles at immigration court

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal authorities would limit the use of shackles on immigrants who appear before immigration judges under a proposed settlement of a class-action lawsuit.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to avoid shackling immigrants at the San Francisco immigration court in many hearings. Immigrants will still be shackled at a type of brief, procedural hearing in which several detainees are addressed at the same time.

A federal judge in San Francisco was scheduled to consider today whether to approve the settlement in the lawsuit filed in 2011 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and others.

ACLU attorney Julia Harumi Mass said the agreement applies only to the San Francisco court, which serves more than 2,000 immigrants a year who are in ICE custody at three county jails in Northern California.

Patients at slight risk after colonoscopies

SEATTLE – More than 100 patients who had colonoscopies between 2011 and 2013 at Seattle Children’s have been advised to be tested for hepatitis B and C and HIV after the hospital discovered special equipment used in the procedures had not been properly cleaned.

The risk for infection is “very low,” Dr. Danielle Zerr, Seattle Children’s medical director for infection prevention, said Wednesday.

The hospital began notifying the 105 patients late last week.

The cleaning-process lapse was discovered in early November and involved two auxiliary channel scopes specifically used for children’s colonoscopies.

Children’s says it then canceled all colonoscopies and started investigating.

Woman gives birth to identical triplets

LONG BEACH, Calif. – A Southern California woman has given birth to identical triplets, instantly doubling the size of her family.

April Dooley’s three sons were born in roughly 4-minute intervals on Jan. 13, at a combined weight of 14 pounds, 9 ounces, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday. She named them Patrick, Owen and Liam.

She and her husband, Brad, wanted their 5-year-old daughter Kaitlyn to have a companion at their home in Long Beach. They weren’t expecting their family to grow so precipitously.

All three boys are healthy, although Liam required surgery for an intestinal problem. Dooley said the surgeon told her the surgery went well.

The triplets arrived six weeks early, which is common with multiple births.

The occurrence of naturally conceived identical triplets is extremely rare. The Dooleys didn’t use fertility treatments.