The Grafton (WI) Plan Commission has endorsed Aurora Health Care's plans to construct a new hospital and medical building. Aurora Health Care representatives said they hope to break ground on the project by summer 2008.
Citing ethical concerns, a number of religious leaders are asking officials at Appalachian Regional Healthcare and striking nurses at the system's nine hospitals to resolve their contract dispute. About 650 nurses walked off the job Oct. 1.
About 4,500 patients at three Minnesota clinics must get new vaccinations after monitoring revealed their earlier shots had been improperly refrigerated. Similar problems have been uncovered at other clinics in the state and across the country, largely because of expanded state and federal audits of vaccine storage records.
At the beginning of 2007, the expectation was that the new Democratic-led Congress and President Bush would make some headway on healthcare for the uninsured and rising medical costs that are squeezing the middle class. Instead, the reached a stalemate. The failure to act underscores how hard the healthcare problem is to deal with.
Legislative leaders in California have announced that more taxes would be needed to fill a projected $14-billion budget gap next year, and the state Senate president said any healthcare overhaul will have to wait.
The Chicago Plan Commission has favored a plan from Children's Memorial Hospital's plan to build a 22-story hospital crowned with a heliport. Plans for the $1 billion hospital, which would replace Children's aging Lincoln Park location, still must clear the City Council's zoning panel as well as the full city council.