Representatives of Sutter Health hospitals in California said it was business as usual despite a strike by registered nurses. A third to more than half of the nurses were crossing their picket lines and with replacement workers already hired, Sutter staffing levels were about normal, said the representatives.
The American College of Surgeons' commission on cancer has granted three-year accreditation to Bristol (CT) Hospital's new cancer care center. Bristol Hospital has affiliated with the Yale-New Haven Cancer Network, which provides Bristol with access to clinical resources, clinical research and other support services from Yale-New Haven, the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Cancer Center, said a Bristol Hospital spokesman.
B. Braun Medical Inc., a manufacturer of the blood thinner heparin, has initiated a nationwide recall because some products may contain a potentially dangerous contaminant. Contaminated heparin from a different manufacturer has been associated with 19 deaths and hundreds of allergic reactions.
JPS Hospital has unveiled its new five-story patient tower that is the first major addition to the taxpayer-supported hospital's main Fort Worth, TX, campus since 1991. The tower's amenities include 108 private patient rooms with computers and advanced medical equipment mounted on the ceiling. There are also twelve operating suites, each outfitted with a 42-inch plasma screen and multiple cameras that can wirelessly send video feeds to other parts of the hospital. JPS is spending about $93 million on the tower and a seven-level parking garage.
California regulators have fined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center $25,000 in connection with a series of safety lapses in which incorrect doses of the blood-thinner heparin were given to children. Cedars was one of 11 California hospitals assessed penalties because of license violations that caused, or were likely to cause, serious injury or death.
The Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles has released a study documenting the language barriers faced by nearly one in three Los Angeles County residents, or 2.5 million people. The data show that most of residents in five of the county's eight service planning areas--which are used to plan and deliver health and social services--speak a language other than English at home. Immigrant advocates say that scores of patients fall through the cracks, resulting in delayed care, misdiagnoses and unnecessary procedures leading in some cases to death.