Good Samaritan Hospital

In a darkened hospital room, David Walker quietly sits at the bedside of Sammie Haynes. Haynes, who is 77, has been blind since he was 45. Recently, he underwent heart surgery, but now has pneumonia. His wife has left for a while, and until Walker arrived, the one-time catcher for the legendary Satchel Paige, was alone. The two men chat amicably at first. Walker asks Haynes how he is doing, and he replies the hospital food isn't as good as his wife's cooking.

Cycling on the streets of Los Angeles has never been for the faint of heart. The roads are crowded. Drivers are distracted. Potholes can be perilous. So can car doors, suddenly swung open. Even the mayor is not immune. Two years ago, when a taxi pulled out in front of him on Venice Boulevard, he flew off his bike and broke his elbow. It's no wonder some cyclists seek out whatever help they can get — be it designated bike lanes, bike paths or even bike blessings. On Tuesday, as part of Bike Week L.A., dozens of cyclists rode to Good Samaritan Hospital for the ninth annual Blessing of the Bicycles.

Striking nurses picketed Good Samaritan Hospital on Wednesday to protest stalled contract negotiations with the independent Los Angeles hospital. The 24-hour strike was scheduled to last until 7 a.m. today, California Nurses Assn. chief negotiator Michael Griffing said. The 408-bed hospital hired workers from an outside nursing service to fill in for those on strike.

Good Samaritan Hospital officials say two reports show the hospital was not spying on its employees when they installed cameras hidden in clocks around the hospital. Nurses complained in November about the cameras, which were installed in break rooms, a fitness center and other areas, because they believed the cameras invaded their privacy. They said people often changed clothes or took medications in those areas.

Good Samaritan Hospital officials say two reports show the hospital was not spying on its employees when they installed cameras hidden in clocks around the hospital. Nurses complained in November about the cameras, which were installed in break rooms, a fitness center and other areas, because they believed the cameras invaded their privacy. They said people often changed clothes or took medications in those areas.

The relatives of two patients who contracted Legionnaires' disease and died last year at Good Samaritan Hospital have sued the facility and its physicians, claiming they mishandled the outbreak and then tried to cover it up. The families of Kwok Hin Cheng, 65, and Charles Griego, 67, have filed separate lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court, each seeking more than $20 million in damages. Both men underwent bypass surgery at the hospital, contracted the illness and died within two weeks.

A nurse suspended from a Long Island hospital after it was suspected that he administered a potentially fatal drug to a patient was being sought for questioning in at least 10 similar cases, officials said. Richard Angelo, 25, has abandoned the apartment he rented in Lindenhurst, Suffolk County police said.

It was the wires dangling from a wall clock that first caught the eye of the nurse, who was taking a breather after a stint in the labor and delivery unit of Good Samaritan Hospital. A closer inspection revealed a tiny, pea-sized camera lens above the numeral "9." Within minutes, nurses at the hospital just west of downtown Los Angeles hit the phones, alerting colleagues about the device in the break room and asking them to check other clocks for hidden cameras.

The relatives of two patients who contracted Legionnaires' disease and died last year at Good Samaritan Hospital have sued the facility and its physicians, claiming they mishandled the outbreak and then tried to cover it up. The families of Kwok Hin Cheng, 65, and Charles Griego, 67, have filed separate lawsuits in Los Angeles County Superior Court, each seeking more than $20 million in damages. Both men underwent bypass surgery at the hospital, contracted the illness and died within two weeks.

Good Samaritan Hospital, upset by publicity about a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at its facility, secretly tested water from the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles County administration buildings and reportedly found Legionella pneumophila bacteria.

Los Angeles County health officials said Tuesday that their failure to publicize a recent Legionnaires' disease outbreak at a hospital was an isolated incident. Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, director of the Department of Health Services, told the county Board of Supervisors that he has reviewed all disease outbreaks from the past year and concluded that his agency is not withholding information from the public about any major health concern.

A Los Angeles County supervisor will ask the Department of Health Services to investigate why it did not notify the public about a recent outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in a downtown hospital. The motion by Michael D. Antonovich on Tuesday's agenda also calls for the department to outline changes to its policy on publicizing outbreaks.

Relatives of two people who contracted Legionnaires' disease and died at Good Samaritan Hospital since May said doctors at the downtown Los Angeles facility did not inform them of the patients' hospital-acquired respiratory infections. At least, that was the case until Tuesday, when the children of one of the patients were telephoned by the hospital's chief of staff, told of the infection and warned to expect a call from a reporter about the case.

Los Angeles County health officials acknowledged Monday that they should have informed the public weeks ago about a Legionnaires' disease outbreak at Good Samaritan Hospital, where nine patients became ill, including two who died. Those health officials struggled to explain why they did not release information about the risk even though they knew that one of the patients infected with the respiratory ailment died in May. The second person died in June.