Health Workers

Bombings. Butyric acid attacks. Sniper shootings. Letters filled with fake anthrax. These are some of the tactics used over the years by antiabortion extremists. The slaying of Dr. George Tiller in his Kansas church Sunday was part of a decades-long history of domestic terrorism aimed at abortion providers, carried out by a small minority of the much broader and generally peaceful movement that opposes abortion.

The leaders of an Oakland union were removed from office Tuesday by their Washington bosses, the culmination of months of fighting over who will represent tens of thousands of home health aides. The Service Employees International Union served the officers of the 150,000-member United Healthcare Workers West with a trusteeship notice Tuesday afternoon. It appointed its executive vice presidents, Eliseo Medina and Dave Regan, as trustees.

In light of widespread failings in a state-run treatment program for substance-abusing doctors, a key state senator said Monday that audits are needed of similar programs for nurses, pharmacists and other health professionals. Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) called a legislative hearing in the wake of a decision by the Medical Board of California last year to abolish its confidential addiction program after five audits found that it was not working.

The presidential election has come to an end, but a stormy political battle of another sort is in high gear in labor circles, with long-ranging consequences for California healthcare workers. At issue is whether as many as 300,000 employees now represented by three separate local unions across the state will be rolled into one enormous local, a proposal that was put to a nonbinding vote of members on Monday.

The Bush administration announced its "conscience protection" rule for the healthcare industry Thursday, giving doctors, hospitals, and even receptionists and volunteers in medical experiments the right to refuse to participate in medical care they find morally objectionable. "This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience," said outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

California's failure to check the criminal backgrounds of health professionals extends well beyond nurses, encompassing tens of thousands of doctors, dentists, psychiatric technicians and therapists. The Times reported this fall that regulators had not vetted about 195,000 of the state's registered and vocational nurses, exposing patients to caregivers with histories of violence, addiction, predatory behavior or corruption.

A multinational health group announced here Friday that it would commit $500 million over three years to strengthen healthcare systems and train additional health workers in developing nations, addressing a key problem for implementing its vaccination programs.

ALISON CRANE was back. So with countless hugs, and a few quips, the members of the group dedicated to "healthy humor" celebrated the return of the nurse who founded their organization in the spare bedroom of her Chicago-area townhouse and during its first years did everything, editing its newsletter, organizing its conferences and giving the speeches. Now the Assn. of Applied and Therapeutic Humor was 20 years old and they celebrated that too in their convention here on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Doctors have halted a two-month strike over pay that plunged the country's creaking healthcare system into crisis, the health minister said Saturday. David Parirenyatwa said the government had reached a pay deal with the doctors, who wanted better salaries to keep pace with Zimbabwe's roaring inflation.

Gus Barraza wasn't happy about getting a sprained thumb on the job, but he was impressed by the care he got at the clinic where his company sent him. He was clearing a sewer line in Duarte last month when the snake augur he was using hit a root and wrapped around his left thumb. "It was basically a sprained thumb, not broken or fractured, but they took care of me really well," he said.