Hospitals

California public health officials issued $25,000 in administrative fines to 10 hospitals throughout the state, including three facilities in Orange County and two in Ventura County, for failing to comply with licensing requirements, authorities said Tuesday Among the hospitals cited was Anaheim General Hospital, which has received two previous fines and was faulted a third time for "potentially hazardous food-handling practices." Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, which has received one previous fine, was penalized for failing to ensure "safe and accurate administration of medications."

University of California regents Thursday expressed support and financial trepidation about a proposal that the university play a key role in reopening Martin Luther King Jr. Hospital near Watts in 2012. Several regents said they want ironclad assurances from Los Angeles County supervisors and state officials that UC would not be held responsible for any costs or liabilities for what is expected to be a 120-bed facility with an emergency room. The hospital, which once had 233 beds, was shut down in August 2007 after repeated failures in patient care, including some that led to deaths.

Re "A sick waste of money," Editorial, July 18 It's hard to imagine a worse time to support a new tax on hospitals, but The Times has managed to do just that. This new tax -- which The Times calls a fee -- will be passed through to patients with private health coverage or who pay out of pocket, and will exacerbate our already out-of-control healthcare costs. Less than six weeks ago, California voters sent a clear signal: no more taxes. The Times' ill-considered endorsement of a proposed hospital tax (AB 1383 by Assemblyman Dave Jones)

Noxious fumes at a trash disposal facility sent 119 people to hospitals, including two who were in critical condition. Firefighters responded to ABC Disposal Service Inc. in New Bedford just after 10 a.m. after a report that something brought to the facility was making people sick, New Bedford Fire Chief Paul Leger said. As many as 10 people lost consciousness after breathing the fumes, authorities said. The victims were decontaminated by a hazardous materials team on site before being taken to hospitals.

California would have one of the most sweeping laws in the nation for tracking "superbugs" in hospitals and other settings under legislation that state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara) plans to introduce this month. This time, the hospital lobbyists who persuaded Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto a similar bill in 2004 will be up against a highly visible advocate.

As the public's alarm mounts over methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a few hospitals in California and across the country are finding that aggressive action to detect and avert infections pays off.

Three hospitals in Los Angeles County -- County-USC Medical Center, Citrus Valley Medical Center/Inter-Community Campus in Covina and Torrance Memorial Medical Center -- had the highest mortality rates in California for coronary bypass surgery in 2005, according to a statewide analysis scheduled to be released today.

Patients are waiting longer for care in the nation's emergency rooms, a potentially deadly result of the shrinking number of emergency departments and rising demand for services, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School. Half of all emergency room patients waited 30 minutes or longer before being examined by a doctor in 2004, a 36% increase from a median wait time of 22 minutes in 1997, according to the study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.

Health insurer Aetna is requiring hospitals to waive patient bills when certain medical errors occur and to apologize to families of patients hurt by the mistakes, the company said. The template for future insurance contracts calls for hospitals to report events such as surgery on the wrong patient or body part to accrediting agencies within 10 days. The goal isn't to punish hospitals, said Aetna's chief medical officer, Troyen Brennan. "It is important to take steps that will increase hospitals' focus on why 'never events' happen, promote shared information and facilitate improved processes that will prevent future events," Brennan said.

Heavy turbulence injured 10 people, including two flight attendants, on a United Airlines flight bound from Los Angeles to Chicago, the airline said. Flight 1028 was diverted to Denver International Airport at about 3 a.m. and the eight passengers and two flight attendants were taken to hospitals, the airline said. Their conditions were not released.