Kaiser Permanente Medical Center

Nadya Suleman told TV host "Dr. Phil" McGraw on Tuesday that she fears Kaiser Permanente Medical Center may not release her octuplets to her until she proves she can care for them. In an interview with The Times, McGraw said Suleman called him Tuesday afternoon, distressed after talking to Kaiser officials. Suleman has taped two episodes of McGraw's show, the first of which is scheduled to run today.

Might there be a budding Vincent van Gogh behind your doctor's smock? Or maybe an aspiring Emily Dickinson is your family practitioner? More than 40 physicians at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Woodland Hills showed off their creativity in oil painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, music composition, gardening, collecting and culinary arts in an exhibit called "Physicians Creative Works Exposition." The exhibit, which opened Tuesday, continues today from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Might there be a budding Vincent van Gogh behind your doctor's smock? Or maybe an aspiring Emily Dickinson is your family practitioner? More than 40 physicians at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center showed off their creativity in oil painting, sculpture, photography, poetry, music composition and even gardening, collecting and culinary arts in an exhibit called "Physicians Creative Works Exposition." The exhibit, which opened Tuesday, continues today from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

An emergency-room nurse faces three felony charges in the theft of driver's licenses, credit cards and jewelry from patients at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, according to police. Gemma Yuman, 34, a licensed vocational nurse, was taken into custody at her home in San Bernardino and booked at Robert Pressley Detention Center on July 11, said Sgt. Leon Phillips. Police believe Yuman was involved in at least eight thefts from patients, one of whom had died.

Kaiser Permanente's Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard is set to break ground today on a $428-million replacement facility, the latest example of a statewide effort among hospitals to meet new seismic standards. By 2008, each of the state's 470 hospitals must retrofit, reconstruct or close any building on its campus that does not meet the new structural standards, said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the California Healthcare Assn., an organization representing the hospital industry.

The last time Robin Martin was in Kaiser Permanente Woodland Hills Medical Center, he was a rosy-cheeked baby who had problems maintaining his temperature. Robin's mother, Karen, said her son was losing weight in utero and his birth may have been high-risk because of her rising blood pressure. Doctors had to induce labor and Robin was watched closely for nearly two weeks before he was allowed to go home. That was 14 years ago.

A second man has come forward and said he was stabbed in the eyes by an assailant while a patient at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, police said Thursday. Fontana Police Cpl. Nate Harley said Juan Mendoza announced during a news conference called by his attorneys Wednesday that "the same thing had happened to him two years ago" that happened to Steven Solomon, 34, last week. "We haven't interviewed Mendoza yet, so we don't know any of the details about him," Harley said.

Kaiser Permanente, the giant HMO, has quietly put off plans to close parts of its flagship Sunset Boulevard medical center and transfer surgical patients to a Catholic-owned private hospital in downtown Los Angeles. Kaiser had said in November 1996 that it would close inpatient operations at its sprawling Sunset center this year and begin sending surgical patients to St. Vincent Medical Center.

Columbus Middle School's free clinic that serves students without medical insurance has received a $25,000 "Good Neighbor" grant from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center of Woodland Hills. "We determined this was a good place to put our money," Kaiser representative Lisa Kort said. "In the West Valley, there are pockets that really need these services." The grant will be used to expand treatment, purchase equipment and help staff the clinic, which serves about 9,500 students on 10 area campuses.