Nurses

The morning of her second day at Starpoint Surgery Center in Studio City, nurse Melony Currier was found in the parking lot, passed out in her car. Once roused, she was escorted to a drug-testing facility to provide a urine sample. In the restroom, she injected an anesthetic she had stolen from the surgery center, according to state records and a Starpoint official.

I'm really upset about the cartoon showing nurses in white caps treating doctors like gods (L.A. Speak, Palm Latitudes, Feb. 7). I'm a nurse, and I work with doctors at the same level. I also create cartoons for nursing publications, but I never rated nurses that low. Please! Nurses are as much professionals as doctors. OSCAR CAIROLI West Covina

Organized labor scored a major victory Friday as nurses at the West's largest hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, voted to join the California Nurses Assn. The vote, according to the union, was 695 in favor and 627 against in balloting that began Wednesday and concluded Friday night.The effort to organize 1,511 nurses at Cedars-Sinai was rancorous, with union supporters and opponents accusing one another of deceptions and intimidation.

Re "Sorry Arnold, No Two-Picture Deal," Commentary, Jan. 26: Like most registered nurses, I don't really want to go from battling disease at the hospital to fending off the governor's attacks the rest of the time, but if he wants to fight nurses, we will fight back for our patients and our profession. Our situation doesn't remind me so much of "Conan vs. the RN," because in his movies Conan always wins. How about "Conan vs. Xena, Warrior Nurse"? Margie Keenan RN Long Beach

Re "Criminal past no bar to nursing in California," Oct. 5 Your article points out that there are a number of nurses with criminal records, and gives examples. Frankly, their criminal records have nothing to do with their job performance as nurses. And it is well known that we have a shortage of nurses. Their criminal records for things like drugs or alcohol and so forth should not be used to prevent them from working. The state of California, through its excessive laws and punishments, has harassed them enough.

Re "Maternity Staff Shortage Found at St. Joseph," March 12: As a working registered nurse in Orange County for the past 10 years, I am angered the media is just now addressing the critical shortage of nurses. The fact that St. Joseph Hospital staffing procedure was reported only after a near tragedy is maddening to those of us who work understaffed and stressed on a daily basis. Nurses consistently work 12-hour shifts with a heavy patient load, no breaks, and are told by management to "just do the best you can."

Nurses at the University of California's five medical centers voted overwhelmingly Friday to ratify a contract praised by union leaders as historic. The contract, which received 95% approval from the system's 8,000 nurses, pays them based on seniority and boosts salaries an average of 19% to 25% over the next three years. It eliminates the merit pay-based system the nurses have battled.

I read with interest of the accounting firm of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells' proposal to replace 50% of the San Diego Unified School District's professional registered nurses with health aides and licensed vocational nurses. While I recognize that cost containment is an urgent priority, I wonder how a proposal to replace half of all teachers with aides and assistants who have had, at most, two years of instruction at a junior college would be received. Professional school nurses, like teachers, receive special training that prepares them to recognize and meet the health needs of our children.

Nurses at the University of California's five medical centers canceled a planned strike after reaching a tentative agreement Friday on a new contract Union officials called the agreement historic and predicted that it would have a major impact on recruitment and retention of nurses, not just in the prestigious medical system but across the state.

The family of a 52-year-old Huntington Memorial Hospital nursing assistant who had a stroke a week after she was attacked by a patient has filed a claim in a state workers' compensation court, saying she was unfairly denied medical coverage. Amelia Mendoza, who has four adult children, had a massive stroke April 20, about 2 1/2 hours after being turned away from Huntington Memorial Hospital's occupational health clinic because it was too busy, her family's lawyers said Tuesday.