Nursing Staff

Re "Prison pay hikes drain staff at state hospitals," Jan. 26 The nursing staff at state mental hospitals is drained too. Because of low wages, there is a chronic shortage of nursing staff at Metropolitan State Hospital. I work 64 hours a week because the hospital can't recruit qualified nurses and psychiatric technicians. Staff shortages can't be blamed on the prison system but on our chronically low wages. MARK TACKETT Anaheim

Los Angeles County officials have placed two staff members at Olive View- UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar on paid leave after allegations that they had participated in a makeshift beauty salon atop medical equipment in the ward for high-risk newborns, according to county officials. The county this week also opened an investigation into broader allegations that doctors, nurses and staff at the neonatal intensive care unit put babies at risk through substandard care. The allegations were contained in two anonymous complaints received by the commission that accredits the facility.

Re "Supervisors glum on King-Harbor," June 20 One nagging thought: If Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital fails to pass the federal inspection and is forced to close, where will all the nursing staff who couldn't pass the competency tests be transferred? CHARLEEN SIEGLER Port Hueneme

State inspectors investigating claims by nurses that faulty drug pumps had led to the accidental overdose of five patients at UC Irvine Medical Center found three deficiencies and issued an "immediate jeopardy" warning, alleging that patient care was at risk, hospital officials acknowledged Thursday. The warning earlier this summer is one of the most serious that can be issued against a hospital -- and typically federal or state inspectors stay on site until a plan to correct the problem is in place.

Your newspaper recently reported the lawsuit which was filed by a former nurse at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital for alleged sexual harassment. Because of the inflammatory allegations, we believe it is necessary to point out that there are always two sides to any lawsuit. San Pedro Peninsula Hospital employs competent professionals to provide nursing services to our patients. Patient care is our primary concern. The environment in which our employees work contributes to the quality of patient care.

Your newspaper recently reported the lawsuit which was filed by a former nurse at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital for alleged sexual harassment. Because of the inflammatory allegations, we believe it is necessary to point out that there are always two sides to any lawsuit. San Pedro Peninsula Hospital employs competent professionals to provide nursing services to our patients. Patient care is our primary concern. The environment in which our employees work contributes to the quality of patient care.

The nursing shortage afflicting the nation's hospitals has resulted in increased deaths and illnesses of patients from heart attacks, infection, shock and internal bleeding, according to a new study. The article in last week's New England Journal of Medicine by Harvard researcher Jack Needleman is the first major study to document, on a national scale, the damage to patient health caused by inadequate nursing staff levels.

Re: "Their Gym Habits Cause Her Acute Pain," by Janet Eastman (Oct. 30): Oh, my dear, how cleverly you've pegged us, with our little sniffles, calorie-laden conversations and--especially egregiously--not pedaling the stationary bike as fast as you would like us to! Had we only been aware of these special requirements of membership at the--excuse me, your--gym at sign-up, we most certainly would have complied from the beginning. Really. Never mind spending every day at the gym, honey; if you don't fix your hostility problem, that miserly little heart of yours is just going to quit working one day. Then, I can't wait to hear your keen observations about the nursing staff assigned the dubious honor of taking care of you. --BETSY CASTORENA Los Angeles

Six employees of a Sherman Oaks hospice have been charged with operating a healthcare scam in which they submitted $9 million in fraudulent billing to the state and federal government for medical services never performed or medically unnecessary, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday. The suspects include a mother and her two children as well as physicians at We Care hospice, officials said.

In another blow to Ventura County's largest hospital, the head of nursing at St. John's Regional Medical Center has resigned, the third change in top administrators at the money-losing Oxnard hospital since July. Hospital officials confirmed that Vicki Lemmon, 47, will leave the embattled hospital Friday after eight years, including 18 months as the executive in charge of more than 400 nurses. Lemmon could not be reached for comment.

Six employees of a Sherman Oaks hospice have been charged with operating a healthcare scam in which they submitted $9 million in fraudulent billing to the state and federal government for medical services never performed or medically unnecessary, the state attorney general's office said Tuesday. The suspects include a mother and her two children as well as physicians at We Care hospice, officials said.

Re "Supervisors glum on King-Harbor," June 20 One nagging thought: If Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital fails to pass the federal inspection and is forced to close, where will all the nursing staff who couldn't pass the competency tests be transferred? CHARLEEN SIEGLER Port Hueneme

Re "Prison pay hikes drain staff at state hospitals," Jan. 26 The nursing staff at state mental hospitals is drained too. Because of low wages, there is a chronic shortage of nursing staff at Metropolitan State Hospital. I work 64 hours a week because the hospital can't recruit qualified nurses and psychiatric technicians. Staff shortages can't be blamed on the prison system but on our chronically low wages. MARK TACKETT Anaheim

Spurred by the latest death of a patient under questionable circumstances, Los Angeles County health officials announced plans Friday to immediately send a top-level "crisis response team" to oversee management of the troubled Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center. The officials also said they had hired a private "turnaround team" to take over management of the nursing staff, which has been at the center of many of the hospital's problems.

Re "Nurses Locked Out in Pension Fight," Oct. 24: Having recently undergone surgery for advanced ovarian cancer, I know what it's like to be solely dependent on a stranger when you're in no condition to sit up on your own, stand, walk, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get through the pain and even fall asleep without the help of a nurse. I thank God that my nurses had that time to help me. I'm thankful there were enough nurses on my floor to look after every one of us, for the assurances and smiles that made me less scared and for never being abandoned or forgotten or suffering needless pain.

The nursing shortage afflicting the nation's hospitals has resulted in increased deaths and illnesses of patients from heart attacks, infection, shock and internal bleeding, according to a new study. The article in last week's New England Journal of Medicine by Harvard researcher Jack Needleman is the first major study to document, on a national scale, the damage to patient health caused by inadequate nursing staff levels.

There is an issue I would like to address and it pertains to our elders. What is wrong, have we forgotten them in the shuffle? Are you in such a hurry that you can't ask the lady/gentleman that is obviously struggling with their belongings if they need some assistance? Have you ever frequented a nursing home and perhaps visited one of the patients you didn't know, only to find that you and the nursing staff are the only visitors that person gets, except at that guilty time of the year called Christmas?

Despite the loss of two top administrators and concerns that patient care could suffer, executives reassured doctors at St. John's Regional Medical Center on Monday that no layoffs are planned in a push to meet corporate profit goals. Daniel Herlinger, regional president for Catholic Health Care West, met with about three dozen physicians Monday evening to deny rumors that nursing cuts are planned to push the county's largest hospital into the black.

Jaromir Ledecky sits in Room 427 in Sibley Memorial Hospital. With him is Alexia James, who bathes him, helps him from the bed to the chair, takes his blood pressure. If anything goes wrong, she's there to alert the nurse. Ledecky, who is recovering from a leg operation, hired James, a certified nursing assistant, or "sitter," at his own expense--as he did when he underwent a heart operation at Washington Hospital Center, and when he had surgery in Baltimore.

Re: "Their Gym Habits Cause Her Acute Pain," by Janet Eastman (Oct. 30): Oh, my dear, how cleverly you've pegged us, with our little sniffles, calorie-laden conversations and--especially egregiously--not pedaling the stationary bike as fast as you would like us to! Had we only been aware of these special requirements of membership at the--excuse me, your--gym at sign-up, we most certainly would have complied from the beginning. Really. Never mind spending every day at the gym, honey; if you don't fix your hostility problem, that miserly little heart of yours is just going to quit working one day. Then, I can't wait to hear your keen observations about the nursing staff assigned the dubious honor of taking care of you. --BETSY CASTORENA Los Angeles