Patient dies under care of fill-in nurse in Oakland

[tawadi]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Patient dies under care of fill-in nurse in Oakland

Will Kane,John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writers

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A female patient at an Oakland hospital died early Saturday due to what the hospital described as a "medical error" made while she was under the care of a replacement nurse hired during a labor dispute.

The nurse allegedly gave the woman a fatal dose of medication, said Cynthia Perkins, a spokeswoman for the Oakland Police Department. The nurse, who was not identified, was taken in for questioning by officers.

Police and state medical officials are investigating the death at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, which occurred while most of the hospital's regular nursing staff was locked out after a one-day strike Thursday.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/24/MNKA1L97H6.DTL&tsp=1

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[msongs]

1. so no patient has ever died under the care of a regular nurse? nt

[tawadi]

4. Of course that's not the case

It doesn't change the story, though.

[Brickbat]

2. SCABS LEAVE SCARS.

Some more disfiguring than others.

[left coaster]

3. If the nurse had the usual credentials, and was licensed to work, then this scab comment is wrong..

I am an RN in Cali, and I know first hand, that spreading nursing staff too thin, thereby being responsible for too many patients, is when most mistakes happen. They can happen to the regular staff too.

[Brickbat]

5. Whether the regular staff or the scab staff is spread too thin, a scab is a scab.

If someone says s/he will work under the shitty conditions without complaint that other people are putting their jobs on the line to change, that's scabbing. Crossing the line didn't solve the problem; it only gave this scab a paycheck -- and now, a black mark on his/her record.

[uppityperson]

21. How do you know there was no complaint?

[Ernesto]

7. SCABS= strike breakers

The fact that Sutter penalized the nurse's with loss of 4 additional days work for a 1 day action pretty much tells the story! It will be interesting to see how Sutter spins this one!

"Sutter Health, the company that operates the medical center in Oakland, hired replacement nurses on five-day contracts and hospital officials said the nurses who went out on the one-day strike Thursday would be locked out until the temporary contracts expire Tuesday."

[demosincebirth]

13. Sorry, but a scab is a scab...credentials or not nt

[Marnie]

15. You would rather the hospital try to take care of its patients

with no nurses?

Or do you just want to take away the rights of nurses to have unions, and the right to strike?

Part of nursing unions contracts with hospitals is the agreement by nurses that patient care is upper most. It is upper most even during a strike.

Striking nurses will be replaced and will be allowed safe access to their jobs. Nurses with special skills who cannot be replaced with temps will remain on the job.

Go scratch your butt. That's where the scabs are.

[Warpy]

6. This is not surprising

I was an agency nurse and it's murder to try to work on a different unit in a different specialty in a different hospital with different protocols every single night. I did it and thrived. Others didn't and they didn't last very long at it.

It's an incredibly high stress thing to try to do, in other words.

Likely the scab nurses were pulled from nursing homes and home care, a completely different variety of nursing, and were pretty lost doing acute care.

The party that is culpable in this death is the hospital that refused to negotiate in good faith with their nurses and provide their patients with the safety that consistent staff ensures. Unfortunately, the person who will be punished is the nurse who was thrown into a situation way beyond her usual job description.

[Tippy]

8. Correct answer.....

[pinto]

9. Good points.

:hi:

[yardwork]

16. Rec this response.

[IamK]

10. to be a valid point, I assume the union tests the competency of their workers

before they accept their dues? Is this the case? Or are the a nurses "union" just because they pay the union a portion of their check?

[Gormy Cuss]

12. What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

It's not primarily an issue of whether the union nurses individually have a higher level of competency than the nurses who signed on for the replacement period. What is relevant is that the hospital chose to replace on a five day contract to penalize the union nurses for a one day walkout even though it's highly unlikely that the nurses brought in for the short term contract have the same level of competency in the subdisciplines within nursing that the staff nurses have. For example, a critical care nurse can operate in a wide range of hospital departments, but nurses who work in the same unit have considerable experience with the protocols and procedures on that unit and that makes them more valuable than even the per diem floaters, never mind substitute nurses that aren't even familiar with the hospital. An OB nurse is not going to be as effective in oncology ore the ER as a nurse with experience in those units, for example.

[alfredo]

18. My union puts a heavy emphasis on competency. Slackers,

and fuck-ups will be taken aside by the union steward. If one doesn't carry his weight, others have to pick up the slack. Our job is hard enough without having to cover for some goldbrick.

[IamK]

19. the steward must be a busy guy....

[alfredo]

20. No, not really. We busted our humps every day. The only

goldbrick we had was a Republican. I worked so hard, I ruined my body and now I am 100% disabled.

If it hadn't been for the union, I would have been fired when I got injured. I would have lost my house.

BTW, many postal employees are veterans. They hired veterans during times the private sector wanted nothing to do with the veteran.

[elocs]

11. Posted here very early this morning:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1999952

[Ernesto]

14. What I think stands out here is.........

"A female patient at an Oakland hospital died early Saturday due to what the hospital described as a "medical error" made while she was under the care of a replacement nurse hired during a labor dispute."

Would this person be dead if the regular staff were allowed to return to work on Friday?
just askin'

[tawadi]

17. Sorry. Didnt see it in GD.

Sometimes I read Late Breaking news and never make it to GD.