California Nurses Walk to Draw Attention to Patient Care

Joe’s got a good post up right now on the latest California Nurse’s actions against Sutter Health.

This is an additional action that seems to keep happening because the conglomerate that owns Sutter doesn’t seem to care about patient care. For more on past actions, check out the October 07 action and also the California Nurse’s Association press release.


Now, just in case you think it's unusual or perhaps even okay to close "unprofitable" hospitals, keep in mind, these hospitals are usually in areas that are predominantly poor. From Fire On The Mountain

I was in Plainfield last weekend when it seemed like the entire city turned out to demonstrate against the for-profit Solaris Healthcare corporation's plans to shut down the more than 130 year-old Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center.

-snip-

...local community-based hospitals are being bought-up and shut-down by large for-profit medical centers or the same huge insurance corporations that view healthcare as a business instead of a right. Since around the beginning of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, New Jersey witnessed local community-based hospitals close at a frightening rate. Organizing to stop this trend is literally a life-or-death issue to working people in this state, and around the country.

I wonder how many other community based hospitals have closed that have slipped under the radar because the nurses haven't unionized or the community felt helpless to stop it. In DC, we watched as DC General closed it's doors and a Women's hospital as well, and that's just been in the last 7 years. One other hospital has been threatening closure but has not yet closed its doors. I wonder how much longer it will stay open when it has to compete for "paying customers" along with three teaching hospitals in the area. All in all, this situation looks pretty darn bleak.