Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
SF General Hospital Fined More Than $130K For Workplace Violence Infractions
San Francisco Chronicle: SF General Hospital Hit With Record Fine For Lapses In Fatal Stabbing
San Francisco General Hospital was utterly unprepared to deal with workplace violence when a social worker was fatally stabbed there in December, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health said in issuing a record fine against the facility. State safety inspectors fined San Francisco General $130,500 for seven workplace-violence-prevention violations, six of which were labeled “serious.” (Barned-Smith, 6/6)
More about healthcare workers —
NBC News: A Trail Of Errors: How A Florida Surgeon Removed A Patient’s Liver By Mistake
The patient was hemorrhaging, bright red blood pooling in his abdomen. His heart had stopped. As the medical team frantically did chest compressions on 70-year-old William Bryan, a surgeon raced to complete his operation through an incision in Bryan’s belly. (Chuck and Lavietes, 6/5)
Chicago Tribune: Plastic Surgeon Ayoub Sayeg Still Operating Despite 8 Deaths
Dr. Ayoub Sayeg’s ads have an appealing ring to budget-minded consumers: “Most Affordable Plastic Surgery Center in Chicago. Period.” His social media, website and occasional billboards offer discount prices for those seeking “confident curves,” including perkier breasts, flatter tummies and plumper butts. (Gutowski and Pratt, 6/7)
Modern Healthcare: University Of Michigan Health-Sparrow Outsourcing Nearly 400 Jobs
The University of Michigan Health-Sparrow said it plans to outsource nearly 400 environmental, food- and nutrition-related positions. The system has signed letters of intent with Xanitos and TouchPoint Support Services to provide the services at its Lansing, Michigan, hospital. Leaders of the affected departments are expected to depart Aug. 1, while team members will be laid off Sept. 1, a spokesperson for UM Health-Sparrow said Friday. (DeSilva, 6/5)
San Francisco Chronicle: Can Free Tuition For CNAs Solve California’s Caregiver Shortage?
One of California’s largest senior living facilities has a new solution to the growing shortage of certified nursing assistants, who provide basic care to older patients. When Analynn Mausisa learned in January that her employer, the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, was offering workers like her free tuition to become a CNA, she jumped at the chance. (Ho, 6/7)
In other healthcare industry news —
Chicago Tribune: New Safeguards Approved For Illinois Hospitals' Guardianship Cases
A bill aimed at strengthening protections for vulnerable adults under guardianship gained approval from Illinois lawmakers six months after a Tribune investigation revealed troubling consequences of area hospitals’ use of guardianship. (Hoerner and Gutowski, 6/6)
Modern Healthcare: WellSpan Health, Philips Announce 7-Year Imaging, AI Partnership
WellSpan Health and Philips have announced a seven-year pact to co-develop products such as imaging equipment, artificial intelligence tools and remote patient monitoring devices. The partnership will allow WellSpan to test and evaluate the technologies as they are developed. (Dubinsky, 6/5)
Valley News: DHMC Birthing Pavilion To Establish Drug Treatment Program For Patients
Dartmouth Health recently announced plans to use $900,000 in federal funds to establish an inpatient substance use treatment program in the birthing pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. More babies born at DHMC are exposed to substances in the womb than at any other hospital in New Hampshire, according to a news release from DH. (Shanahan, 6/7)
Stat: When It’s Time To Save A Limb, Novel Vascular Clinic Meets Homeless People Where They Are
Carlton Haynes hugged his left knee, pulling it toward his shoulder as hard as he could. He was desperate to blunt the pain shooting from an open, oozing wound on his right shin. Anahita Dua, a vascular surgeon leading an unusual clinic created by Massachusetts General Hospital that Saturday, told him he was going to the ER and then the OR, where she would remove damaged skin and treat the wound. (Cooney, 6/8)
In obituaries —
AP: Pulitizer Prize-Winning Psychiatrist And Author Robert Coles Dies
Harvard University professor Robert Coles, the psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author who championed the cause of children grappling with poverty and segregation, has died at 97, his son said Sunday. The son, also named Robert Coles, told The Associated Press that his father died Thursday at a hospice center in Lincoln, Massachusetts. (6/8)
The New York Times: Bernard Roizman, Virologist Who Demystified Herpes, Dies At 96
When Bernard Roizman and his parents arrived in New York City by ship in 1947, his dream was to become a writer or a lawyer, not a virologist. It was easy to understand why he was interested in words and the rule of law. At 18, he had already experienced a life’s worth of cataclysm in Eastern Europe during World War II. But soon after his family settled in Philadelphia, where he enrolled at Temple University, he made two important discoveries that altered the course of his life. (Longman, 6/4)
