Oakland hospital death inflames labor dispute

[RandySF]

(09-25) 20:53 PDT OAKLAND -- Veteran nurses locked out of Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland said Sunday that the death of a patient due to a medical error by a replacement worker wouldn't have happened if they had been allowed to do their jobs.

The hospital's management countered that it was a freak accident that could have happened at any time - with or without the replacement nurses.

At the center of the dispute is a cancer patient, a woman who has not been identified but whose tragic death on Saturday has inflamed an already tense labor dispute.



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/25/MNE31L9DP6.DTL#ixzz1Z1rWLrig

[patrice]

1. Nurses know the difference a little more time can make to loved one.The health care machine doesn't.

Coming to terms with a death involves a lot more than knowing that it is happening. There are unique qualities to human relationships that are under strain in those situations. Time is an important factor in allowing things to take their natural course for the living too.

Nurses learn things about families and the loved ones around those they care for and they facilitate their part in what is happening, because they care and know what to do.

Even if the system makes an effort at these relationships, it doesn't know the individual unique persons involved, so it can get pretty generic.

[midnight]

2. K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. To the Greatest Page with this important story.