Lawmaker Strips Bill Of Requirement To List Superbug Infections On Death Certificates
State Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) was getting pressure from hospitals and physicians to remove the measure.
Los Angeles Times:
Under Fire From Hospitals, Legislator Drops Measure Requiring Reports Of Superbug Deaths
After complaints from California hospitals and physicians, a state legislator has stripped his bill of a measure that would have required doctors to record deadly infections on death certificates. The California Hospital Assn. and the California Medical Assn. wrote letters saying they opposed the plan by state Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo). The measure would have required physicians to include drug-resistant bacterial infections on the death certificate if in their opinion it helped cause a person’s death. (Petersen, 4/27)
In other hospital news —
The Bakersfield Californian:
Daughter On Bakersfield Memorial Hospital Fine: 'This Means Justice For My Mom'
Loretta Shaver doesn’t want to remember her mother, Terry Smith, as the woman whose death might have been avoided at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. She prefers remembering her for who she was: the energetic 53-year-old jokester who played practical jokes and could spin a yarn. The one who spent the last year of her life caring for her 14-year-old son, despite struggling with a brain tumor. When Shaver read headlines last week about the state fining Bakersfield Memorial Hospital $75,000 after an investigation revealed nurses failed to provide adequate supervision to a patient who choked to death, who Shaver said is her mother, her reaction was succinct. “This means justice for my mom,” Shaver told The Californian. “And maybe for a lot more patients that this could happen to.” (Pierce, 4/27)