California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of January 31, 2014
Marshall Medical Center
Marshall Medical Center is in the final stage of its fundraising campaign for an $8 million project to renovate and upgrade its cancer center in Cameron Park, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
Officials at Marshall Medical Center said that permits to start construction currently are pending but that they hope to start work by spring and finish before the end of 2014 (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 1/23).
Mercy General Hospital, Sacramento
On Monday, Mercy General Hospital announced that it had laid off an undisclosed number of employees, the Sacramento Bee reports.
Sean Wherley, a spokesperson for Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, said that 14 union members were included in the layoffs. He said the union was working to transition those employees in similar positions that are available at the hospital (Kasler, Sacramento Bee, 1/27).
San Francisco General Hospital
Last week, San Francisco General Hospital officials revealed that four hospital employees examined without authorization the medical records of a patient who went missing and was later found dead, AP/Modern Healthcare reports (AP/Modern Healthcare, 1/25).
The patient -- a 57-year-old woman -- was admitted to the hospital on Sept. 19, 2013, with an infection and was reported missing from her hospital room two days later. On Oct. 8, 2013, a member of the hospital's engineering staff found the woman's body in a hospital stairwell that was used a fire escape (California Healthline, 1/27).
The hospital said last week that the employees had examined the records after the woman's body was found. Officials said that the four staff members were put on administrative leave and two were later fired for noncompliance with patient privacy laws (AP/Modern Healthcare, 1/27).
Sharp Mary Birch Hospital, San Diego
On Monday, San Diego Fire Department officials said that a fire that occurred earlier that day at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital's parking garage was arson, U-T San Diego reports. No one was injured.
San Diego fire spokesperson Maurice Luque did not disclose whether there was a suspect involved with the arson, which set fire to three cars in the parking structure before Fire Department officials put it out. Luque estimated that the damage to the cars and parking garage totaled about $150,000 (Baker, U-T San Diego, 1/27).
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