Department of Health Services Orders San Francisco Hospital to Reopen Emergency Room
The Department of Health Services yesterday ordered San Francisco-based St. Luke's Hospital to reopen its emergency room by 7 a.m. today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. St. Luke's closed the emergency room on Sunday in response to a one-day nurses strike scheduled on July 17. However, state law requires hospitals to inform the state 90 days before they close an emergency room. In addition, the state has not approved St. Luke's "strike plan," which the state must approve before a hospital can take action in response to a planned strike (San Francisco Chronicle, 7/9). The California Nurses Association, which represents the nurses at St. Luke's, informed the hospital on Saturday about the planned strike. Nurses at several Bay Area hospitals last week authorized the one-day strike if negotiations with hospital representatives fail to reach an agreement on several issues, including pensions, retiree health benefits, nurse-to-patient ratios and salaries (California Healthline, 7/8).
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