Latest California Healthline Stories
A maintenance mechanic responsible for changing air filters in patients’ rooms. A psychiatric nurse who promised to throw a family barbecue after he recovered. A neonatal ICU nurse able to coax the fussiest newborn to sleep. These are some of the people just added to “Lost on the Frontline,” a special series from The Guardian and KHN that profiles health care workers who died of COVID-19.
Adding to COVID Stress, Families of Health Workers Fight for Denied Workers’ Comp Benefits
Attorneys say some state workers’ compensation laws leave workers and families struggling for benefits after a COVID illness or death.
‘Please Tell Me My Life Is Worth A LITTLE Of Your Discomfort,’ Nurse Pleads
Health care workers on the front lines of the COVID crisis have spent exhausting months working and self-quarantining off-duty to keep from infecting others, including their families. Encountering people who indignantly refuse face coverings can feel like a slap in the face.
Workers Filed More Than 4,100 Complaints About Protective Gear. Some Still Died.
As health workers in California and other states were dying of COVID-19, federal work-safety officials filed just one citation against an employer and rapidly closed complaints about protective gear.
US Nurses At For-Profit Hospital Chain To Strike Over Cuts And PPE Shortages
Health care workers report understaffing, long hours and protective equipment shortages at HCA Healthcare hospitals.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Whom Do We Trust For COVID Info?
The messaging from the White House coronavirus press briefings is becoming more confusing as President Donald Trump and his science advisers appear to not see eye to eye. Meanwhile, Congress is ready to approve more money to address both the health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the virus is taking an almost unimaginable toll on the nation’s nursing homes and putting strain on patients and health care providers with non-COVID ailments. Joanne Kenen of Politico, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more.
Biden Says OSHA Isn’t Doing Enough To Protect Workers’ From COVID-19
Labor unions have called for the agency to issue an emergency standard that would define what steps employers must take to protect their workers from the coronavirus. It has not done that, although it offered guidance that it said does not create a “new legal obligation” for employers.
OSHA Probing Health Worker Deaths But Urges Inspectors To Spare The Penalties
Former officials from the federal agency criticize OSHA for a slow and timid response to a “worker safety crisis of monstrous proportions” unfolding in hospitals, nursing homes.
NYC Nurse Says He’s Not Scared: ‘I Am Only Doing My Job’ For COVID-19 Patients
Francisco Díaz ordinarily works educating seniors about their diabetes, but he has moved to the emergency room, on the front line in the battle against coronavirus. He said his Latino background helps him communicate with the many Spanish-speaking patients and understand their culture.
California Shies Away From Calls To Eliminate Restrictions On Nurse Practitioners
Many states are dramatically loosening regulations on nurse practitioners as the coronavirus pandemic increases demand for health care workers. But not California.