The California Hospital Association is accusing the labor union representing nurses at a hospital where a patient died last weekend during a strike of exploiting the tragedy to further its own agenda.
According to published reports, Judith Ming, 66, was at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Oakland, Calif., receiving treatment for ovarian cancer when she was given a nutritional supplement in a catheter meant to deliver medicine into her bloodstream. Medical center officials have publicly acknowledged that this medical error caused Ming’s death, although an investigation is still underway.
The fatal dose was given by a nurse brought in to replace striking nurses at the medical center. The striking nurses, represented by the California Nurses Association, went on a one-day walkout on Sept. 22 but couldn’t return to their jobs for five days because of a contract between the agency representing the replacement nurses and the medical center.
[See also: Replacement nurse's error leads to patient death during California strike.]
Since Ming’s death, much finger pointing has ensued between the nurses union, the medical center and its parent company, Sutter Health, and other organizations weighing in, including the California Hospital Association, a member organization to which Alta Bates Summit Medical Center belongs.
The nurses union has placed the blame for Ming’s death on Sutter Health. In published reports and in press releases, the labor union has said that the day before Ming’s death, it asked the California Department of Public Health to conduct an investigation into the quality of the replacement workers based on reports the labor union was hearing questioning the qualifications of some of the replacement nurses. Medical center and Sutter officials dispute the union’s accusations, and on Tuesday, the CHA entered the fray.
“It is inappropriate and irresponsible for the California Nurses Association labor union to exploit this tragedy to further their union agenda,” said C. Duane Dauner, CEO and president of the CHA in a statement the organization released Tuesday. “This is the same union that has taken nurses away from patient bedsides more than 100 times during the past three years. It also is unfortunate that the nurses union is questioning the qualifications of other nurses providing patient care.”
“The nurses union knows that hospitals must hire these temporary workers when they make permanent nurses walk picket lines,” he continued. “If the union believes the use of licensed replacement nurses is a threat to public safety, then why have they chosen to pursue a pattern of waging strikes on a routine basis?”
“We call upon the nurses union to put patients first,” he concluded.
“Duane Dauner is a paid agent of Sutter,” CNA spokesman Chuck Idelson said. “The CHA is funded by dues from the hospitals. His comments should be viewed in that context – he is an advocate for hospital profits, not patient safety.”
“Everyone should recall that the nurses don’t run these hospitals, the hospital managers do,” Idelson continued. “It is their responsibility to run them safely for the patients. If the hospitals want us to run the hospitals, we will, and we will operate them for patient need, not profit.”
Follow HFN associate editor Stephanie Bouchard on Twitter @SBouchardHFN.