Health & Medical Newswire

Archive for July, 2009

Unborn Baby 22 Weeks

Should nurses be forced to perform abortions  as part of their job if it is against their moral code?  Is the following story about nurses having to perform abortions as part of their job an isolated case? Does anyone have other stories about this subject? In my opinion no one should be forced to take the life of a viable baby.

The picture you see on the left is a 22 week old unborn baby.

abs-cbnNEWS.com reports | 07/28/2009 3:43 PM

Brooklyn, New York – A Filipina nurse has filed charges against Mount Sinai Hospital for allegedly forcing her to assist in a late-term abortion procedure.

The New York Post reported that the May 24 incident was traumatic for Catherina Cenzon-DeCarlo, 35.

“It felt like a horror film unfolding,” said Cenzon-DeCarlo in a report by the New York Post.

Cenzon-DeCarlo was reportedly threatened by Mount Sinai Hospital with insubordination and patient-abandonment if she refuses to assist in the abortion procedure. She also claimed that the hospital has cut her overtime shifts.

A devout catholic, Cenzon-DeCarlo is a married mother of a year-old baby and niece of a Filipino bishop.

She said her bosses at the hospital reportedly exaggerated about the condition of the patient who was 22 weeks into her pregnancy.

In her lawsuit, Cenzon-DeCarlo claimed that the hospital told her the patient had preeclampsia, a condition that could lead to seizures or death if left untreated.

However, she refuted this and said the patient was not even given magnesium therapy which was a common treatment for preeclampsia.

She found out later that the hospital’s own records described the procedure “Category II,” which is not considered immediately life threatening.

The incident prompted Cenzon-DeCarlo to file a grievance with her union, the report said.

“I emigrated to this country in the belief that here religious freedom is sacred. Doctors and nurses shouldn’t be forced to abandon their beliefs and participate in abortion in order to keep their jobs,” she said in the report.

Cenzon-DeCarlo is a native of the Philippines and moved to New York in 2001. She started working at Mount Sinai Hospital as an operating nurse in 2004.

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Nursing Jobs Shortage News -  Today Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) proposed legislation to create incentives for healthcare workers to become nurses and for current nurses to become nurse faculty.

The nursing shortage in Illinois could top 21,000, Durbin said. According to information from the senator, 2,523 qualified nursing students were turned away due to lack of faculty and resources.

“Everyone depends on nurses for quality patient care, yet the healthcare system in America lacks an adequate supply of nurses and the problem is getting worse,” Durbin said. “Today’s legislation proposes a new, innovative program that builds on our existing healthcare workforce — an important, but currently untapped resource.”

Durbin’s legislation proposes a new grant through the Department of Labor to train healthcare workers to earn a nursing certificate or degree and assist current nurses in obtaining specialty training or advanced degrees to serve as educators.

This information was obtained from Marion Daily Republican

Michael Jackson's Nurse

The L.A. County Coroner’s office wants the files that Michael Jackson’s former nurse has. Cherilyn Lee is the nurse who claims Michael Jackson kept asking her how to obtain the powerful anesthesia, Propofol. She denies ever giving him this drug and warned him against ever taking it.

According to TMZ Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter just left nurse Cherilyn Lee’s office … he walked out with Jackson’s medical records.

When Lee was asked about Jackson’s use of the drug Propofol — she says he asked her for it but she never gave it to him.

Winter retrieved files from Dr. Arnold Klein last week.

TMZ also reports, Winter has left the building with medical records. He said Lee was cooperative and is not under investigation. We spoke with Lee after Winter left — she says she thought she’d convinced Jackson not to take Diprivan, he was feeling good and a great father figure.

This video is from Politico.com where Obama uses nurses to push his health reform agenda.

Looks like the terminator means business. According to the LA Times Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced most members of the state Board of Registered Nursing on Monday, citing the unacceptable time it takes to discipline nurses accused of egregious misconduct.

He fired three of six sitting board members — including President Susanne Phillips — in two-paragraph letters curtly thanking them for their service. Another member resigned Sunday. Late Monday, the governor’s administration released a list of replacements.

The shake-up came a day after The Times and the nonprofit news organization ProPublica published an investigation finding that it takes the board, which oversees 350,000 licensees, an average of three years and five months to investigate and close complaints against nurses.

During that time, nurses accused of wrongdoing are free to practice — often with spotless records — and move from hospital to hospital. Potential employers are unaware of the risks, and patients have been harmed as a result.

Reporters found nurses who continued to work unrestricted for years despite documented histories of incompetence, violence, criminal convictions and drug theft or abuse. In dozens of cases, nurses maintained clean records in California even though they had been suspended or fired by employers, disciplined by another California licensing board or restricted from practice by other states.

Read Full Story Here

July 8th 2009 – Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who had worked for Michael Jackson, is interviewed by Greta Van Susteren from Fox News On The Record. This is a complete interview that shows footage that was not aired. In the interview the nurse discusses how she repeatedly rejected his demands for the potent anesthetic Diprivan, also known as Propofol.

Michael Jackson’s Nurse – Part I

Michael Jackson’s Nurse – Part II

Michael Jackson’s Nurse – Part III

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According to the latest figures from UK nursing regulator, NMC, there has been an 18% increase in complaints made against nurses and midwives.

An NMC report reveals that the regulator received 1,759 complaints judged to be suitable for further investigation in 2008-2009, an increase of over 18% compared to the 1,487 in 2007-2008.

This represents the highest number of allegations received by the UK’s largest health professional regulator since 2005, according to the NMC

Nearly 15% of complaints related to charges of dishonesty including theft, false claims to registration with the NMC and sleeping while on duty.

Ian Todd, director of fitness to practise at the NMC, said ‘We have no objective evidence to explain why the number of complaints has increased. However, members of the public have increasing expectations of the standards of care they should receive and we live in a consumer society in which people are more willing to complain when they have received poor care.’

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