Current Event Post,Nurses at dozens of California hospitals stage strike

Today nearly 23,000 registered nurses at 34 Northern and Central California hospitals are participating in the one day strike.  www.insidebayarea.com. Kaisers nurses received a three year contract that went into effect on September 1, 2011.The nurses are protesting what they say are unfair labor practices and a failure to protect patient care standards. Kaiser is one of the largest health care providers in the nation, providing plans to more than 6 million Californians alone is limiting the ability of nurses to afford health insurance. The nurses are hoping that this statewide strike will help provide them some leverage in the next round of contract talks.

 Hospital death rates increase by about one fifth when nurses go on strike, according to a working paper the NB-ER published today. There is one additional death for every 286 patients admitted to the hospital during a strike. I personally view this whole fiasco as being ridiculous. Really, what is this world coming to? Now nurses who work in the medical field have to fight for their own medical. It used to be that if you went to school and strive for something worthwhile that you would end up with a pretty good job medical and all. Now it’s something that you are fortunate to have! On the other hand I believe that it is somewhat selfish of the nurses themselves to go on strike. I only say this because the Companies are only insisting to make minor cut backs. Nurses are paid enough anyhow to pay for insurance it might not be the best insurance in town but it’s medical. There are many sick people around, just think of the inconveniences of these sick individuals. These hospitals have to improvise with what staff they do have. All I can say is that this is a sticky situation.