Nurses under attack

Unbelievable! California nurses are under attack again. The hospital owner’s lobby (the California Hospital Association) and their shills are again cranking out propaganda trying to convince you that safe staffing won’t work. These TV ads and newspaper articles, written by slick ad agencies, are designed to inject cold fear deep into your heart. Do they really think we are so stupid that we’ll see their commercials and start clamoring for the return of unsafe staffing? They cry about California’s nursing shortage but will never admit that their own greed caused it or that the ratio law is rapidly curing it.

The hospital owners are worried because the 5:1 patient ratio law is so simple their high-priced lawyers can’t get around it. That’s why this powerful lobby and their hired-gun governor are trying so hard to kill it. Many hospital owners will undoubtedly cut the nurses’ support staff, again putting their bonuses before patients’ lives, and Governor Schwarzenegger, not yet used to being typecast as the “loser,” will surely put the full force of state agencies to task trying to save face. Unless you own a hospital, these people are not your friends.

As always, trust your nurse.