News in brief - Jan. 3/10, 2000

Boston residents choose their union - Medical errors cited by VA hospitals

Boston residents choose their union

Boston -- Shortly after obtaining a landmark ruling that gave residents at private hospitals collective bargaining rights, residents at Boston Medical Center voted 177-to-1 to be represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents. The Dec. 21, 1999, vote allows the Service Employees International Union-affiliated union to negotiate wages, hours and working conditions for the 430 residents.

"We hope the resounding vote will echo nationally," said Ladi Haroona, MD, national president of CIR.

The decision in the Boston Medical Center v. NLRB case last month affects nearly 90,000 residents.

Sandy Shea, area director for CIR in Boston, said the negotiations with the hospital will begin in the spring. They will most likely focus on hours, salary and benefits and the provision of ancillary services including transport, phlebotomy and nursing. "If they are not there, the house officers end up doing that work, which is not good for patient care," Shea said.

Medical errors cited by VA hospitals

Washington -- More than 700 patients died in 18 months because of mistakes and mishaps at veterans' hospitals, according to an ongoing errors reporting system initiated by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs.

An analysis found 2,927 errors and 710 patient deaths reported at VA facilities between June 1997 and December 1998. The figures were compiled under a policy that requires employees to report medical errors and adverse events.

The problems included prescribing or dispensing the wrong drug, failure of medical devices, abuse of patients, errors in blood transfusions, surgery on the wrong body part or the wrong patient, and a variety of other "therapeutic misadventures."