Calif. hospital chain faces quality complaints

Sharp HealthCare, a seven-hospital chain based in San Diego, is facing charges that it has violated state regulations hundreds of times. The system's nurses have filed a 140-page quality-of-care complaint with the California Department of Health Services which lists 900 alleged transgressions "seriously compromising" patient care, according to United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. The nurses say the hospitals face unsanitary conditions, short staffing, lack of training and equipment failures. The filing comes, not coincidentally, as the system's 3,300 nurses fight to get a mutually agreeable contract in place. Hospital execs call the filing's timing "suspicious" given the ongoing contract dispute.

To learn more about the dispute:
- read this Associated Press article
- read an executive summary of the complaint (.pdf)

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