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RNs Condemn New 'Emergency Order' to Evade Ratio Law
Schwarzenegger Flouts Courts in Latest Attack on Patient Safety
RNs Condemn New 'Emergency Order' to Evade Ratio Law
For Immediate Release March 7, 2005
Contact: Charles Idelson, 510-273-2246 or 415-559-8991 (cell)
RNs Condemn New ‘Emergency Order’ to Evade Ratio Law
Schwarzenegger Flouts Courts in Latest Attack on Patient Safety
The California Nurses Association today blasted the decision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for seeking a new “emergency order” to block safer staffing in hospitals in open defiance of a Superior Court decision repealing his prior emergency regulation.
Moments after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher issued a tentative order late Thursday to vacate Gov. Schwarzenegger’s illegal emergency order, the governor filed an identical new emergency order, an action taken with virtually no public notice - and concealed this decision from the court during an extensive hearing on Friday.
On Friday, Judge Hersher issued a final decision finding the governor and his Department of Health Services had acted illegally in seeking to overturn a law enacted by the legislature.
“This new ‘emergency order’ should be dead in the water. This governor has no more authority to overthrow the judicial system than it does to overthrow the legislature,” said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger is not above the rule of law,” said DeMoro. “You don’t change a decision you and your corporate sponsors don’t like simply by flouting the law of the land. Apparently this governor believes there is no legislative or judicial branch of government, only him.”
Following her decision on Friday, Judge Hersher is expected to issue a formal order imminently. CNA cited its concerns in not only the new emergency order, but also widely disseminated comments to the media by Kim Belshe, the secretary of health and human resources, that the administration “strongly rejects” the decision, will try to stop it from taking effect, and is “not backing down.”
CNA also said it will be in touch with hospitals across the state insisting that they comply with the judge’s order and immediately fully restore RN-to-patient ratios in emergency rooms, and implement minimum staffing of one RN to every five patients in general medical units, the two hospital areas affected by the initial emergency ruling and the court decision. Many hospitals, CNA noted, are already in compliance.
Notably, the new emergency order contains all the illegalities of the original version. It places economic considerations - hospital profits - ahead of patient safety, and offers not a shred of corroborative evidence to support the allegations of hospital closures and other claims made by the governor and the hospital industry lobbyists as the pretext for the “emergency.”
In her final decision, Judge Hersher declared:
* The initial emergency regulation “was an abuse of discretion and not adopted in the manner required by law.”
* “Hospitals were closing and citing economics and staff shortages well before the original regulation took effect on January 1, 2004.”
* “DHS has failed to establish any nexus between the reported closings and the implementation of the staffing regulations. Most importantly, DHS does not even contend that the ‘reports’ of the closures are true.”
* Even if true, such claims would not be sufficient for the governor to overturn the law “because such considerations are inconsistent with the fundamental purposes of the statute to ensure that nurses be ‘accessible and available to meet the needs of patients’…”
* “The Court interprets the legislation as intended to protect and ensure the ‘quality of patient care’ for patients that already have been admitted to ‘acute care settings’.”
The decision “could not be more clear,” DeMoro said. “In issuing an identical emergency order, this governor has signaled a degree of lawlessness and defiance of the Constitution that should alarm all Californians.”
“We are confident that this latest assault on our democracy will not stand,” DeMoro said.
For Immediate Release March 7, 2005
Contact: Charles Idelson, 510-273-2246 or 415-559-8991 (cell)
RNs Condemn New ‘Emergency Order’ to Evade Ratio Law
Schwarzenegger Flouts Courts in Latest Attack on Patient Safety
The California Nurses Association today blasted the decision of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for seeking a new “emergency order” to block safer staffing in hospitals in open defiance of a Superior Court decision repealing his prior emergency regulation.
Moments after Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher issued a tentative order late Thursday to vacate Gov. Schwarzenegger’s illegal emergency order, the governor filed an identical new emergency order, an action taken with virtually no public notice - and concealed this decision from the court during an extensive hearing on Friday.
On Friday, Judge Hersher issued a final decision finding the governor and his Department of Health Services had acted illegally in seeking to overturn a law enacted by the legislature.
“This new ‘emergency order’ should be dead in the water. This governor has no more authority to overthrow the judicial system than it does to overthrow the legislature,” said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
“Arnold Schwarzenegger is not above the rule of law,” said DeMoro. “You don’t change a decision you and your corporate sponsors don’t like simply by flouting the law of the land. Apparently this governor believes there is no legislative or judicial branch of government, only him.”
Following her decision on Friday, Judge Hersher is expected to issue a formal order imminently. CNA cited its concerns in not only the new emergency order, but also widely disseminated comments to the media by Kim Belshe, the secretary of health and human resources, that the administration “strongly rejects” the decision, will try to stop it from taking effect, and is “not backing down.”
CNA also said it will be in touch with hospitals across the state insisting that they comply with the judge’s order and immediately fully restore RN-to-patient ratios in emergency rooms, and implement minimum staffing of one RN to every five patients in general medical units, the two hospital areas affected by the initial emergency ruling and the court decision. Many hospitals, CNA noted, are already in compliance.
Notably, the new emergency order contains all the illegalities of the original version. It places economic considerations - hospital profits - ahead of patient safety, and offers not a shred of corroborative evidence to support the allegations of hospital closures and other claims made by the governor and the hospital industry lobbyists as the pretext for the “emergency.”
In her final decision, Judge Hersher declared:
* The initial emergency regulation “was an abuse of discretion and not adopted in the manner required by law.”
* “Hospitals were closing and citing economics and staff shortages well before the original regulation took effect on January 1, 2004.”
* “DHS has failed to establish any nexus between the reported closings and the implementation of the staffing regulations. Most importantly, DHS does not even contend that the ‘reports’ of the closures are true.”
* Even if true, such claims would not be sufficient for the governor to overturn the law “because such considerations are inconsistent with the fundamental purposes of the statute to ensure that nurses be ‘accessible and available to meet the needs of patients’…”
* “The Court interprets the legislation as intended to protect and ensure the ‘quality of patient care’ for patients that already have been admitted to ‘acute care settings’.”
The decision “could not be more clear,” DeMoro said. “In issuing an identical emergency order, this governor has signaled a degree of lawlessness and defiance of the Constitution that should alarm all Californians.”
“We are confident that this latest assault on our democracy will not stand,” DeMoro said.
For more information:
http://www.calnurses.org/index.php?Action=...
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IT’S OFFICIAL -- Judge Strikes Down Illegal Ratio Order
IT’S OFFICIAL -- Judge Strikes Down Illegal Ratio Order
March 4, 2005
The decision is final. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher late Friday afternoon vacated an emergency regulation by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that suspended key portions of the state’s landmark law mandating minimum RN-to-patient hospital ratios.
In declaring the emergency regulation to be illegal, the decision by the judge means California hospitals must immediately restore safe staffing in emergency rooms and implement ratios of no more than one RN for every five patients in general medical units as they were supposed to do in January. Judge Hersher also denied a request by the hospital industry, made in a hearing earlier today, for a stay - to prevent the restoration of the ratios - pending an appeal.
“Gov. Schwarzenegger fought the law - and the patients won,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association which filed what is believed to be the first successful lawsuit against the celebrity governor.
“Now nurses in emergency rooms and medical and surgical units across the state will be able to provide the care that is necessary for our patients,” said CNA President Deborah Burger, RN. “This is a towering decision for all California families.”
DeMoro called on Gov. Schwarzenegger to end efforts to appeal the decision. “At a time when he says he is concerned about the state budget, it would be a disgraceful waste of public funds to continue his crusade against nurses and patients simply to please his corporate donors. You shouldn’t have to fight to receive appropriate care, but this governor has created an environment that leaves Californians no choice other than to get out in the streets.”
The ruling represents a stunning rebuke to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s efforts to usurp the role of the legislature through emergency orders, proposals to abolish independent boards and commissions, and what DeMoro called “cynical attempts to exploit the initiative process through corporate-funded ballot measures that seek to avoid the legislative process.”
“This decision should send a strong signal to this governor to end his flagrant efforts to accumulate power at the expense of the legislature and the public,” said DeMoro. “It’s time for this governor to start respecting the Constitution,” DeMoro said.
During a 90-minute court hearing Friday morning, Judge Hersher chastised attorneys for the administration and the California Hospital Association for continuing efforts to justify the governor’s order on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that the ratios were to blame for hospital closures. “This is old news… hearsay news,” she said, and “the government is telling me they don’t even know if it is true or not.”
In any event, she noted, the clear directive of the legislature in enacting the safe staffing law was to guarantee to the public that “if you are admitted to the hospital (they) must provide adequate levels of care at minimum standards.”
In her tentative ruling, Judge Hersher had noted that the governor and his administration may not overturn the ratio law on the basis of “perceived nursing shortages or conflicting economic interests,” the tentative order declares. “Such considerations are inconsistent with the fundamental purposes of the (ratio) statute to ensure that nurses be ‘accessible and available to meet the needs of patients,” the judge’s tentative order had read.
She reaffirmed those views in comments Friday morning noting the hospital corporations had “deluged” the Department of Health Services with the same arguments during the regulatory process leading up to adoption of the ratios - and the health department had made it abundantly clear that their “mandate” was the remedial purposes of the law.
“So what has changed, where’s the emergency?” she asked, adding, “this appears to be an end run around the regulatory process.”
CNA attorney James Eggleston also sharply criticized claims by the hospitals and the administration that the state had “discretionary” authority to change the ratios. “If the DHS has the authority to change the law (on RN ratios) it can wipe out all licensing requirements” hospitals are required to meet to assure public safety.
For more background, see the CNA website at http://www.calnurses.org.
IT’S OFFICIAL -- Judge Strikes Down Illegal Ratio Order
March 4, 2005
The decision is final. Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher late Friday afternoon vacated an emergency regulation by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that suspended key portions of the state’s landmark law mandating minimum RN-to-patient hospital ratios.
In declaring the emergency regulation to be illegal, the decision by the judge means California hospitals must immediately restore safe staffing in emergency rooms and implement ratios of no more than one RN for every five patients in general medical units as they were supposed to do in January. Judge Hersher also denied a request by the hospital industry, made in a hearing earlier today, for a stay - to prevent the restoration of the ratios - pending an appeal.
“Gov. Schwarzenegger fought the law - and the patients won,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association which filed what is believed to be the first successful lawsuit against the celebrity governor.
“Now nurses in emergency rooms and medical and surgical units across the state will be able to provide the care that is necessary for our patients,” said CNA President Deborah Burger, RN. “This is a towering decision for all California families.”
DeMoro called on Gov. Schwarzenegger to end efforts to appeal the decision. “At a time when he says he is concerned about the state budget, it would be a disgraceful waste of public funds to continue his crusade against nurses and patients simply to please his corporate donors. You shouldn’t have to fight to receive appropriate care, but this governor has created an environment that leaves Californians no choice other than to get out in the streets.”
The ruling represents a stunning rebuke to Gov. Schwarzenegger’s efforts to usurp the role of the legislature through emergency orders, proposals to abolish independent boards and commissions, and what DeMoro called “cynical attempts to exploit the initiative process through corporate-funded ballot measures that seek to avoid the legislative process.”
“This decision should send a strong signal to this governor to end his flagrant efforts to accumulate power at the expense of the legislature and the public,” said DeMoro. “It’s time for this governor to start respecting the Constitution,” DeMoro said.
During a 90-minute court hearing Friday morning, Judge Hersher chastised attorneys for the administration and the California Hospital Association for continuing efforts to justify the governor’s order on the basis of unsubstantiated claims that the ratios were to blame for hospital closures. “This is old news… hearsay news,” she said, and “the government is telling me they don’t even know if it is true or not.”
In any event, she noted, the clear directive of the legislature in enacting the safe staffing law was to guarantee to the public that “if you are admitted to the hospital (they) must provide adequate levels of care at minimum standards.”
In her tentative ruling, Judge Hersher had noted that the governor and his administration may not overturn the ratio law on the basis of “perceived nursing shortages or conflicting economic interests,” the tentative order declares. “Such considerations are inconsistent with the fundamental purposes of the (ratio) statute to ensure that nurses be ‘accessible and available to meet the needs of patients,” the judge’s tentative order had read.
She reaffirmed those views in comments Friday morning noting the hospital corporations had “deluged” the Department of Health Services with the same arguments during the regulatory process leading up to adoption of the ratios - and the health department had made it abundantly clear that their “mandate” was the remedial purposes of the law.
“So what has changed, where’s the emergency?” she asked, adding, “this appears to be an end run around the regulatory process.”
CNA attorney James Eggleston also sharply criticized claims by the hospitals and the administration that the state had “discretionary” authority to change the ratios. “If the DHS has the authority to change the law (on RN ratios) it can wipe out all licensing requirements” hospitals are required to meet to assure public safety.
For more background, see the CNA website at http://www.calnurses.org.
For more information:
http://www.calnurse.org/?Action=Content&am...
t's Official! Hospitals Must Comply with Safe RN Staffing Immediately
Email this page
It's Official!!
Hospitals Must Comply with Safe RN Staffing Immediately
"The Governor fought the law and the nurses won!"
On Friday, March 4, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher declared Governor Schwarzenegger's emergency regulation illegal! The decision issued by the judge means California hospitals must immediately restore safe staffing in emergency rooms and implement ratios of no more than one RN for every five patients in general medical units as they were supposed to do in January.
Download Judge's final decision.
Download flyer about CNA's victory.
Read CNA's press release.
See press coverage.
It's not over until it's over! Governor vows to continue to fight decision:
In a statement, Kim Belshe, Governor Schwarzenegger's secretary of health and human services, said the administration "strongly rejects" the ruling and will try to stop it from immediately taking effect. "We're confident in our actions and we're not backing down," she said, noting the state's action is" legally solid, keeps patients safe and ensures access to care. Associated Press 3/4/2005
Continue to protect safe staffing and patient care! Keep those emails and letters to the Governor coming! Click here for more info.
Email this page
It's Official!!
Hospitals Must Comply with Safe RN Staffing Immediately
"The Governor fought the law and the nurses won!"
On Friday, March 4, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Judy Holzer Hersher declared Governor Schwarzenegger's emergency regulation illegal! The decision issued by the judge means California hospitals must immediately restore safe staffing in emergency rooms and implement ratios of no more than one RN for every five patients in general medical units as they were supposed to do in January.
Download Judge's final decision.
Download flyer about CNA's victory.
Read CNA's press release.
See press coverage.
It's not over until it's over! Governor vows to continue to fight decision:
In a statement, Kim Belshe, Governor Schwarzenegger's secretary of health and human services, said the administration "strongly rejects" the ruling and will try to stop it from immediately taking effect. "We're confident in our actions and we're not backing down," she said, noting the state's action is" legally solid, keeps patients safe and ensures access to care. Associated Press 3/4/2005
Continue to protect safe staffing and patient care! Keep those emails and letters to the Governor coming! Click here for more info.
For more information:
http://www.calnurse.org/?Action=Content&am...
It seems that Gray Davis was impeached for less than this - wholesale contempt court.
What the judge needs to do next is order the Governor before the court to explain his actions, and to issue an injunction barring such further orders.
What the judge needs to do next is order the Governor before the court to explain his actions, and to issue an injunction barring such further orders.
Gray Davis was *recalled*, not impeached, but I agree with the spirit of the previous post. The Governator is bad news, and I would just as soon he be given the boot (assuming we couldn't just give the whole system the friggin' boot).
At the very least, if reformist solutions within the context of elctoral politics are *all* that we can achieve in the short term, the idea that a politician can be elected with less than 50%+1 of the popular vote should be replaced with IRV.
If IRV were in place, it is likely that Gray Davis would never have been reelected. Even if he were, someone other than the Boobengrabber would be governor of California.
-Steve
At the very least, if reformist solutions within the context of elctoral politics are *all* that we can achieve in the short term, the idea that a politician can be elected with less than 50%+1 of the popular vote should be replaced with IRV.
If IRV were in place, it is likely that Gray Davis would never have been reelected. Even if he were, someone other than the Boobengrabber would be governor of California.
-Steve
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