MNA Daily NewsScan, November 20, 2012: Sutter profits-patients suffer; Vets unaware of benefits due them

NOTES ON NURSING

Natick (MA) Nurses Want More Staff   Mancuso, a Milford resident, said nurses have to pick up some duties of  personal care assistants, and also handle post-operative care that may pull them  away from their regular rounds.”Overall we’re taking on more hats and not getting any help,” she said.

Strike is On at 10 Northern California Hospitals   This is the latest protest over demands by Sutter corporate officials for sweeping reductions in patient care protections and nurses’ contract standards – despite Sutter being one of the wealthiest hospital chains in the U.S.

LABOR UPDATES

Be Wary of the “Fix the Debt” Coalition    Fix the Debt, the unserious coalition of CEOs and corporations who are lobbying to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while increasing tax breaks for their companies to send jobs overseas, have spent nearly $1 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions during the past four years, according to a new Public Campaign study.

Hostess Gives Execs Big Bonuses   Hostess Brands, the maker of sweet snacks like Twinkies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, will ask a bankruptcy judge today to approve a plan that will allow it to pay $1.75 million in bonuses to 19 of its executives.

HEALTH CARE

Many Vets Unaware of Benefits Available to Them    An analysis of Department of Veterans Affairs survey data found that younger veterans – those who served in the post-9/11 war period – are better versed in their benefits. But even among those veterans, 40 percent say they have little or no understanding of their benefits, a figure that climbs to two-thirds for those unfamiliar with life insurance benefits available.