A man who claimed to be his mentally-disabled friend had bypass surgery on his heart in 2007, reports The Chicago Tribune. John Parsons stole the identity of his friend Phillip Johnson to get the surgery because he could bill it to Johnson’s Medicare account and Parsons felt he needed the surgery to survive. The surgery took place at Northwestern Memorial Hospital (NMH) in Chicago and authorities there don’t quite know how the surgery took place. Parsons admitted stealing Johnson’s identity. Johnson discovered his identity had been stolen after he started receiving bills for a surgery which he did not have. NMH is covering the $350,000 in fees that Parsons racked up. Parsons has been charged with two accounts of aggravated financial theft. To read more, click here.

Four California hospitals received the state’s maximum fine of $25,000 for medical errors occurring, one resulting in the death of a patient, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. That patient’s death resulted when a nurse forgot to turn on a ventilator. The other incidents that resulted in patient harm include: Use of an anesthesia machine that did not work correctly which resulted in patients being awake and experiencing pain during surgery A patient fall during surgery, resulting in spinal, head, and shoulder injuries Allowance of a nurse with a revoked license to care for patients and train other nurses Since July 1, 2007, hospitals in CA have been required to alert the state when an event falling in one of 28 serious event categories occurs. To read more, click here.

The Joint Commission has placed a call for experts for an advisory group to help create standards that will measure culturally competent care. The 18-month project, which is funded by The Commonwealth Fund, will aim to create standards by which hospitals should be judged that address patient-centered care that accounts for cultural differences. The team will also be responsible for working with the National Health Law Program to create a guide to aid surveyors in measuring if the new standards are being met. The project aims to evaluate if current Joint Commission standards can be changed to incorporate issues dealing with health literacy, language barriers, and diversity, and if new standards need to be created. To read more, click here.

Although limits were placed on the number of hours residents can work during a week (80 a week, 24 to 30 per shift) in 2003, a recent study shows that the total number of hours devoted to work and sleep have not change since then, reports American Medical News. The study, originally published in Pediatrics measured the number of hours of sleep and time spent working of 220 residents at three pediatric hospitals during 2003 and 2004. Results showed that taking a little time off of the 24 to 30 hour shift did not have much effect. Additionally, rates of resident depression and medication errors done by residents stayed the same. Many other countries require residents to work no more than 16-hour shifts, which is when some research shows an increased risk to patient and staff safety, says the article. However, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has raised concern of the data used in the study, saying that more recent data will show that residents are more often sticking to the guidelines set, and more citations for noncompliance have been issued than in 2003-2004. To read the article, click here.