Mark's Notebook


	To define recursion, we must first define recursion.

Sadness prevails as S.J. hospital closes today

San Jose Mercury News

Thursday 9 December 2004, 10:57 am
Keywords: Bicycle Accident , News Articles , Health Topics

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

San Jose Medical Center will close its doors for the last time today at 5 p.m.

All of the patients in the 324-bed hospital are gone now, recovered or transferred to other hospitals. The last patient, still recovering from surgery, was moved early Wednesday evening to Regional Medical Center of San Jose. The hospital will still take walk-in emergency patients today, and the emergency room will stay open as late as needed to treat the very last patient. But the number of patients coming to the ER has dwindled to a dozen or so a day since county officials began steering ambulances away from the hospital two weeks ago.

About 315 workers, including janitors, laundry workers, food servers and clerical staff members, will be laid off, less than earlier estimates of 400 to 500, said hospital spokeswoman Leslie Kelsay.

Nashville-based hospital owner HCA initially shocked San Jose when it abruptly announced in September that the financially troubled hospital would close in December, rather than in 2007 as previously planned. The loss of San Jose Medical Center's centrally located trauma center and emergency room, which provided critical medical care for the area's poor and elderly patients, stung the most.

Regional Medical Center, for years a sleepy community hospital also owned by HCA, is applying to the county for permission to open a trauma center to replace the one at San Jose Medical Center, a process that could take months. It also plans a 1- million-square-foot expansion that includes a new building, a rooftop helipad, more beds and new programs in cardiology and neurosurgery.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/the_vall
ey/10374845.htm