In brief: Patient died during strike
SAN FRANCISCO – Authorities were investigating the death of a patient who was given a “non-prescribed dosage” of a medical drug by a replacement hired when thousands of nurses went on strike across California, an Oakland police spokeswoman said Sunday.
Spokeswoman Johnna Watson did not release details of the incident at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center. The patient died Saturday, two days after the nurses walked out during the labor dispute on Thursday. Many were not allowed to return to work on Friday.
Steve O’Brien, a doctor and the hospital’s vice president of medical affairs, said the death was likely caused by a medical error.
The lockout, and concerns about patient care provided by replacement nurses, prompted officials with the California Nurses Association to file a complaint with the state Department of Public Health, according to Charles Idelson, a spokesman for the union.
Remains found in drum
JERSEY CITY, N.J. – A woman whose remains were found inside a 55-gallon cement-filled drum in her apartment building might have been strangled by her husband, authorities said Sunday.
Randy “Amanda” Lehrer was last seen Aug. 17 leaving the diner where she worked, and investigators believe she was killed shortly afterward, Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said.
Her husband, Steven Acuna, was charged with her murder and remained jailed Sunday on $1 million bail. Lehrer’s remains were found Friday in the basement of the building where the couple and their infant daughter lived.
Acuna had said his 32-year-old wife went missing after they argued outside the diner where they both worked.
Protesters bare most of it
SALT LAKE CITY – Thousands of people stripped to their underwear and ran through Salt Lake City to protest what they called the “uptight” laws of Utah.
Undie Run organizer Nate Porter said the goal of the event Saturday was to organize people frustrated by the conservative nature of the state’s politics.
Participants donned bras, panties, nightgowns, swimwear or colorful boxer shorts – and some added political messages by expressing support for causes like gay marriage on their chests, backs or legs.
Statue section returned
ANKARA, Turkey – The Boston Museum of Fine Arts returned a piece of a Hercules statue to Turkey after two decades of negotiations, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.
Turkey claimed the top of the 1,900-year-old Weary Heracles – Greek for Hercules – was stolen from an archaeological site in the Mediterranean in 1980 and smuggled into the U.S. The bottom half of the statue has been displayed in Turkey.
The upper half was held jointly by the Museum of Fine Arts and husband-and-wife collectors Leon Levy and Shelby White of New York