To our readers

The headlines accompanying Tuesday’s story about layoffs at Sacred Heart Medical Center were both inaccurate and insensitive. Hospital employees affected by the staff reductions are being laid off, not furloughed as stated in the headline. Their jobs will not be restored.

The statement that “hospital execs cite deadbeat patients as reason for layoffs” also was incorrect. Hospital executives never used such a term to describe indigent patients.

Headlines are written by copy editors, not by reporters. The editors responsible for Tuesday’s Page 1 headlines made a mistake. The Spokesman-Review apologizes to Sacred Heart Medical Center officials and employees and to our readers for the inaccurate and inappropriate headlines.

Steven A. Smith, editor