November 3, 2011
In one of California’s most industrial cities – near 2,000 factories churning out hot dogs, pesticides, patio furniture and other products – the Martin family has struggled for years with illness.
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October 25, 2011
In Coachella Valley – one of the poorest, densest areas of the United States – an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 migrant workers pour into already crowded trailer parks, sleeping in fields, alongside irrigation ditches, on swatches of cardboard.
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October 14, 2011
Prime Healthcare Services bills Medicare for a variety of unusual ailments – among them a brain disease and a condition causing eyes to bleed – that can generate lucrative payments to the chain.
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August 5, 2011
Mothers around the state are finding it almost impossible to collect child support from some Native American fathers because tribal governments and businesses are shielding them from court-ordered payments, records and interviews show.
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July 23, 2011
A Southern California hospital chain has transferred an unusually high number of patients from its emergency rooms to its hospital beds, gaining hundreds of millions of dollars by targeting people with Medicare, a California Watch investigation has found.
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May 7, 2011
A California hospital chain under investigation for allegations of overbilling the Medicare system has inaccurately diagnosed patients with a blood infection known as septicemia – a complex and deadly condition that hospitals are paid a premium to treat, a state investigation has found.
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February 19, 2011
Diagnosing patients with certain types of malnutrition and a rare form called kwashiorkor can help earn bonus payments for hospitals billing for Medicare.
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December 26, 2010
The number of women giving birth early – often for no medical reason – has increased dramatically over the past two decades, altering the way we bear children and posing new health risks to both mothers and newborns, experts say.
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November 6, 2010
State authorities and hospital officials have discovered serious structural weaknesses at more than a dozen hospital buildings, but they have taken few steps to notify the public about the facilities or require a detailed inventory of hundreds of other potentially dangerous sites.
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October 11, 2010
A Southern California hospital chain known for its aggressive billing practices is being investigated by state and federal authorities for an unusually high rate of life-threatening infections among its older patients.
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October 2, 2010
As Americans consume more and more products from China and other countries with weaker consumer safety regulations, the case of Rainbow Apparel shows how persistent the problem of lead contamination can be and how, in turn, consumers may never know if their trinkets are safe.
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September 11, 2010
Private medical centers in California are more likely to perform C-sections compared with nonprofit hospitals.
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August 21, 2010
The office of Attorney General Jerry Brown has dismissed an increasing number of criminal cases against defendants suspected of elder abuse, while cutting back on surprise inspections to investigate violence and neglect in nursing homes.
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March 31, 2010
It’s a sad paradox: while California’s abundant fields of fruit and vegetables fuel much of America, millions of tons of food rot in farm fields or grocery store and restaurant dumpsters, much of which is edible and could go a long way toward eliminating hunger in California.
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April 17, 2010
California’s nursing homes have reaped $880 million in new funding from a 2004 state law designed to help them hire more caregivers and boost wages. But 232 homes did just the opposite. They either cut staff, slashed wages or let caregiver levels slip below a state-mandated minimum, a California Watch investigation has found.
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