Representatives from the United States and 11 other Pacific Rim countries convened to decide the future of their trade relations in the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (T.P.P.). Powerful companies appear to have been given influence over the proceedings, even as full access is withheld from many government officials from the partnership countries.

The attorney general must decide by Feb. 20 whether to approve the sale of the Daughters of Charity hospitals to Prime Healthcare Services of Ontario (San Bernardino County). Harris could block the sale of nonprofit hospitals to a for-profit operator if she determined it would not be “in the public interest.”

The appearance of infectious diseases in new places and new hosts, such as West Nile virus and Ebola, is a predictable result of climate change, says a noted zoologist affiliated with the Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology at the Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris is about to make a decision that could have a profound impact on the availability of emergency health care in six California communities. It is a choice between two imperfect options. One would very likely result in the closure of six nonprofit hospitals. The other would be to allow those six hospitals, operated by the Daughters of Charity Health System of Los Altos Hills, to shift into the hands of a for-profit company known for rescuing failing hospitals through aggressive cost-cutting.

Nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital have struggled since 2004 to make new technology a safe and effective tool to enhance patient care. But management has not taken the nurses seriously when they reported “near misses” with medications. Due to the nurses’ diligence, a new group of remote pharmacists have been employed, and so far, the mistake rate has declined.