Nelson Mandela led South Africa from apartheid to multi-racial democracy and will be mourned around the world. Nelson Mandela, the towering figure of Africa's struggle for freedom and a hero to millions around the world, has died at the age of 95. South Africa's first black president died after years of declining health that had caused him to withdraw from public life.

One of the patients featured in the TIME cover story I wrote last March--"Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us"--was Emilia Gilbert, a school-bus driver. Gilbert was 61 years old in 2008 when she slipped and fell one evening in her backyard in Fairfield, Conn. She was taken to the emergency room at Bridgeport Hospital, where she was treated for some cuts and a broken nose. She left a few hours later with a bill for $9,418, which included $6,538 for CT scans and $239 for a routine blood test. The charges, I found, were based on something called the hospital chargemaster--a list of hugely inflated prices that no one could explain or defend.

Registered Nurses at Fallbrook Hospital held a protest Tuesday to speak out about patient concerns and other hospital issues. Watch the video report.

FAIRLEA — Nearly a dozen registered nurses lined a strip of land between Greenbrier Valley Medical Center and Route 219 Tuesday afternoon, protesting what they say is the unwillingness of the hospital’s management to negotiate a labor contract with them. “This hospital made $15 million last year,” said RN Tracey Paxton, one of the picketers. “We don’t think it’s too much to ask that they provide the equipment we need to do our jobs. We need to be at our patients’ bedsides, not trying to find another IV pole or blood-pressure cuff.”

Members of a national nurses union are asking Bluefield Regional Medical Center’s management to discuss patient care and other issues. On Aug. 25, 2012, BRMCs’ nurses voted to become members of the National Nurses United Union, said BRMC Nurse Brenda Meadwell, RN. The union held a press conference today outside the hospital.

Registered nurses at Barstow Community Hospital staged a one-day strike from 7 a.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. today to protest ongoing patient care concerns and rights of registered nurses, as part of a National Day of Action by Community Health Systems RNs. Nurses were protesting the hospital’s ongoing refusal to address the nurses’ concerns over patient safety, inadequate staffing and substandard wages, according to Charles Idelson, communications director for National Nurses Unified.

WATSONVILLE -- Scores of nurses demonstrated in front of Watsonville Community Hospital on Thursday, protesting what they say is the hospital's practice of employing so few nurses and medical assistants that patients are receiving substandard care. The 275 or so nurses have been negotiating a new contract since February and without a contract since October, said Lisa Harlow, a negotiator with the California Nurses Association.