Brian Merrel, a machinist at Metric Machine in Ontario, got an anxious call at work Oct. 22 from his wife, Amanda. "You'd better get home now. It's right behind us."

The sign on the gate in front of the pretty blue house announced the good news to a neighborhood that has had little since Hurricane Katrina: "There's a doctor in the house. Make your appointment NOW!"

Scores of nurses demonstrated in front of Watsonville Community Hospital Thursday, protesting what they say is the hospital's practice of employing so few nurses and medical assistants that patients are receiving substandard care.

In February, about 175 nurses rallied in Tallahassee, complaining that they often have too many patients to properly look after them all. Clad in red scrubs and coats, the nurses asked for a law creating specific nurse-patient ratios at health care facilities throughout the state.

Though officials from both the nurses union and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital indicated the aversion of Thursday’s planned 24-hour strike was still possible, neither side sounded like that possibility was a strong one.

Sarah Wade, 36, and her husband, Ted Wade, 33, are seen in front of the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2010. Ted suffered a traumatic brain injury, along with multiple other injuries, while riding in a Humvee in Iraq in 2004. Although Ted gets health insurance through the Defense Department, Sarah says "it doesn't cover what it needs to" and that he needs "more options, and less bureaucracy." The Wades live in Chapel Hill, N.C., but regularly travel to Washington for medical appointments and meetings. (Coburn Dukehart/NPR)

As usual, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, had his finger on the pulse of San Francisco at yesterday's inquiry into the CPMC hospital chain. "I've been to a lot of these hearings, and lies, lies, lies is what we usually hear from CPMC. Sutter is trying to create a hospital monopoly, where they get to write a Bible that we can't interpret."