OAKLAND, Calif. -- The 66-year-old woman who died at a hospital after receiving care from a temporary replacement nurse was identified by the coroner's office Sunday as Oakland resident Judith Ming.
Ming's death reverberated both inside Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and out Sunday. Nursing union leaders painted her as the victim of a staff lockout that prompted the hospital to cut corners by hiring replacement nurses who weren't up to par. Hospital administrators, on the other hand, said the death was an "extraordinarily rare" but extremely serious tragedy, promising cooperation with multiple investigations and asking that the death not be used for political means in the two parties' ongoing contract battle.
