Local 250 spokesman Dave Bates said the offer the medical center proposed was different and unacceptable. Meanwhile, Sutter is attempting to affiliate with St. Luke's Hospital in the Mission District. As San Francisco's last independent full-service hospital, St. Luke's provides more care to indigent patients than all other private hospitals in the city. Opponents said they fear such a move would force poor, uninsured patients into San Francisco General Hospital, placing more responsibility on taxpayers. St. Luke's Hospital is in my neighborhood.
Hospitals are a place to heal.
Hospitals are a place to take care of people. Hospitals are not a numbers racket. Ammiano said it's important for St. Luke's to continue its 130-year practice of operating as a community hospital. He fears if Attorney General Bill Lockyer approves the affiliation, the 40 percent of St. Luke's patients who fall beneath the federal poverty line will be shut out. But St. Luke's CEO Jack Fries said the union is unjustly using his hospital as a negotiating tactic to bring public attention to their complaints against Sutter.