SF Chinese Hospital has renamed its outpatient center after philanthropist Charles Huang, honoring his $7 million donation in 2020 that funded infrastructure upgrades to the wing, which helped pave the way for a forthcoming cancer clinic.

Officials with San Francisco Chinese Hospital held a ceremony Thursday formally renaming its outpatient center after Southern California philanthropist Charles Huang, whose foundation donated $7 million to the hospital in 2020, as San Francisco Business Times reports. The gift funded major upgrades to the building's aging HVAC, electrical, and mechanical systems, including integrating infrastructure between the hospital's older outpatient facility and its newer patient tower.

Huang, who’s chair of the Pasadena-based private equity firm Pasaca Capital, said he hopes his 2020 donation encourages continued investment in community healthcare.

"The mission that I have for not only for my foundation but also mostly for every other business I invest in, the companies I create, is to bring innovations to benefit the entire world, not just for a few people," Huang said. "This is the mission of the hospital, the mission of my business — it really, really works very well."

Hospital leaders said the improvements were especially critical as the facility prepares for a planned outpatient cancer and chemotherapy center, which builds on the hospital’s existing cancer programs and is intended to increase access to oncology and chemotherapy services for residents of Chinatown and surrounding neighborhoods.

The hospital secured $1 million in state funding for the new cancer center last year, which is expected to include six infusion bays, two exam rooms, and consultation space. The funding, which was obtained with the support of State Senator Scott Wiener, reportedly went toward planning and development of the facility.

The Business Times reports that the hospital’s fundraising goal for the cancer clinic and chemotherapy center is set at $5 million, which includes $1 million naming rights.

Officials emphasized that additional government support, community partnerships, and fundraising efforts will still be needed before the project will launch, noting that independent hospitals often struggle to cover costs because reimbursement rates frequently fall short of expenses.

According to SF Examiner, Chinese Hospital marked its 125-year anniversary in 2024, having served Chinatown through the bubonic plague outbreak, the 1918 influenza pandemic, and COVID-19. Prior to 1998, when the hospital's labor and delivery unit was transferred to California Pacific Medical Center, more than 50,000 babies were born at Chinese Hospital — including martial arts legend Bruce Lee in 1940.

Former longtime District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown, credited the hospital's survival to its deep community ties.

“It has defied economic realities,” said Peskin. “It has defied the hospital industry that has continually consolidated and left people out. It is a remarkable community resource that we need to make sure not only continues to get by, but it’s the best thing that The City could invest in.”

Related: Remembering When Rose Pak Used to Harangue Politicians From the Stage at the Chinese New Year Parade

Image: San Francisco Chinese Hospital

A nurse is suing El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, claiming the hospital ignored her report of a sexual assault by her manager because the incident happened off-campus — during a retirement party at Morton’s Steakhouse in downtown San Jose.

Palo Alto Daily Post reports that the alleged assault took place on March 1, 2024, at a party attended by around 40 El Camino staff, including doctors, nurses, and administrators. According to the lawsuit, Evyatar Nitzany, then a program manager at the hospital, followed the nurse into the women’s bathroom, locked them both in a stall, and attacked her — groping her, kissing her against her will, exposing himself, and pressuring her to perform oral sex.

The nurse says she was shaken but didn’t immediately report the incident, afraid of losing her job or facing retaliation. In the weeks following, Nitzany allegedly messaged her on Facebook begging her not to report him, and continued to stalk her at work — confronting her in the cafeteria and lurking in hallways.

When she finally went to HR in late September, she says her complaint was brushed aside. The hospital allegedly told her that because the incident happened off-site and the stalking had stopped by then, they wouldn’t take action. According to the lawsuit, HR never even interviewed Nitzany.

The emotional toll led the nurse to seek emergency psychiatric care in October. After police questioned the nurse about the incident with Nitzany, he was arrested at the hospital. Nitzany was later charged with sexual battery, indecent exposure, and false imprisonment. His lawyer says he’s innocent and has no criminal history.

The nurse eventually sought a restraining order but dropped the case in exchange for Nitzany quitting his job in January 2025. Now she’s suing El Camino Hospital for failing to protect her from harassment and for causing emotional distress.

The hospital has not responded in court but says it takes the allegations “with the utmost seriousness” and is reviewing the matter.

The nurse’s claims have emerged alongside a broader pattern of employee concerns about the hospital’s leadership.

A recent review on Glassdoor from someone who said they worked in HR describes El Camino Hospital as offering “great pay, great benefits, [and a] decent work environment,” with opportunities to work with “some brilliant, dedicated people in [the] medical field.”

But the reviewer also noted serious leadership shortcomings. Managers receive “minimal or no training,” and many are seen as “incompetent” but remain in their positions “solely based on their title.” According to the review, HR focuses almost entirely on employee relations complaints, while neglecting key areas like manager development and staff retention.

The reviewer described a “chaotic work environment” driven by the absence of regular performance reviews, poor oversight from upper management, and a lack of accountability for toxic team dynamics.

They concluded: “It’s disheartening to see the decline of this hospital, which was once renowned as one of the top hospitals in the Bay Area.”

The nurse’s experience — reporting serious misconduct and being told it wasn’t the hospital’s concern — echoes these organizational concerns. Her lawsuit raises urgent questions about how seriously El Camino takes the safety and wellbeing of its staff, especially when misconduct happens near, but not technically inside, the hospital’s walls.

Move over, IKEA! Emeryville’s most visited new destination may become a just-announced $1 billion Sutter Health medical center, as the Berkeley area was soon to lose its last remaining full-service hospital.

There has been anxiety brewing in the East Bay’s Berkeley-Emeryville-Albany area, because that area is slated to lose its last full-service hospital when the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center was scheduled to close by the year 2030. That hospital's operator Sutter Health deemed that building seismically unsound, but Berkeley officials have been sounding the alarm saying the closure would render that area a “hospital desert.”

They are not sounding those alarms anymore. The Chronicle reports that Sutter Health has just announced a new $1 billion “Sutter Emeryville Campus” in Emeryville, the city that is immediately to the south of Berkeley. Sutter Health said in a Wednesday press release that the new facility would be a combined “acute care medical center, primary and specialty care clinics, destination advanced care centers, urgent care facilities and ambulatory surgery centers.”  

“Our Emeryville campus project represents one of the most significant investments we’re making across our system over the next decade and is part of our broader vision to meet the community’s growing demand for expanded access to our services across the East Bay footprint,” Sutter Health president and CEO Warner Thomas said in the same press release.

The main new medical center would go into the big vacant brown patch in the image above. Two other adjacent existing buildings at 5555 Hollis Street and 5300 Chiron Way would be repurposed into outpatient service facilities.

To put this into perspective for casual Emeryville visitors, the new facility will be less than a mile north of the famed Emeryville IKEA, or about a half-mile south of the Emeryville Public Market food court.

But Berkeley officials are still quite pleased with the location. “I am excited that Sutter Health is continuing its commitment to healthcare access for the East Bay region with this new medical center,” former Berkeley mayor and current East Bay state Senator Jesse Arreguín said in the press release. “Our community has long advocated for expanded healthcare services and this new facility in Emeryville is a testament to that collective effort. I look forward to continuing our partnership with Sutter Health to ensure that East Bay residents receive the high-quality emergency and primary care they need and deserve.”

Okay yes, this is the same Sutter Health whose 2020 price-gouging scandal landed then-Supervisor Hillary Ronen on a 60 Minutes segment. That scandal resulted in a $575 settlement ruling against the healthcare giant.

Of course, these medical facilities are years away from being completed, with patients first arriving in 2028, and full construction not expected to be completed until 2033.

Related: Sutter Health, Other Bay Area Healthcare Systems Purchase Special Freezers For Storing Pfizer's COVID Vaccine [SFist]

Images via Sutter Health

Nurses say that a group of patients at the UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus were subjected to torrid indoor temperatures of 98 degrees or more during this past week’s heatwave, as the hospital does not have air conditioning on certain floors.

KGO has an alarming story today reporting that there is apparently no air conditioning on some floors of the UCSF Medical Center at Parnassus, which became quite a health hazard for patients and nurses during the incredibly hot temperatures the city has endured the last week or so. To be specific, KGO notes that “on certain floors, there is no air conditioning” at the UCSF Parnassus hospital, and that they’ve confirmed this information with "more than a half a dozen” nurses.

"Right now, it is so miserably hot on our floor. It is 95-100 degrees and we are taking care of extremely-ill patients," a nurse named Melton Smith told KGO. "My anger level is up to here. I've been dealing with this for years and I don't know what else to do. I'm sick of it and we're all sick of it."

So this wasn't a breakdown — the lack of air conditioning on some floors is something the facility has reportedly been dealing with “for years.”

Most nurses who commented to KGO were unwilling to give their names. But one of them commented to the station, "Especially from a top hospital in the US, it's really ridiculous. I can't even put on my gloves to do the work that I need to do to take care of my patients because my palms are sweating from the heat.”

UCSF did not comment to KGO for this story, but the aforementioned nurse Smith did share an email he received from the UCSF CEO. "I'm really sorry about the situation," that email said, adding, "We've made substantial investments in cooling over the last decade and will continue to do so."

There was an implication in this story that some of these areas of the hospital were not supposed to be open to patients — the hospital is about to undergo a major expansion in the coming years — and perhaps this is an issue of overcrowding?

And it sounds like these “substantial investments” have not yet managed to air condition the entire facility. And the recent heat wave now appears to be over, as the ten-day forecast calls for very normal SF temperatures for this time of year.

So realistically, it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to see any more temperatures in the neighborhood of the 90s for the rest of 2024, and until next spring. But in the global warming era, the lack of air conditioning could still be an issue at UCSF Parnassus every summer and autumn going forward.

Related: This Past Week Was a Reminder of Why You Can't Trust Weather Apps for SF Heatwaves [SFist]

Image: UCSF Medical Center via Yelp

A big privacy problem has come to light at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital, as a patient logbook containing personal and medical information has disappeared and cannot be accounted for, and the hospital is conducting security reviews.

If you visited Zuckerberg SF General Hospital (ZSFG) between January 11, 2022 and December 12, 2023, you may have a serious privacy concern suddenly on your hands. KPIX reports that the hospital admitted on Friday that a patient logbook has disappeared, and yes that physical, paper logbook does contain protected patient information. The official announcement from SF General Hospital does not disclose how many patients’ data has been affected.

“On or about December 12, 2023, ZSFG staff became aware that the logbook was missing,” the hospital says in their announcement. “The logbook contained various types of protected health information obtained during an encounter at a ZSFG clinic between January 11, 2022 and December 12, 2023, including some or all of the following information: patient name, date of birth, gender, medical record number, date(s) seen at the clinic, date(s) of collection of specimens, reason(s) for specimen, results of specimen(s) and/or whether a result was received and additional patient health information.”

ZSFG does stress that only the paper logbook disappeared, there were no computerized or digital records compromised. But if you know anything about how identity theft works, name and date of birth are things one may not want in the wrong hands. Plus, of course, there is whatever medical information was contained in this logbook.

They also maintain that there’s “no evidence of misuse or unauthorized access to the logbook.” But folks, the fact is they cannot find it.

The hospital claims that any patients that were affected have been notified. As per law, the hospital has also notified the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Office for Civil Rights, and the California Department of Public Health.

They also say they’re performing policy reviews and doing additional security training to ensure they don’t have another similar incident.

Do you feel you have reason to be worried? If so, Zuckerberg SF General Hospital says that “patients with questions about this matter can contact the Privacy Office toll-free number (855) 729-6040 and reference Case #406 in the message.”

Related: Woman's Body Found Outside S.F. General Hospital, Believed To Be Missing Patient [SFist]

Image: Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center via Yelp

It's so horrible that it almost sounds like a joke. You go into a hospital for surgery, and as the doctors close you up their leave their tools inside you, requiring still more surgery to get their stuff back out. But, as we know, it happens — and two local hospitals are facing hefty fines for exactly those types of screw-ups.

The California Department of Health announced Wednesday that they are issuing fines to 12 California hospitals "after investigations found the facilities’ noncompliance with licensing requirements caused, or was likely to cause, serious injury or death to patients." Included in that list: California Pacific's Pacific Campus Hospital in San Francisco and Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae.

According to the Department of Health report on the incident at Cal Pacific,

On 5/30/13 Patient A had a Robotic-assisted total hysterectomy (surgery for removal of the uterus). A Jackson Pratt drain bulb (A soft round squeeze bulb) was placed in Patient A's vagina in the OR (Operating Room).

The Jackson Pratt drain bulb was not accounted for during the final surgical count (a method whereby the surgical staff accounts for all instruments, sponges, needles and specific small items to prevent retention and injury to the patient).

The retention of this Jackson Pratt drain bulb required Patient A to go to the Emergency
Department complaining of abdominal pain and fever. The retained Jackson Pratt Bulb was removed. The patient was given antibiotics then was transferred to the hospital where Patient A had to be admitted for a period of three days for an infection due to retention of the Jackson Pratt drain bulb.

The patient's emergency room admitting report reads that she:

...presents to the emergency department with abdominal pain of the left lower quadrant described as constant sharp...symptoms/episode began occurred since surgery on 5/30/13...fever today...Pelvic Exam...Speculum Exam: positive FB (Foreign Body) in vagina, removed, found to be bulb from Jackson Pratt drain. Foul smelling...lmpression: fever, Infected vaginal foreign body, rule out Intra-abdominal infection.

Allow me to be the first to say ugggggh oh my god. For their crimes, described by the CA DPH as a failure "to ensure the health and safety of a patient when it did not follow surgical policies and procedures," Cal Pacific was fined $75,000. This is their fifth "Immediate Jeopardy" administrative penalty, CA DPH says. You can read the full report on that mess here.

Meanwhile, over at Marin General, a patient who had cranial surgery went home with an unexpected parting gift:

Patient 1 was admitted on 08/12/13 and discharged on 08/19/13. On 08/12/13, Patient 1 had cranial surgery and on 08/14/13, Patient 1 had a second surgery to remove a disposable surgical scalp clip from the first surgery...the surgeon brought Patient 1 back to surgery and placed a "burr" hole (a hole that is drilled into the skull ) and removed the surgical clip through the hole.

The clip, a "green plastic object measuring 1.5 x 1 x 1 cm, was a disposable surgical scalp clip. Marin General's Operating Room Director told an interviewer "that it was not their practice to count disposable surgical scalp clips in the past."

According to the CA DPH, this lack of practice is "a violation of section 70223(b)(2) of Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations," for which Marin General was fined $100,000. This is their fifth Immediate Jeopardy administrative penalty. The full report on that case is here.

If you want to check out the other 10 hospitals on the penalty list, you can do so here. Clicking on the hospital name in each entry will get you the detailed report of the incident, and clicking on the county name in each entry will get you a long list of recent Hospital Administrative Penalties for each locale. And there goes your afternoon!

With a $75 million gift to the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, the soon-to-be renovated SF hospital and its under-construction new building will be getting the name The Priscilla and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. The Facebook CEO and his wife Priscilla Chan, who is currently a pediatric resident at UCSF, previously gave $25 million to the Ebola fight with an October gift to the Centers for Disease Control.

As the Chronicle reports:

San Francisco General’s new nine-story, 283-bed hospital will include an emergency room that is double the size of the existing one, two additional trauma rooms and three more operating rooms. In addition to helping to outfit the new center, the Zuckerberg-Chan donation is expected to be used to help pay for converting the existing hospital into an ambulatory care center, which will also have skilled nursing beds.

Construction of the new hospital, on the existing SF General site, is being funded by a voter-approved bond initiative, but the new donation will go toward equipment and furnishings.

Bay area tech billionaires have been very generous recently in the healthcare realm. The Zuckerberg-Chans were clearly encouraged by vocal benefactor and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff who gave a $200 million gift that added his name to UCSF's new children's hospital. And local venture capitalist Ron Conway's $40 million gift last year is what put his name on the newly open UCSF Ron Conway Family Gateway Medical Building in Mission Bay.

Though Zuckerberg had been criticized in recent years for not showing the generosity of some of his tech titan peers, he and Chan have made quick work of giving away large sums in the past year. Last May they made their single biggest gift to date, $120 million, to Bay Area public schools. That donation was the first part of a pledge Zuckerberg made to the Silicon Valley Community Fund for $1.1 billion in Facebook stock. His current net worth stands at around $33 billion.

The Priscilla and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center is slated to be open later this year. In a statement, Zuckerberg says, "Priscilla and I believe that everyone deserves access to high quality health care. The General serves anyone who lives, works in or visits San Francisco. We can think of no better place to focus our philanthropy in San Francisco than The General."

Chan adds, "Through my training at The General, I know firsthand the vital health care and trauma services this hospital provides to anyone who lives, works or travels through San Francisco... Mark and I are proud to support such an important public hospital."

Previously: Marc Benioff Has A Few Things To Say About Tech Companies Who Don't Give Back, And Zuckerberg's 'Philanthropy'

A San Francisco Sheriff's deputy was arrested in connection with beating a man in a waiting room at SF General and then falsifying reports to cover it up. As ABC 7 reports, 33-year-old Deputy Mike Lewelling turned himself in Friday evening and is now out on a $138,000 bail bond after the DA's office came up with enough compelling evidence to charge Lewelling with four felonies and a misdemeanor.

Lewelling has been charged with perjury, filing a false police report, filing a false instrument and assault under the color of authority, as well as misdemeanor battery after surveillance video emerged showing him beating a man who walked with a cane in a hospital waiting room on November 3. As the Chronicle reports, Lewelling filed a report saying he had been hit by the man with the cane, however the video showed otherwise.

The victim had been sleeping in a chair in the emergency room’s waiting area about 5 a.m., waiting for a doctor’s appointment, when prosecutors said the video showed Lewelling approaching the victim and engaging him in conversation as he woke up.

When the victim tried to walk away with the help of his cane, the video showed Lewelling grabbing the back of his collar, shoving him back into the seat and knocking his cane away, the district attorney’s office said.

The video then showed Lewelling grabbing the man’s throat and choking him before placing him under arrest, prosecutors said.

Lewelling has been on the force for five years, and on hospital-patrol duty since last December.

Given that, how could he have not known that his actions would have been caught on camera?

The Sheriff's Department, which has also been under fire in the last year following the tragic death of Lynne Spalding at the same hospital — a case in which she went missing in the hospital and ultimately died, and which was just settled out of court last week — issued a statement saying, "The San Francisco Sheriff’s Department places paramount value in maintaining the public trust bestowed upon peace officers. To that end, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department is committed to holding its employees accountable for their conduct."

A Hazmat team has closed San Jose Valley Medical Center's emergency room after an unknown chemical exposure. At least 37 employees, 47 patients were given Silkwood scrubdowns. The toxic mess, it seems, came from a nearby house. According to the Mercury News, "they don't know what kind of toxic substance was released around 8:05 a.m. inside a house on the 3000 block of Yucca Avenue. A barrage of hazardous materials crews are on scene trying to sort out the mess, police and fire dispatchers said." Also, the Merc is reporting that an 18-year-old man died this morning, possibly due to the spill. We'll update as soon as we know more.

(By Anonymous) [No, not them, but a well-respected writer who choose SFist in which to rant about their woeful experience at St. Luke's, using a veil of anonymity. -- SFist]

The billing department at St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco is a shady operation. Last month we received two bills for about 250 bucks each. Our primary doctor is based out of St. Luke's, so most medical needs are taken care of there. One of the bills was for services this year, and since $250 is my insurance's yearly deductible, we paid it, no questions asked. But the second bill, you see, was for services from 2007. When we called St. Luke's to ask about it, they said that Aetna had paid for the services in 2007, but then "took the money back."

WTF?

So. We called my insurance, and asked them about it and they had no idea what St. Luke's was talking about, and told us to check our records and see if we had indeed paid them last year around the time the services were done. Alas, we checked our records, and could find nothing indicating that we had paid St. Luke's at that time, so: we went ahead and forked over the money.

Dr. John Brown of San Francisco General Hospital told Good Morning America today that the two survivors in yesterday's tiger attack (which killed one) are "doing well at the present time. They have both gone through their surgeries well. They're both in stable condition."

The two still unnamed tiger attack survivors have suffered from lacerations, large cuts, bite wounds (i.e., puncture wounds) primarily on the head, neck, upper extremities. While the injuries are very severe, they are also very treatable. Dr. Brown went on to tell GMA (twice!) that the male victims also said that they were "grateful for the care they received." (Way to get in a plug in for SFGH, doc!)

Dr. Rochelle Dicker, who also treated the two overnight, made a somewhat chilling statement about how the SFGH emergency room staff was "well trained in treating extreme trauma because of the escalation of street violence this year in San Francisco." (You may have heard something about this.) She went on to say that "it's really important to know as dramatic and important and costly in terms of what happened at the zoo, it's also important to understand that violent injury in this city is so profound. Every single day, young men of this age are actually injured as a result of the violence of our streets." Egads is right. But, yeah. she has a point.

Anyway, the SF Zoo remains closed today to look for more tiger-ravaged bodies out of respect for the victims.