On May 25, 2004, a Sacramento Superior Court Judge upheld a California Department of Health Services ("DHS") nurse staffing regulation that requires hospitals to reassign patients to a different nurse anytime their assigned nurse takes a break. The rule was developed in response to a California law, effective January 1, 2004, that establishes the maximum number of patients for which a single registered nurse may be responsible. The California Hospital Association ("CHA") filed suit on December 30, 2003, arguing that the DHS's rule was an improper interpretation of the law, and that hospitals should not be required to comply with the staffing ratios when nurses are on break. In rejecting the CHA's argument, the judge ruled that when a nurse is on break, a "hospital must reassign the nurse's patients to another nurse and the reassigned patients must not cause the relieving nurse's patients to exceed the applicable ratios set forth in the regulation." According to the CHA's website, the CHA is considering all options, including a possible appeal of the court's ruling.
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