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CALIFORNIA

Health officials rap hospital for outbreak

LOS ANGELES — Hospital staff did not properly clean medical instruments linked to a deadly bacterial outbreak at a neonatal intensive-care unit, state regulators have concluded.

White Memorial Medical Center closed the unit Dec. 4 after an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa sickened five infants. Two of the babies died, and their deaths were thought to have been caused by the pathogen.

In a report issued Tuesday, inspectors from the California Department of Health Services faulted hospital staff for not following manufacturer’s recommendations for sterilizing laryngoscope blades, which are used to insert breathing tubes. The report said the respiratory-therapy staff simply wiped the blades with soap, tap water and alcohol wipes.

A White Memorial statement said the report “confirms the hospital’s preliminary findings.”

The neonatal unit has been reopened, and officials said there have been no new infections.

ILLINOIS

Bar owner convicted for taping women

PONTIAC — A man was convicted of secretly videotaping women at his bar as they used the bathroom and a tanning booth.

A judge hearing the case without a jury convicted William Lutson on Tuesday after reviewing 90 minutes of videotape from cameras hidden in a light fixture over a toilet and in a laundry basket at the Grand Ole Bar in Chatsworth.

Prosecutors said Lutson, 57, secretly recorded at least 12 women at the central Illinois bar in July 2005. Some of the women were minors, prosecutors said.

“They were videoed, transmitted and recorded all without consent, permission or authority,” prosecutor Carey Luckman said. “Each of these women expressed their disbelief, the shock. …”

Lutson is scheduled for sentencing March 24.

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