By now, most of the nation is well aware of the hideous safety record of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine south of Charleston, W. Va. where at least 25 miners died this week in the worst U.S. mining accident in a quarter-century. As the Washington Post, for example, noted yesterday, "the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration cited Upper Big Branch for 1,342 safety violations from 2005 through Monday, proposing $1.89 million in fines, according to federal records."

A strike by 1500 nurses, healthcare professional and technical employees at Temple University Hospital represented by the Pennsylvania of Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals began this morning at 7:00 a.m. with a picket line that eventually grew to over 1200 for a noon-time rally.

Do you wish that your nurse had a gag order preventing her from speaking up on behalf of patients? Should RNs be fired for reporting on hospital safety errors? What about prosecuted for blowing the whistle on quack doctors or heartless healthcare corporations? Unfortunately this is exactly what too many hospitals are trying to do in our nation today. While the healthcare bill may have passed, there remain life and death patient safety and care issues that we as a nation need to address.