I'm curious why you think UCSF-Fresno is the best EM program out there. Apart from the obvious fact that its alumni write such good blogs, of course...
I'm not sure, but this might be a situation where a little bit more liability exposure on the part of the hospitals would be helpful. When you have 85% of the hospitals in the state out of compliance, either the regulations are unreasonable (doubtful), or the perceived risks of noncompliance aren't serious enough.
Perhaps (I'm just speculating) the hospitals know that it's virtually impossible for a patient to prevail in a malpractice action against the hospital based on respondeat superior or "ostensible agency."
In that case, the malpractice suits that are filed might focus exclusively on the physicians, who will be held responsible for errors caused by inadequate nurse staffing ratios--over which the physicians had no control.
