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ByBrianMelley TheAssociatedPress LOSANGELES Withanan- tibiotic-resistant "super- bug" outbreak connected to its facility, Ronald Rea- gan UCLA Medical Center stopped short of point- ing a finger at the manu- facturer of a medical in- strument believed to have spread the deadly germs. The maker of the product was careful not to blame the hospital as it issued new cleaning instructions emphasizing meticulous manual sterilization. Things may not be so polite once lawyers get involved. Lawsuits are expected to follow the outbreak tied to two deaths and several infections, with the hospital and manu- facturer pointing fingers at each other. "That's exactly the kind of skirmishing you're go- ing to see," said John Cul- hane, co-director of the Family Health Law & Pol- icy Institute at the Wid- ener University School of Law in Delaware. "The bottom line is that the two defendants will be hauled into court, and they'll be trying to do two things: One, they didn't do any- thing wrong; the second thing is to pin the blame on the other defendant." Two people have died at UCLA, and five others have been infected with the bacteria known as carbapenem-resistant En- terobacteriaceae, or CRE, after undergoing similar endoscopic procedures to diagnose and treat pancreatic and bile-duct problems between Octo- ber and January, hospital officials said. More than 170 other patients also may have been exposed. The family of an 18-year-old student in grave condition from the bacteria is considering su- ing the endoscope's man- ufacturer, Olympus Cor- poration of the Americas, an arm of Japan's Olym- pus Corp, attorney Kevin Boyle said. That hard-to-clean medical instrument used on more than half a mil- lion people in the U.S. ev- ery year has become the focus of the investigation into the outbreak. Olympus emphasized in a statement Thursday that meticulous manual sterilization is needed. The company said it was issuing new instructions and working with federal officials. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned doctors Thursday that the device's complex de- sign and tiny parts make complete disinfection ex- tremely difficult. Even when cleaning instruc- tions are followed, germs may linger, the FDA said. Between January 2013 and December 2014, the FDA received 75 reports involving 135 patients in the U.S. who may have been infected by tainted scopes. The blame game has played out across the country where some pa- tients are believed to have died from infections and hundreds of others have been shocked when noti- fied they could have been infected with bacteria or a harmful disease from a medical instrument that was intended to help them. In some cases, patients who weren't infected have sued for having to go through the unnerving process of being screened over months for diseases such as HIV and hepati- tis they may have been ex- posed to. DISEASE Finger-pointinglikelytofollow'superbug'scare RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Nurses, health care workers and supporters called for Attorney General Kamala Harris to approve the sale of six nonprofit hospitals to a for-profit corporation, during a demonstration outside her office in Sacramento on Tuesday. By Don Thompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Attorney General Kamala Harris ap- proved the sale of six non- profit Catholic hospitals to a for-profit corporation on Friday, while imposing what she called "strong con- ditions" on the purchase. The decision inserts Har- ris, a Democrat, into a bat- tle between two influential labor unions just as she be- gins campaigning and fun- draising for a U.S. Senate seat that will open next year. By law, Harris' office must approve purchases of nonprofit hospitals by for- profit companies in Cali- fornia. She approved the sale of hospitals operated by Daughters of Charity Health Systems in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas to Prime Health- care Services Inc. Prime had agreed to keep operating them for at least five years. But Harris' decision re- quires Prime to operate five of the facilities for at least 10 years, among other con- ditions. "This approval includes strong conditions to en- sure continued commu- nity access to essential healthcare services," said a news release from Har- ris' office. The six hospitals are O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Seton Coastside in Moss Beach, St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and St. Vincent's Medical Center in Los Angeles. Harris' decision requires Prime to operate St. Fran- cis, O'Connor, Saint Lou- ise and Seton Medical Cen- ter as acute care hospitals and offer emergency ser- vices there for 10 years. It requires Prime to run Seton Coastside as a skilled nurs- ing facility with emergency services. St. Vincent has a five-year requirement. Some of the require- ments track the agreement between the two health care systems. Prime al- ready agreed to assume about $350 million in pen- sion debt, retire about $400 million in other debts and liabilities, spend $150 mil- lion on upgrades and keep as many of the 7,600 jobs as possible. Harris' conditions "are extensive, and many are unprecedented," Prime Healthcare said in a state- ment. The two health care systems "will need to eval- uate the viability and fu- ture stability of the DCHS hospitals under these con- ditions." AG Harris approves sale of 6 C at ho li c ho sp it al s HEALTH CARE CHAIN Red Bluff Baseball 2ndAnnual"ForeBaseball" Golf Tournament & BBQ Lunch Saturday, February 28, 2015 Wilcox Golf Club (Deadline to submit teams, Monday, February 23, 2015) Proceeds support Red Bluff High Baseball Program & Red Bluff Bulls American Legion Baseball Thank you for your support For team participation and/or sponsorship contact Shelley @ 519-5377 or Denise @ 520-4794 9-5:30M-F 910 Main St., Suite C 530.527-2510 Gummsoptical.com Great Quality, Large Selection and Superior Service | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2015 6 A