Photo by timsamoff via Flickr Thirteen hospitals statewide were fined on Wednesday by the California Department of Public Health. In total, five from the Los Angeles area were cited: Pomona Valley Medical Center, Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center near Torrance and Los Angeles County Olive View- UCLA Medical Center in LA County and Garden Grove Hospital and Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital in Orange County, according to wire reports. Reasons varied from......

Fallout from the massive Westland/Hallmark meat recall scandal continues to affect Southland restaurants, stretching from San Diego to Ventura County. The California Department of Public Health has released a document listing every food purveyor which has purchased the recalled beef -- and at 59+ pages, it's a doozy. Chances are very good you have purchased or ingested some of Westland/Hallmark's product at some point, since markets and restaurants across the city are represented. My......

Doomed to repeat - if not exceed - the failures of their previous generations, the youth of today are spreading sexually transmitted diseases at an alarming rate, the LA Times reported yesterday. In fact the next time a college girl giggles when, in the heat of the moment, you pull her hair and call her a dirty dirty girl - the joke might be on you, holmes. About 1 million Californians between the ages......

Pediatric doctors at the Mattel Children's Hospital rallied against President Bush last week upon hearing that he might actually veto a bill that would invest $35 million in children's health insurance, SCHIP. It was vetoed anyway. This week the UCLA School of Public Health received a $4.25 million grant to research/improve health in low-income families. -- Daily Bruin I guess we could start by, gee...investing in child health insurance for low income families? Football......

Two weeks ago today, a motorist on Wilshire Boulevard came to an intersection and found herself behind somebody who was preparing to turn left. Under normal conditions this would mean slowing down and waiting but since it was a cyclist, the motorist accelerated and screamed “Get out of the road!” The incident escalated and resulted in the arrival of Beverly Hills Police Officer Prenesti who greeted the cyclist by yelling “You idiot!” It’s clear......

While vermin living in the kitchen of a restaurant might make for an entertaining animated Disney flick, you wouldn’t be too amused if you found out that furry creatures were running wild in the kitchen of your favorite establishments. Unfortunately, however, they are. A list of these kitchens can be found on Los Angeles Department of Public Health website, which lists all establishments recently shut down for reasons ranging from "vermin infestation" to "gross contamination......

Every Friday, LAist is taking you on a trip down to Orange County to uncover the unique dining experiences that await adventurous eaters willing to explore beyond the county line. Chinese restaurants can generally be categorized into three different buckets: upscale “fusion” dining (aka tamed-down dishes with an "exotic" twist so that non-Chinese will eat them, but served on a pretty square plate so PF Chang’s can get away with charging $20 a dish);......

Did you know that you don't need health insurance to get tested for AIDS and STDs in LA County? The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health Sexually Transmitted Disease Program is complimentary to its residents. So don't wait. Go and use it. We are not AIDS experts here, but we believe in a simple idea. If everyone would get tested at least once a year, the spread of AIDS and STDs would......

Today is World AIDS Day, and while LAist firmly believes the world should be focused on AIDS as much as humanly possible every day, we're glad December 1st is set aside to remind us all that AIDS continues to affect us globally and locally. Here in LA there are many events taking place in honor of the day. This morning the LA County Public Health Department's Office of AIDS Programs & Policy held a......

Los Angeles has a new possible public health crisis on its, er, hands. According to the Daily News, the increase of staph infections among the LA County jail population has quadrupled, infecting over 200 inmates compared to 50 each month in 2002. Dr. Jonathan E. Fielding, Director of Public Health and Health Officer for Los Angeles County, points to the risk of the outbreak as “a growing problem” since it also threatens State prisons......