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Abbott Vascular won regulatory approval in July for its Absorb stent, a first-of-its kind artery device that dissolves into the bloodstream. Hospitals are already marketing the availability of the product with TV, radio and billboard ads. Experts are still debating whether the device offers any additional medical benefit over traditional stents in exchange for its premium price. But the attribute that might be most compelling to patients is that they just don't want a foreign object left in their body. (Rubenfire, 9/10)

Getting diagnosed with cancer is scary enough. But if surgery is involved, with all its potential complications, any patient wants to find the best hospital.Unfortunately, there’s no certain way to tell. But CalQualityCare.org, operated by the California Health Care Foundation, can give a strong clue. Most experts agree that for specific procedures such as lung, pancreas, esophageal or rectal cancer surgeries, higher volume hospitals have better outcomes and lower mortality. The Oakland-based nonprofit used a state database to see each hospital’s volume for 11 cancer surgery types. It found that in 2014, an alarming number of San Diego County hospitals did far fewer specific cancer surgeries than what is recommended. (Clark, 9/12)

Montrose Memorial Hospital is facing allegations that it discriminated against its older nurses, firing or forcing them to resign while showing preferential treatment toward younger staffers. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed suit against the Western Slope hospital on Friday in U.S. District Court of Colorado, accusing Montrose Memorial of widespread age discrimination since at least 2012. In one case, a  nurse who worked at the hospital for 27 years was fired in 2012 for policy violations for which younger nurses were treated more leniently, the suit alleges. (Rusch, 9/12)

The job state officials are bidding competitively to clean out the old Charity Hospital in New Orleans is expected to cost $10 million and take at least six months to complete. It's been more than 11 years since Hurricane Katrina struck and the old hospital was abandoned as the city flooded from levee failures. In the aftermath, only medical records were removed from the building, and photos on websites taken by people who explore abandoned buildings show that much of the medical equipment and furniture remained as it was when abandoned. (Litten, 9/12)

The doctor [Larry Bedard] is taking steps toward bringing it out into the open by introducing a resolution at Tuesday’s board meeting for Marin Healthcare District, which governs Marin General. The resolution, if approved, would direct the hospital’s administrative and medical staff to review and research the clinical and legal implications of using medical marijuana in the hospital and report back to the board. Bedard initially planned to introduce a resolution to allow patient use in the hospital but stepped back from that last month after the Drug Enforcement Agency declined to remove marijuana from its list of dangerous drugs, keeping it in the same category as such drugs as heroin and LSD. (Colliver, 9/12)