Health

The large medical center at the northern gateway to Los Gatos recently did better than just getting a clean bill of health, in an industry survey. It was rated a top medical performer. According to U.S. health-specialist tracker Healthgrades, Good Samaritan Hospital, the acute-care facility...

Despite hospital-acquired infections shooting up as much as 60% nationally during the pandemic, local facilities have managed to maintain safety standards, according to a consumer watchdog organization. Good Samaritan Hospital of San Jose jumped from years of getting a “C” grade, to joining El Camino’s...

Santa Clara County will close its mass Covid-19 vaccination and testing sites by the end of the month as they are no longer essential to the county’s pandemic response, officials said Feb. 1.  While county health officials emphasized that the pandemic is not over and...

The criminal case against a man who ran an artisianal bakery in Los Gatos and is accused of several child sex offenses has been paused as the court decides if he’s mentally fit to stand trial. Ali Asghar Shemirani has been charged with three felonies...

For 66 years, Jerry and Judie Butler of Saratoga built a life together, raising three children, sharing adventures and creating lasting memories. When health challenges separated them for several weeks, with Jerry, 86, hospitalized at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose and Judie, 83, receiving...

Niku Sedarat, who is just starting her senior year of high school at De Anza College, has been building a mental health organization called Unité over the past year that’s helping West Valley youth who are going through tough times. While the 17-year-old knows she...

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, and Los Gatos community members have played key roles in getting the word out about the disease, helping secure critical funding for lifesaving research in the process. Eighty-two-year-old Diane Borrison, a 15-year survivor, says pancreatic cancer is one of...

Santa Clara County health officials today reported the first death attributed to West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness. The death this month of an immunocompromised adult at a local hospital “after experiencing West Nile virus symptoms” is the second reported human case of the potentially...

Leslie Gentry has a smile that’s so infectious it can lift your spirits even on a bad day. It hurts to think that the 50-year-old comic book store office manager could have lost a child to fentanyl. But that’s what happened—her 22-year-old son Jolly Jones...

On Sept. 8, Good Samaritan Hospital “Good Sam” emailed this reporter a press release that proclaimed, “Good Samaritan Hospital (Good Sam) becomes the first hospital in the South Bay to perform a histotripsy procedure—a groundbreaking, non-invasive treatment that destroys liver tumors using sound waves...