“It’s a question no hospital patient should have to ask: ‘Hey, doc, did you wash your hands?’ But in an era of rising rates of drug-resistant infections and overburdened medical staffs, hygiene experts say the best-protected patients are those willing to take safety into their own hands — by asking health workers to wash theirs. Doctors, nurses and other hospital staffer too busy, too distracted — or, sometimes, too arrogant — to wash up are the target of a growing movement aimed at cutting rates of hospital-acquired infections that kill nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. each year, according to federal estimates.” (01/25/08)