Thanks to a retired nurse and a Maine legislator, a new law has been passed that requires Maine hospitals to screen patients for MRSA.


The Prevention of MRSA Act, sponsored by Rep. Adam Goode and proposed by Kathy Day, a nurse whose father died after contracting the disease in the hospital, went into effect this week. The law requires that all at-risk patients, including those in intensive care and nursing homes, be screened. 19,000 people die every year from the Staph infection and Maine ranks at number 4 for having the most MRSA cases.