Nurses renew effort to remove Zuckerberg name from San Francisco General Hospital

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A small group of nurses, with the support of their union, is renewing an effort to have the Zuckerberg name removed from San Francisco General Hospital.

They staged a protest this past weekend.

In 2015 Zuckerberg and his wife gave $75 million to the city to help with the rebuild of the century old hospital and establish a new trauma center. In exchange, their name is on the building.

At the time some nurses felt like the name change undercut the long, proud history of the hospital and confuses patients. Now the nurses say given the recent data breaches and privacy scandals, they worry about patient info and say that is concerning patients.

The hospital spokesperson sent a statement saying they're committed to maintaining patient privacy.

Some want San Francisco voters to decide whether to keep the Zuckerberg name.

Registered nurse Sasha Cuttler believes the hospital's connection to Zuckerberg reinforces patient's fears about possible data breaches and decided to protest by covering the name with blue tape.

Cuttler says, "The patients are afraid. I know people who go to the doctor and they're afraid to tell the doctor what's going on because they don't know who is going to get that information."

Nursing assistant Mike Dingle believes in addition to the privacy concerns, the Zuckerberg name clouds the legacy of the 146-year-old facility. "It's all the more reason to get it off of here, so we can get our identity back as the city and county's public hospital," Dingle said.