In a loading dock in northeast Fresno, two men pull up to the warehouse at Saint Agnes Medical Center in a white moving van. They meet a contract coordinator with the hospital named Heather Ritter, who pulls out a clipboard and asks them to sign a form. “As is, no warranty, no service, you know the drill,” she says. “And no charge, how’s that!” They load the truck with medical odds and ends Saint Agnes no longer has any use for: Surgical masks, metal shelves, and a device the size of a toaster with a multitude of tiny joysticks. “They call it an EasySpray or Fibrinotherm,” Ritter says. One of the men, Jay Witters, laughs. “I’ve never heard of the word ‘fibrino,’ but I guess we’ll figure that out,” he says as he lifts it into the truck. Saint Agnes is getting rid of these surgical supplies not because they’re expired or broken, but because the hospital has replaced them with newer models. In fact, medical equipment in America is dumped at alarming rates because of upgrades, new hospital
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