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 The latest hospital and medical profession scandals:

California regulator finds Blue Cross violations
By Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee
California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner said Monday an investigation has turned up more than 700 claims-handling violations by Anthem Blue Cross, California's largest for-profit health insurer. Poizner said the company faces a maximum penalty of $10,000 for each violation. He said the allegations follow an investigation by his office into consumer complaints filed against Anthem from 2006 through 2009. "When consumers pay their premiums every month, they expect insurance companies to uphold their part of bargain and pay claims quickly, correctly and comply with all other legal requirements," Poizner said. Kristin Binns, a spokeswoman for WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based parent of Thousand Oaks-based Anthem Blue Cross of California, said "we take the issues raised by (Poizner) very seriously. As the largest insurer in California, our responsibility is to pay the many millions of claims on behalf of our members each year fairly, fully and promptly.

Former hospital executive will plead guilty to paying kickbacks
Vincent Rubio, while at Tustin Hospital and Medical Center, was involved in a multimillion-dollar scheme to recruit homeless patients from skid row for treatment billed to Medicare and Medi-Cal
By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
A former top executive with Tustin Hospital and Medical Center has agreed to plead guilty to paying illegal kickbacks for patients recruited from L.A.'s skid row, according to papers filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles. Vincent Rubio, 49, was the hospital's chief financial officer when authorities raided the facility two years ago during an investigation into an alleged multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud Medicare and Medi-Cal. Authorities contended that the hospital recruited thousands of homeless people to undergo unnecessary medical tests and procedures. Rubio is the fifth person charged in the scheme, which involved street-level operators and hospital executives. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Federal prosecutors and investigators are pursuing other targets in the probe.

Audit blasts Santa Clara County public hospital doctors for turning conferences into luxurious family getaways
By Karen de Sá, San Jose Mercury News
When physicians at Santa Clara County's cash-strapped public hospital seek professional development, they often indulge in "luxurious accommodations" on tropical islands and bill taxpayers for large cars to bring spouses, children and even parents along for conferences-turned-family-vacations, according to a scathing new county audit. The audit, which analyzed a three-year period, blasts Valley Medical Center — Santa Clara County's hospital of last resort — for what it called "abusive and noncompliant" travel expenses at a time when the county is slashing budgets and cutting social services. Physicians traveled to Canada, Mexico, Switzerland, Italy, South Africa, Puerto Rico, Spain, China, Aruba, Thailand, the West Indies and the Bahamas, with costs averaging $3,085 per trip. Each year, county doctors spent $650,000 on educational travel. Continuing education units were pursued inside California just 8 percent of the time during the period analyzed. According to hospital rules, doctors can spend up to $4,500 a year on Continuing Medical Education to update their knowledge and licensing requirements. And on more than one-third of those trips, the 339 doctors employed at the San Jose hospital serving the indigent chose to earn their credits on Maui, Oahu and the Big Island in Hawaii, the audit revealed. Hospital administrators said their travel policies are sound, and comparable to other quality care facilities.

Report: Most state hospitals fail to comply with price-quote law
By Bobby Caina Calvan, Sacramento Bee
Most California hospitals are failing to comply with a state law requiring them to furnish price quotes upon request for a host of medical services, according to a report released Tuesday. The results of the Rand Corp. survey illustrate the difficulty uninsured patients face if they attempt to shop around for the best deal on their care. Price transparency is "a laudable goal, but our study found that the law isn't really working," said Dr. Ateev Mehrotra, a Rand researcher who co-authored the study and is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Rand is a nonprofit think tank with research offices worldwide. Posing as uninsured consumers, Rand sent letters to 353 hospitals statewide requesting estimates for three common procedures. The idea was not only to test compliance with the state's so-called price transparency law, but also to study the difference in pricing among hospitals, which the study discovered can sometimes be vast. Only 98 hospitals, or 28 percent of those surveyed, responded to the Rand letters. Of those, 15 didn't provide quotes for the procedures, but sought additional information such as billing codes. Fifty-five of the hospitals gave partial estimates based only on hospital services, not including the cost of paying doctors. And 18 did not specify what the quotes would cover.

UC regents are urged to act on King hospital
UC has yet to agree to hear the plan
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
In a move intended to pressure University of California leaders, Los Angeles County supervisors unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to ask the university's regents to commit to partnering with the county to reopen the long-troubled Martin Luther King Jr. hospital by 2012. The vote authorizes the county's chief executive, William T Fujioka, to move beyond closed-door negotiations and take the county's proposal to the UC Board of Regents meeting next month. The Willowbrook facility, formerly known as King-Drew Medical Center and King-Harbor Hospital, closed to inpatient services two years ago and since has operated as an outpatient clinic. "The ball is now in your court," Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas said of the regents shortly after joining his colleagues in a vote that was greeted by thunderous applause. Hundreds of people gathered at the meeting to show support for the plan, many of them complaining of serious illnesses and injuries that have gone untreated or been poorly treated. Supervisors said they believe enough key elements of a possible deal have been resolved over the last several months to take the next step. They expressed cautious optimism, saying the regents could vote in as little as four weeks to endorse a partnership.

Las Encinas Hospital in Pasadena sued by ex-workers
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
Former employees of Aurora Las Encinas Hospital, a private psychiatric facility in Pasadena, filed a class-action lawsuit Thursday against the owner alleging that chronic understaffing has compromised patient care. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of four former employees, says understaffing forced Las Encinas staff to work past the ends of their shifts, with no overtime pay, to complete work obligations. The former workers are seeking an injunction to stop the alleged violations as well as unspecified restitution, legal fees and other penalties under California's labor code. Las Encinas officials did not respond Thursday to The Times' request for comment. In addition to complaints about staffing levels, the suit alleges unsanitary conditions for employees. Workers said employee bathrooms lacked soap, forcing them to bring their own. At least one bathroom at the facility has a toilet but no sink to wash up, according to the suit. In some cases, workers who believed the equipment provided -- including blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes -- was substandard bought their own. The lawsuit seeks class action status on behalf of not only employees at Las Encinas, but also workers at the three other psychiatric hospitals in Southern California run by Signature Healthcare Services, which operates under the Aurora name in Ventura, Covina and San Diego.

San Mateo County to pay $6.8-million settlement over hospital billing
A whistle-blower accused the county of overbilling the federal government and committing Medicare and Medicaid fraud
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times
San Mateo County will pay $6.8 million to settle an accusation that its county hospital overbilled the federal government and committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud. The payment, announced last week, was triggered by a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by a former county compliance officer. The suit, later joined by the U.S. Department of Justice, alleged that the county inflated San Mateo Medical Center's bed count for nearly a decade in order to receive higher Medicare reimbursements. San Mateo County Counsel Michael P. Murphy said the bulk of the payment is "returning funds we shouldn't have received." The settlement also includes a penalty.

Federal regulators identify new problems at UCI hospital
Regulators described repeated examples of poor oversight and inadequate systems to protect patients
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
Federal regulators investigating serious failings in UC Irvine Medical Center's anesthesiology department threatened to cut off Medicare funding after identifying dozens of new problems within the hospital. In a 127-page report, regulators described repeated examples of poor oversight and inadequate systems to protect patients. In a letter dated Dec. 19, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gave the Orange-based teaching hospital 10 days to show it had corrected the deficiencies or face losing its funding. That deadline was extended to last Friday so that the hospital could prepare a detailed plan of correction. David Bailey, UCI's vice chancellor for health affairs, said the hospital was disappointed to learn of new deficiencies but welcomed the opportunity to improve. He said the hospital had remedied every issue by the time the plan was submitted last week.

F.D.A. Is Lax on Oversight During Trials, Inquiry Finds
By GARDINER HARRIS, New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration does almost nothing to police the financial conflicts of doctors who conduct clinical trials of drugs and medical devices in human subjects, government investigators are reporting. Moreover, the investigators say, agency officials told them that trying to protect patients from such conflicts was not worth the effort. In 42 percent of clinical trials, the agency did not receive forms disclosing doctors’ finan

cial conflicts and did nothing about the problem, according to the investigation, which was conducted by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services and whose results were scheduled to be made public Monday. In 31 percent of the trials in which the agency did receive the required forms, agency reviewers did not document that they looked at the information. And in 20 percent of the cases in which doctors revealed significant financial conflicts, neither the F.D.A. nor the sponsoring companies took any action to deal with the conflicts, the investigators found. Karen Riley, a spokeswoman for the F.D.A, said the agency opposed reviewing doctors’ financial conflicts before trials because they represented just one possible source of bias. A similar investigation by the inspector general last year found that the National Institutes of Health did almost nothing to police the financial conflicts of university professors who received federal money. And like their colleagues at the F.D.A., officials at the health institutes said they did not want to start doing so, that investigation found. The inquiries feed a growing debate about how money that doctors routinely collect from drug and device makers may hurt patients and skew studies.

State probes whether Kaiser call centers endanger patients
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg, Sacramento Bee
Worried that Kaiser Permanente may be letting unlicensed staffers make medical decisions, the state is investigating the giant HMO's call centers and plans to demand documents that Kaiser has refused to surrender. The probe began in response to a nurse's complaints that mishandled calls are leaving Kaiser patients vulnerable to misdiagnoses and delayed care. The investigation is also shedding light on a 2003 state law that was intended to block just what Kaiser is still doing – using a semi-automated system to let people with no medical training determine how quickly a patient is seen.

UCI Medical Center put under state supervision
U.S. inspectors fault the anesthesiology department, including records filled out in advance
By Kimi Yoshino, Los Angeles Times
UCI Medical Center has been placed under state supervision because of its anesthesiology department's "inability to provide quality healthcare in a safe environment," according to a federal report released Thursday. Among the most serious failings cited by federal inspectors was doctors' practice of filling out medical records in advance, suggesting specific outcomes before procedures were done. Officials with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Thursday that they had accepted the department's plan of correction, but if the problems are not resolved, the hospital could lose its federal funding.

More King-Harbor hospital workers have criminal backgrounds
A new report also finds that staffers often deliver inferior patient care compared with other Los Angeles County facilities
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
More than 10% of the Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital employees whose backgrounds were examined by the county had criminal histories, according to a long-awaited analysis released Monday that also found the King nurses provided inferior care. The hospital had about 1,600 employees when the background checks were conducted a year ago, according to the report by the auditor-controller's department. Of those, 1,356 had their backgrounds examined, and 152 of those came back with criminal or arrest records. The number is far larger than the 17 employees with criminal histories that the county has previously acknowledged and included convictions ranging from misdemeanors (but not most vehicle code violations) to serious felonies.

Future remains uncertain for Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital
A year after the hospital ended emergency and inpatient care, the University of California is still trying to decide if it wants to take over
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
The closure of emergency and inpatient services at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital quietly passed its one-year anniversary this week, and county officials acknowledged in interviews that they remain far from fulfilling their promise of restoring it to full operation. The University of California -- described by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky as the county's "last, best hope for reopening King" -- has so far been unable to overcome significant obstacles to accepting management of the South Los Angeles facility. The financing, governance and role of labor unions remain unresolved in near weekly negotiations that began in May. Officials on both sides said they did not expect to know until the end of the year if a deal could be struck.

UnitedHealth Profit Drops on Settlement Charge
By REUTERS, New York Times
The company earlier this month agreed to pay more than $900 million to settle lawsuits related to past stock options practices. The legal settlements brought it closer to moving past a scandal over the manipulation of stock option dates that led to the departure of former Chief Executive William McGuire.

L.A. County suspends 16 King-Harbor clinic employees
The workers were found to have histories of serious criminal offenses or to have lied about their records
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
Sixteen employees at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital's outpatient clinic have been suspended after it was discovered that they had serious crimes in their past -- including at least one rape -- or had lied about their criminal history, Los Angeles County officials revealed Tuesday. One other employee with a criminal history was kept on the payroll for reasons officials did not explain. The officials refused to say what crimes were committed by the staffers or whether the offenders worked in positions that placed patients in jeopardy, but Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke disclosed the rape. "I'm very concerned," said Burke, whose district includes the Willowbrook medical facility. "I've been a patient at that hospital myself."

Los Angeles County failed to track problem King-Harbor workers
L.A. County health officials say a database to check on employees who were transferred was found to be dormant
By Garrett Therolf and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
Under withering criticism, Los Angeles County health officials acknowledged Tuesday that they had not used a key database intended to track and weed out problem employees from Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital for nearly a year. John Schunhoff, interim Health Services Department director, told the Board of Supervisors that at least some employees had been fired or disciplined since the hospital closed its inpatient and emergency services in August and sent many of its workers to other county facilities. But since then, top managers have been unable to track the employees' locations and their subsequent performance and disciplinary status. Schunhoff also acknowledged that at least one disciplined King-Harbor staffer -- found to have fallen asleep while watching a heart monitor in 2005 -- has since been promoted.

Report rates pneumonia death rates in California hospitals
Patients at the worst-performing hospitals are found twice as likely to die as those at the best-ranked hospitals
By Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times
The third report since 2004 on how California hospitals treat pneumonia confirmed that where patients go can mean the difference between living and dying. Patients at the worst- performing hospitals were twice as likely to die as those at the best-ranked hospitals. The report, released this week by the Office of Statewide Health, Planning and Development, looked at 30-day mortality rates for community- acquired pneumonia between January 2003 and November 2005. "Community-acquired" means that the bacteria, viruses, fungus or other organisms that cause pneumonia were contracted at home or at work as opposed to more deadly, drug-resistant strains acquired in nursing homes, jails and other institutional settings, including hospitals themselves.

After livers, cash to UCLA
Japanese crime boss received a life-saving liver transplant at UCLA Medical Center -- then donated $100,000
By Charles Ornstein and John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times
A powerful Japanese gang boss who received a liver transplant at UCLA Medical Center donated $100,000 to the Westwood hospital shortly after the surgery, The Times has learned. A plaque dated November 2001 at the entryway to a seventh-floor surgery office reads, "In grateful recognition of the Goto Research Fund established through the generosity of Mr. Tadamasa Goto." UCLA confirmed the amount of the donation Friday. Law enforcement sources say Goto, 65, is the leader of the ruthless Goto-gumi gang. He received a transplant at UCLA in July 2001, The Times reported Thursday. He made his donation less than three months later. UCLA also acknowledged that it received a separate $100,000 donation from another man who figured in Thursday's story. He donated in 2002, the year of his transplant. The man was identified by a law enforcement official as one of four Japanese men now barred from entering the United States because of their suspected gang affiliations, criminal records, or both. All four received new livers at UCLA between 2000 and 2004, The Times reported.

Ex-Northern California doctor accused in sex assaults of men
Tony Shiu was deported from Taiwan to face charges that include felony sodomy
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
A former Northern California doctor is scheduled to appear in court this morning on suspicion of drugging and sexually assaulting at least two men before fleeing to his native Taiwan two years ago. Tony Shiu, 39, who had practiced general medicine in Dublin, Calif., was deported from Taiwan to the United States on Thursday and was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service and Dublin police after his flight landed at San Francisco International Airport. He was charged with felony sodomy, sexual penetration of an unconscious person, sexual assault during medical treatment and several misdemeanors related to the alleged assaults on the two men.

Hospitals, patients clash on privacy rights
By Elizabeth Fernandez, San Francisco Chronicle
Joan Broner, like many people, never reads the fine print at her medical appointments. As a consequence, the 58-year-old San Francisco resident, who has arthritis, regularly receives solicitation letters at home from several local hospitals. The letters infuriate her. "It feels like an invasion of privacy," she said. "If I'm sick and I go to a doctor, I don't want them telling anybody about it. My disease is not for sale." When patients check into hospitals or doctor offices, they presume their information will be kept in strictest confidence, but often, amid the pile of papers, they overlook fine print describing how their personal information can be farmed out for fundraising.

Broad failings documented at agencies overseeing organ transplants
Doctors had improperly arranged for a transplant to a Saudi national using an organ intended for a higher-priority patient
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
Prompted by serious lapses at three California organ transplant programs, federal inspectors have documented broafailings by the agencies that oversee the nation's transplant system and raised doubts about the pace of promised improvements. In a soon-to-be-released report, the Government Accountability Office confirms findings by The Times in 2005 and 2006 that transplant regulators failed to spot problem programs and didn't step in quickly to protect patients. The scandals in California in 2005 and 2006 show the need for increased oversight of transplantation, the GAO found. In September 2005, St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles halted liver transplants after conceding that its doctors had improperly arranged for a transplant to a Saudi national using an organ intended for a higher-priority patient. Dozens of people whose conditions were considered more dire were bypassed on the regional waiting list.

L.A. investigates alleged patient dumping by Costa Mesa hospital
A mentally ill man, discharged from College Hospital in Costa Mesa, is reportedly dropped near to the Union Rescue Mission on skid row
By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles city prosecutors are investigating a Costa Mesa hospital for allegedly taking a mentally ill man 42 miles to downtown's skid row and leaving him near the Union Rescue Mission, officials said. A van reportedly dropped the man outside the mission, one of the larger downtown facilities providing services to the homeless, after he was discharged from College Hospital in Costa Mesa last week. The man, described as possibly schizophrenic and bipolar, was taken to an L.A. area hospital after being tended by mission staffers, city officials said. Prosecutors in City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo's office are investigating the incident. "The bottom line is we are . . . taking it very seriously," said Jeff Isaacs, chief of the city attorney's criminal prosecutions. "It could be another classic case of dumping."

Co-Payments for Expensive Drugs Soar
By GINA KOLATA, New York Times
Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases. With the new pricing system, insurers abandoned the traditional arrangement that has patients pay a fixed amount, like $10, $20 or $30 for a prescription, no matter what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.

Governor says his medical records were accessed, too
He calls for stronger privacy protections
By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said this morning that the snooping into his wife's medical records by an unauthorized UCLA Medical Center employee follows a long history of such intrusions on California's first couple. "I have been a victim of this in my own hospital visits," Schwarzenegger said at a news conference to promote volunteerism, "if it was for heart surgery or hip surgery, shoulder surgery, all of those things." Every time he has left an operating room, the governor said, he has been told there were "people going through your file that had white coats on. Obviously, they snuck into the hospital. They had nothing to do with the hospital staff at all. So those things happen."

Schwarzenegger aims to end breaches of medical records
By Andy Furillo, Contra Costa Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday his administration is working with the UCLA Medical Center to plug confidentiality breaches that have allowed unauthorized personnel to view records on celebrity patients, including his wife, Maria Shriver. "This kind of practice has been happening all over the state, wherever there's celebrities involved," Schwarzenegger said in response to a reporter's question. His comments followed reports that a UCLA hospital employee viewed electronic patient records on Shriver and 31 other celebrities.  The governor said his health and human services secretary, Kim Belshe, is working with UCLA officials to get a handle on the problem. Belshe told the Los Angeles Times that the disclosure of confidential information on the celebrities "appears to be a pattern of repeated violations." Schwarzenegger said he has "been a victim of this" himself in previous hospital visits for heart, hip and shoulder surgery.

Governor addresses UCLA medical leaks
By Andy Furillo, Sacramento Bee
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday that his administration is working with UCLA Medical Center to plug confidentiality breaches that have allowed unauthorized personnel to view records of celebrity patients, including his wife, Maria Shriver. "This kind of practice has been happening all over the state, wherever there's celebrities involved," Schwarzenegger said in response to a reporter's question. The governor said his health and human services secretary, Kim Belshé, is working with UCLA officials to get a handle on the problem. Belshé told the Times that the disclosure of confidential information on the celebrities "appears to be a pattern of repeated violations." Schwarzenegger said he has "been a victim of this" himself in previous hospital visits for heart, hip and shoulder surgery.

Physician-Owned Hospitals Faulted on Emergency Care
By Christopher Lee, Washington Post
Most physician-owned specialty hospitals are poorly equipped to handle medical emergencies, federal investigators will report today, underscoring a long-standing concern about the rapid rise in the number of such hospitals. The report found that 55 percent of 109 physician-owned hospitals reviewed had emergency departments -- and that the majority of those had only one bed, wrote Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson at the Department of Health and Human Services. Fewer than a third of the hospitals had physicians on site at all times, and 34 percent relied on dialing 911 to get emergency medical assistance for patients in trouble, according to the report. Moreover, 7 percent of physician-owned hospitals failed to meet Medicare requirements that a registered nurse be on duty at all times and that at least one physician be on call if none are in the hospital, the report found. Twenty-two percent failed to address in their written policies how emergency cases should be evaluated and treated when they arise.

Family rejects Blue Cross' claim
After years of paying for a badly disabled boy's nursing care, the insurer said he no longer needed it
By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times
At 13, David Denney's body functions like that of a baby. Severe brain damage halted his motor development at 4 months. Unable to walk, sit up, speak or even eat by mouth, David is cared for by a licensed vocational nurse who feeds him formula through a stomach tube, watching closely in case he retches. Blue Cross of California, the family's health plan, paid for the nurse for most of David's life at a cost of about $1,200 a week.Then about two years ago, the company decided that David didn't need a nurse anymore -- contradicting the opinions of two of David's physicians -- and it stopped paying. "He's fragile, very fragile," said the boy's mother, Amparo Denney of Torrance. "It's not humanly possible to do this without help." As a matter of course, insurers scrutinize what physicians order -- watching for unnecessary drugs, questionable treatments, experimental and unproven therapies, unwarranted surgery. The extent of treatment denials by insurers is unknown. But patients are contesting them more than ever.

Family blames HMO for teen's death
Cigna refused to pay for a 17-year-old leukemia patient's liver transplant until the family staged a protest Thursday, but Nataline Sarkisyan died shortly after the reversal
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times
A grieving family is blaming an insurance company for the death Thursday of a 17-year-old leukemia patient, who died hours after the company reversed course and agreed to pay for her to receive a liver transplant. Nataline Sarkisyan was being treated at UCLA Medical Center, where she had been unresponsive in intensive care for about three weeks, her mother said. "She had a 65% chance of survival if she had gotten the liver," Hilda Sarkisyan said from her home this morning. The Sarkisyans' insurer, Philadelphia-based Cigna HealthCare, denied the transplant earlier this month. Doctors at UCLA sent a letter Dec. 11 to Cigna emphasizing that Nataline was eligible for a transplant, Hilda Sarkisyan said. But Cigna refused to pay, citing a lack of medical evidence the procedure would help.

Hospital makes 3rd brain surgery mistake
By the Associated Press, Anniston Star
Rhode Island Hospital has been fined $50,000 and reprimanded by the state Department of Health after its third instance this year of a doctor performing brain surgery in the wrong side of a patient's head. "We are extremely concerned about this continuing pattern," health department director David R. Gifford said in a statement Monday. The hospital issued a statement saying it was re-evaluating its training and policies, providing more oversight, giving nursing staff the power to ensure procedures are followed, among other steps. The most recent case happened Friday when the chief resident started operating on the wrong side of an 82-year-old patient's brain, the health department said. The patient was OK, the health department and hospital said. In February, a different doctor performed neurosurgery on the wrong side of another patient's head, said Andrea Bagnall-Degos, a health department spokeswoman. That patient was also OK, she said. In August, however, a patient died a few weeks after a third doctor operated on the wrong side of his brain.

King-Harbor quiet a day after emergency room closure
Neighboring hospitals say they haven't been overwhelmed by extra patients, but officials note that it was a calm day
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Francisco Vara-Orta and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
A day after Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital closed its emergency room, protesters filled its front lawn Saturday but patients largely stayed away from both the medical center and neighboring hospitals that would have to pick up the slack. In the morning and afternoon, only a handful of patients came to the emergency room entrance, which had signs announcing its closure and security officers on hand to redirect visitors. Four parked police cars encircled the closed unit, and the only people going in or out were officers or a few nurses who were taking smoking breaks. "I think people have gotten the initial message," said Dr. Bruce Chernof, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

King-Harbor fails final check, will close soon
The ER is shut down, and the rest will follow within two weeks
By Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Jack Leonard, Los Angeles Times
Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital shut down its emergency room Friday night and will close entirely within two weeks, a startlingly swift reaction to a federal decision to revoke $200 million in annual funding because of ongoing lapses in care. The extraordinary developments mark an end to nearly four years of failed attempts to reform the historic institution, treasured by many African Americans as a symbol of hope and progress after the 1965 Watts riots.

Transplant doctor's criminal case could affect donation rate
By Alicia Chang, San Diego Union-Tribune
Allegations that a transplant surgeon tried to speed a patient's death to recover his organs could dissuade potential donors at a time when the national waiting list for critical organs keeps growing, experts said Tuesday. “One of the biggest fears that people have about organ donation is that their death will be hastened if they're identified as a donor,” said bioethicist Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania. “The transplant community has struggled mightily to allay the fears.” On Monday, prosecutors in the central coast's San Luis Obispo County charged 33-year-old Hootan Roozrokh, a rising transplant surgeon, with prescribing massive amounts of drugs in an attempt to hasten the death of 25-year-old Ruben Navarro, who was physically and mentally disabled.

Surgeon charged in man's death
Doctor accused of overprescribing drugs to harvest organs faster
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Contra Costa Times
A San Francisco transplant surgeon was charged Monday with excessively prescribing drugs to a 25-year-old disabled man last year to hasten his death and harvest his organs more quickly. The felony charges are believed to be the first against a physician for his role in a transplant. Experts said the case is likely to raise uneasiness among potential donors and could prompt doctors to shy away from retrieving organs before a patient is brain dead. The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office accused Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, of dependent-adult abuse, administering a harmful substance and prescribing controlled substances without a legitimate medical purpose. The surgeon allegedly ordered massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives for Ruben Navarro, a physically and mentally disabled man, on Feb. 3, 2006. In addition, Roozrokh is accused of administering the antiseptic Betadine through a feeding tube into Navarro's stomach, a sterilization procedure typically done after a donor is dead.

U.S. cites King-Harbor for poor care
Troubled facility is faulted for placing patients in 'immediate jeopardy,' meaning it does not meet federal standards
By Susannah Rosenblatt and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
In the midst of a federal inspection that will determine its fate, Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital was once again cited for placing patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm — an ominous sign for its prospects of staying open.

State fines Kaiser again
The HMO's second such penalty in a year targets its handling of patient complaints at nine hospitals
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
Kaiser Permanente will be assessed a record fine today for its haphazard investigations of questionable care, physician performance and patient complaints at its California hospitals, according to state HMO regulators. The California Department of Managed Health Care said it will levy a $3-million fine against Kaiser, the largest HMO in the state, with 29 medical centers and more than 6 million members. If Kaiser makes necessary improvements, agency director Cindy Ehnes said, she will forgive $1 million of that. The penalty marks the second time in a year that Kaiser has been publicly rebuked and fined for glaring breakdowns in oversight.

UC settles liver transplant suits for $7.5 million
The 35 claims resulted from problems from UC Irvine's management of its medical center
By Christian Berthelsen, Los Angeles Times
The University of California has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle 35 claims filed on behalf of patients who waited in vain for liver transplants at UCI Medical Center and who were unaware that the school's program lacked the staffing to perform the life-saving operations. The university closed the program in November 2005 after The Times reported that 32 patients died awaiting operations, even as the hospital in Orange turned down scores of organs proffered on their behalf.

Ex-hospital worker given 45-year term
By Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union-Tribune
A woman whose disabled son was treated by a Children's Hospital employee who was later convicted of child molestation spoke in court yesterday of the pain her family has endured. “Of all the evilness in the world, the last place we expected to find it was Children's Convalescent Hospital,” said Pandora Johnson, during a sentencing hearing in Superior Court for Wayne Albert Bleyle. Although her son was not among the five children identified as Bleyle's victims, Johnson said she can never be sure whether her son was molested because he cannot speak.

Police won't be charged in death at hospital
Prosecutors say L.A. County officers did more than the King-Harbor staff to help woman get medical care
By Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles County prosecutors will not file criminal charges against the police officers involved in the now-infamous case of a woman who died after writhing untreated on the floor of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, saying the officers tried harder than the hospital's own nurses to get her care.

Ex-director of UCLA cadaver program gets plea deal
Henry Reid will plead guilty to filing a false tax return, other charges related to alleged cadaver-trafficking still stand
By Stuart Silverstein, Los Angeles Times
One of the alleged participants in a cadaver-trafficking scheme at UCLA's medical school has agreed to plead guilty to filing a false federal tax return and admitted to concealing $54,400 in income. The plea agreement announced by authorities Tuesday resolves the federal tax case against Henry Reid, an embalmer from Anaheim who directed UCLA's "willed-body" program from 1997 to 2004. But Reid still faces state criminal charges of conspiracy and grand theft. In that case, he is accused of funneling bodies donated for research to a middleman, who then sold body parts to others for profit.

Former Los Angeles doctor pleads guilty in lawsuit kickback case
By the Associated Press, Orange County Register
A former Brentwood physician pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge on Tuesday for his role in a lawsuit kickback scheme that prosecutors said netted more than $200 million for a major New York law firm. Steven G. Cooperman, 65, entered the plea in federal court. In return, prosecutors will recommend that he be sentenced next year to 1 1/2 years in prison. Cooperman, now of Fairfield, Conn., was convicted of insurance fraud and other crimes in 1999 in an unrelated case. He had been cooperating with the government's ongoing investigation into the secret kickbacks scheme.

Is Your Doctor Tied to Drug Makers?
By the New York Times
It’s no surprise that the pharmaceutical industry is appalled at proposals to set up a national registry of its gifts and payments to doctors. Too much information might lead patients to suspect that their doctors are choosing costly medicines out of gratitude to the manufacturers rather than for the best medical or economic interests of their patients.

Supervisors pessimistic on hospital
L.A. County officials wonder if King-Harbor will pass a federal inspection that may decide its survival
By Robert J. Lopez and Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles County supervisors expressed serious doubts Tuesday that Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital would pass a federal inspection next month that could determine its survival as a public hospital.

Nurses file complaint, charge Sharp with hundreds of violations
By the San Diego Union-Tribune
Sharp HealthCare nurses Monday announced the filing of a complaint with the state Department of Health Services alleging hundreds of violations of regulations at Sharp's seven hospitals. The nurses, who are negotiating a new labor contract, say it's the biggest quality-of-care complaint in California history, involving 900 counts.

Doctors Reap Millions for Anemia Drugs
By ALEX BERENSON and ANDREW POLLACK, New York Times
Two of the world’s largest drug companies are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors every year in return for giving their patients anemia medicines, which regulators now say may be unsafe at commonly used doses.

If paramedics err, what happens to them?
In California, there's no guarantee that they or emergency medical technicians will be reported, investigated or disciplined
By Rich Connell and Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times
Countless lives have been spared and injuries relieved by the state's medical rescuers, often the frontline caregivers in a crisis. To many people, they are heroes. Their competence, often, is assumed. With little clout, regulators essentially rely on rescue providers to report on themselves, making it nearly impossible to get a realistic picture of where the system is breaking down or how it is performing overall.

Sutter Health net income up 33% in '06
Hospital chain, under fire for pricing, attributes strong earnings to investments
By Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle
Hospital company Sutter Health's 2006 net income jumped nearly 33 percent, an increase it attributed to strong earnings from investments. Sutter Health, which has faced criticism for alleged high prices and abuses of its market power, reported Friday total net income for the year ending Dec. 31 of $587 million, up from $445 million in 2005.

Doctor scrutinized for stem-cell treatment
By BLYTHE BERNHARD and COURTNEY PERKES, Orange County Register
A Mission Viejo doctor has been accused by the state of failing to cooperate with an investigation into an experimental stem cell treatment for a child.

Potential organ donor was wrongly declared brain-dead
The error raises concerns about the medical care of those who have promised their organs for transplants
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
A man whose family agreed to donate his organs for transplant upon his death was wrongly declared brain-dead by two doctors at a Fresno hospital, records and interviews show. Only after the man's 26-year-old daughter and a nurse became suspicious was a third doctor, a neurosurgeon, brought in. He determined that John Foster, 47, was not brain-dead, a condition that would have cleared the way for his organs to be removed, records of the Feb. 21 incident show. "It kind of blew my mind," said the daughter, Melanie Sanchez, "like they were waiting like vultures, waiting for someone to die so they could scoop them up."

New charges pending against child psychiatrist
Prosecutors say more ex-patients contend he molested them
By John Coté, San Francisco Chronicle
A San Mateo psychiatrist who once headed the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry will face new charges of molesting former patients, prosecutors said Wednesday, broadening a case in which men have accused the doctor of abuse dating back to 1969.

Doctors hospital CEO resigns
By Tom Lochner, Contra Costa Times
Irwin Hansen, the embattled CEO of Doctors Medical Center San Pablo, has resigned, the hospital announced today. Hansen joined Doctors as transition CEO while the previous operator, Tenet Heathcare Corp., was preparing to pull out after seven years, citing continuing financial losses. The health care district took over operations from Tenet in August 2004. After operating losses that averaged between $1.5 million and $2 million a month.

Feds unveil strict new transplant rules
Agency believes enforcement of the regulations will cut patient deaths
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
Under pressure to tighten oversight of the nation's transplant centers, federal health officials unveiled strict new standards Thursday that could force dozens of organ programs to give up precious federal funding or have it pulled from them. The rules come after a series of scandals in California in the last 18 months have embarrassed regulators and exposed serious gaps in the monitoring of the nation's transplant system.

Blue Cross cancellations called illegal
The health insurer 'routinely' dropped the policies of pregnant or ill clients, an agency finds
By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times
Blue Cross of California "routinely" violated state law when it canceled individual health insurance coverage after policyholders got pregnant or sick, making no attempt to determine whether they did anything to merit such "harsh" treatment, according to a state investigation of practices that appear to be industrywide. State regulators plan similar investigations of other health plans in California, and the findings against Blue Cross ratchet up the risk of liability for other insurers, many of whom face lawsuits from consumers who claim they were illegally dumped and subjected to substantial hardships.

County taking over Needles hospital
By Jeff Horwitz, San Bernardino County Sun
San Bernardino County is planning to take over Needles' financially troubled Colorado River Medical Center. The step, approved by the Board of Supervisors in principle on Tuesday, would guarantee critical care for the 70,000 people in the hospital's service area but also would expose the county to significant financial risk. The future of the hospital has been unclear for more than a year. Lifepoint Hospitals Inc., the hospital administration company that leases the facility from the city of Needles, has moved much of its staff, services and equipment 12 miles to its Valley View Medical Center in Arizona. The shift alarmed the city, which feared its residents would lose health-care access. Medi-Cal patients would lose access to services at an out-of-state facility, and Lifepoint "was making efforts to close our emergency room," said Rebecca Valentine, a Needles City Councilwoman who attended the county's board meeting. Lifepoint could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Death of infant from hospital error probed
By Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle
State and federal authorities are investigating a medication error at Kaiser Permanente's Santa Clara hospital that led to the death of an infant, Kaiser officials confirmed Friday. The Feb. 24 death is the third mortality caused by a medication error at Kaiser's Santa Clara medical center since 2004. Kaiser officials blamed the latest death on human error, rather than procedural shortcomings. After the earlier deaths, Kaiser initiated new policies designed to prevent future deaths by medication errors.

Medical 'dirty secret' out in open
By Joyce Howard Price, Washington Times
The alarmingly high number of life-threatening infections occurring in U.S. hospitals has prompted medical staffs and state lawmakers to focus on better awareness and take steps to reduce the spread. "For too long" hospitals and dialysis centers "have kept patient infections a dirty secret," said Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign. "But now, more states are moving to make infection rates public, so consumers can make smarter health care choices, and hospitals have a stronger incentive to improve patient care."

Report finds medication mistakes kill or sicken 150,000, cost state more than $17 billion each year
By Steve Geissinger, Contra Costa Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides pointed to the report, released Tuesday, as further justification for his health-care reform proposal, which would guarantee health care for every uninsured Californian.

Medicine mistakes reportedly kill many
Findings seen as boost to governor's justification for health care reform
By Steve Geissinger, Oakland Tribune
The Medication Errors Panel issued a dozen suggestions to reduce confusion over prescriptions, which leads to patients taking an incorrect medicine that can sharply worsen their condition or taking different kinds of pills that should not be combined and can cause dangerous, unintended side effects.

Medication errors exact a high toll
Steps could save lives - and billions - state board says
By Steve Geissinger, San Jose Mercury News
Medication errors sicken or kill 150,000 Californians and cost more than $17 billion a year, according to a yearlong study by a new state board created to study the problem.

Feds probe Humana over Rx drug patients
By Jeffrey Young, The Hill
Federal officials are investigating whether one health-insurance company that sells prescription-drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries inappropriately diverted its most expensive customers to a competitor. Sierra Health Services, which offers Medicare Part D prescription-drug plans under the brand name SierraRx, alleges that Humana Inc. telephoned its highest-cost customers and recommended they purchase coverage from Sierra instead. Humana counters that it merely passed along information to its customers about a competing product that might better suit their needs, and said federal regulators approved its actions.

Only 3 area hospitals rate 'superior'
By BRAD A. GREENBERG, Los Angeles Daily News
A statewide effort launched Tuesday to increase hospital transparency and improve patient care reported "poor" patient satisfaction at six of the nine participating area hospitals. In the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys and eastern Ventura County, only Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Woodland Hills, were rated "superior" by patients in the debut of CalHospitalCompare.org. The Web site allows consumers to browse patient satisfaction at 209 California hospitals and determine which offer the best care for pneumonia, maternity and heart attack, heart failure and bypass.

Police probe death in organ donation case
Authorities investigate allegations that a Kaiser surgeon in San Luis Obispo hastened a possible donor's demise
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
Police are investigating whether a Kaiser Permanente transplant surgeon attempted to hasten the death last February of a 26-year-old San Luis Obispo man on life support in order to harvest his organs more quickly. The allegations, if true, would constitute a grave breach of the nation's organ transplant rules, as well as a public relations setback for those promoting organ donation, experts in transplantation said. San Luis Obispo police and the Medical Board of California are looking into the conduct of Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, who was a surgeon at Kaiser's now-defunct kidney transplant program in San Francisco.

Report tells of errors in organ case
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
Police and the state medical board are now investigating whether the transplant surgeon brought in to retrieve Navarro's organs attempted to hasten the patient's death by ordering him pumped full of massive amounts of narcotic painkillers and sedatives. If true, the allegation would constitute a grave breach of the nation's transplant rules.

State lists worst hospitals for care of pneumonia
Five Kaiser facilities have among the highest mortality rates
By Francisco Vara-Orta, Los Angeles Times
Five Kaiser Permanente hospitals were among the 28 institutions with the highest death rates in California for patients with pneumonia, according to a state report to be released today. The Kaiser hospitals in Sacramento, South Sacramento, Panorama City, Riverside and Roseville all had higher than average mortality rates between 2002 and 2004, said the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Statewide, 12.29% of pneumonia patients — or about one in eight — died within 30 days of admission. The 28 hospitals that fared worst had an average mortality rate of 17.2%. By contrast, the 25 hospitals that ranked best had an average mortality rate of 8.1%.

Hospitals' hidden danger
By Joyce Howard Price, Washington Times
Hospital patients in the United States have to worry about something other than their illness or pending surgery -- the very real threat of acquiring an infection while hospitalized, which may be far more serious than the original problem. These infections, many of which are drug-resistant, affect one in 20 patients -- or about 2 million people -- each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hospital infections are the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States. Johanna Daly, 63, of New York City, died of complications from a hospital infection in May 2004, four months after she went to the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan for treatment of a fractured shoulder.

Patient dumping may be criminal but ...
Making it illegal to leave indigents on the streets without consent addresses only part of the problem, experts say
By Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times
Despite the public outrage over the dumping of homeless patients on Los Angeles' skid row, there is growing debate about whether criminalizing the practice would solve the problem. As the number of suspected dumping cases reached 55 last week, a state senator announced legislation that would make it a misdemeanor for hospitals to transport patients and leave them on the streets against their will. But some legal experts question whether the law could be effective without a parallel effort to provide more shelter and services for chronically ill homeless patients who are well enough to leave the hospital but have no place for continuing medical services.

Outlaw dumping homeless patients -- quickly
By the Sacramento Bee
It sounds almost silly to say that there ought to be a law against a hospital dumping a paraplegic patient in the street. You'd think such a thing was surely already illegal.

Patient 'dumping' probe widens
The city attorney's office says a hospital may have violated laws in its videotaped handling of a paraplegic man later left in a skid row gutter
By Cara Mia DiMassa and Richard Winton, Times
The Los Angeles city attorney's office is investigating whether a Hollywood hospital violated multiple laws when it attempted to leave a paraplegic man on a gurney at the Midnight Mission — hours before he was left in a skid row gutter, officials said Monday. A video, filmed by security cameras at the Midnight Mission early Thursday, shows two workers from Hollywood Presbyterian arriving by ambulance and trying to wheel the man, who is strapped down to the gurney, into the mission courtyard. They are confronted by security guards, who, according to mission officials, asked about the man's follow-up care.

State Realtor group suing Blue Shield
Medical plans at risk for 5,500
By GREGORY J. WILCOX, Los Angeles Daily News
The California Association of Realtors said Monday that it is suing Blue Shield of California to prevent cancellation of medical insurance for more than 5,500 members and their families. The Los Angeles-based trade association, which represents the state's residential real estate industry, seeks unspecified general and punitive damages and a permanent injunction directing Blue Shield not to cancel members' policies unless they do not make their payments.

Hallowed halls or school for scandal?
By Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times
Forget about the steamy scenes in the television shows "Grey's Anatomy" and "ER." In a Los Angeles courtroom this month, allegations began unfolding of sex among residents and doctors in the psychiatry department at UCLA's medical school that rivals anything in those hospital procedurals. The allegations are part of an unusual sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a male resident against UCLA and a woman who was one of his supervising physicians.

San Diego hospital suspends heart transplants
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
UC San Diego Medical Center announced Friday that it was voluntarily shutting its heart transplant program — at least temporarily — amid a federal review of transplant centers that fall below performance standards. UC San Diego's heart program, which opened in 1990, performed just four transplants last year, down from 10 the year before. To obtain federal funding, a center must perform at least 12 heart transplants a year. That threshold is intended to ensure that centers perform enough procedures to remain proficient. The hospital's action comes as the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is scrutinizing the performance of heart, liver and lung transplant programs nationwide.

Health regulators criticize LA hospital for bacteria outbreak
By the Associated Press, Orange County Register
Hospital staff did not properly clean medical instruments linked to last month's deadly bacterial outbreak at a medical center's neonatal intensive care unit, according to a report by state health regulators. White Memorial Medical Center closed off its neonatal intensive care unit Dec. 4 following an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa that sickened five infants. Two of the babies are believed to have died as a result of the pathogen.

Suit accuses Kaiser of blackballing
Nursing assistant says she hasn't been able to get work since aiding a patient-dumping probe
By Tami Abdollah, Los Angeles Times
A former employee has sued Kaiser Permanente, claiming that the HMO "blackballed" her for participating in a criminal investigation into the alleged dumping of a homeless woman on skid row. Irene Hernandez, 50, of Downey said Kaiser's hospital in Bellflower quit employing her as a registry nursing assistant after she cooperated with the Los Angeles city attorney's office investigation into alleged patient-dumping by the hospital giant. In the suit, filed Thursday, Hernandez says she discharged a homeless woman March 20 from Kaiser Bellflower, placing her in a taxi. She said she later learned that the cab dropped the woman off on skid row, leaving her to wander aimlessly.

Transplant deaths at USC a puzzle
Liver program's high fatality rate may be due to risky patients, subpar organs or other factors
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
After opening its liver program in 1996, the hospital just northeast of downtown Los Angeles developed a record of success. Then, around 2003, its death rate started to climb. Today USC's rate is among the worst in the country. In a span of 2 1/2 years, 38 of 164 patients died within a year of their transplants, twice as many as expected, according to the most recent national data. The data largely factor in the condition of patients and donated organs.

Delivering dual benefits
Medi-Cal spends about $400 million a year on birth-related care for illegal immigrants -- private hospitals gain
By Evelyn Larrubia, Los Angeles Times
More than 100,000 undocumented women each year bear children in California with expenses paid by Medi-Cal, according to state reports. They now account for about one in five births. Regardless of their parents' status, the children are American citizens by law. Many illegal immigrants who might otherwise shy away from government services view care associated with childbirth as something they can safely seek, a protected right. California long has been one of the more generous states in offering such benefits, covering everything from pregnancy tests to postpartum checkups for impoverished illegal immigrants. Such births and associated expenses account for more than $400 million of the nearly $1 billion that the program spends each year on healthcare for illegal immigrants in California, documents and reports show. Only about a dozen other states extend similar benefits to illegal immigrants, according to health and immigrant rights groups.

Outbreak raises questions about LA hospital's cleaning policy
By ALICIA CHANG, Orange County Register
The recent deaths of two premature babies at an East Los Angeles hospital linked to an outbreak of a common bacterium raises questions about whether officials took the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the hardy germ.

Discipline meted out to Kaiser
Transplant oversight group drops 'good standing' rating
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
Seven months after Kaiser Permanente announced that it was closing its problem-plagued kidney transplant program in San Francisco, the group that oversees the nation's transplant system sanctioned the program Wednesday by removing its "good standing." Dr. Sue V. McDiarmid, president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, said in a written statement that Kaiser had "effectively denied patient access to kidney transplantation and threatened safety for patients on its waiting list" during the tumultuous start-up of its kidney program in 2004 and 2005.

Trauma status at hospital targeted
Fresno Co. health officer wants Children's designation ended
By Tracy Correa and Robert Rodriguez, Fresno Bee
Fresno County's health officer is recommending the immediate termination of a county agreement designating Children's Hospital Central California as a pediatric trauma center because of the hospital's inability to maintain required staffing. Children's pediatric trauma designation was suspended Oct. 4 after it was discovered the hospital lacked the required round-the-clock specialists necessary to call itself a Level II pediatric trauma center. It was the first time a designation had been suspended in the state for such a problem.

Doctors Medical Center board cracks down on expenses
By Ryan Huff, Contra Costa Times
The board that runs bankrupt Doctors Medical Center unanimously approved strict new rules Thursday night that provide more oversight of travel and meal expenses, and eliminate past practices of using public funds for alcohol, hotel mini-bars and expensive Christmas gifts. The West Contra Costa Healthcare District's swift action came in response to a Times investigation published Nov. 19 that revealed leaders used district money for conferences at world-class resorts, $70-per-person meals, $300-per-night hotel stays and $400-plus monthly cell phone bills, said board member Nancy Casazza.

Hospital board to revise spending rules
By Ryan Huff, Oakland Tribune
Board members who run the bankrupt Doctors Medical Center for the most part defended executives' expenses on fancy dinners and five-star hotel rooms at a meeting Tuesday night, but nonetheless said a new policy was needed to control spending and restore public trust in the San Pablo hospital. A new West Contra Costa Healthcare District policy would require approval of most expenses at an open board meeting, discontinue extended stays at conferences, forbid reimbursement for alcohol purchases, and prohibit using district funds for gifts other than plaques and other forms of recognition under $25. The health care district board plans to vote on these new rules Dec. 7, more than two months after Doctors filed for bankruptcy with $66 million in debt.

L.A. files patient `dumping' charges
Kaiser Permanente is accused of leaving a homeless woman to wander on skid row
By Richard Winton and Cara Mia DiMassa, Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles city attorney's office filed false-imprisonment and dependent-care-endangerment charges against hospital giant Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday, the first criminal prosecution of a medical center accused of "dumping" patients on skid row.

4 more California transplant programs under scrutiny
A national regulator finds problems at San Francisco, L.A. and San Diego hospitals
By Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, Los Angeles Times
The woes of the state's transplant centers continue to mount, as a national regulator has found problems in four more programs, confidential records show. Scrutiny of these programs — some of which face sanctions — follows the public discipline of three other California centers earlier this year by the United Network for Organ Sharing. All told, more than a quarter of the state's 25 transplant centers have either been sanctioned or placed under scrutiny this year.

UCLA seeks extra funds for hospitals
The additional $308 million would complete long-delayed medical centers on its Westwood campus
By Mary Engel and Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times
UCLA officials will ask for an additional $308 million today to complete the Ronald Reagan Medical Center on its Westwood campus and a new hospital in Santa Monica — the latest cost overrun for the long-delayed facilities, whose total price tag will now exceed $1.3 billion. More than half of the new funding would go toward completion of the 525-bed medical center in Westwood, already about two years behind schedule, with occupancy expected next fall. The 172-bed Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital is scheduled to open in the winter of 2009.

Postmortem exam
By BLYTHE BERNHARD, Orange County Register
One year after UC Irvine was forced to close its liver-transplant program, the fallout continues for its hospital and the families of people who needed new organs.

Another patient killed in violence at Patton hospital
It is the third slaying there in 14 months and comes as state mental facilities are scrutinized
By Rong-Gong Lin and Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times
Patton officials and a spokeswoman for the state Department of Mental Health, which oversees the hospital, declined to comment or even confirm the incident. They cited confidentiality restrictions and the ongoing investigation. The violence comes as state mental hospitals face heightened scrutiny. After investigating civil rights violations in the system for four years, federal prosecutors in May filed a consent decree in federal court that called for sweeping reforms under a court-appointed monitor.

Hospital owner at issue
Many at a county supervisors meeting share their concerns over Prem Reddy's business practices
By COURTNEY PERKES, Orange County Register
A new hospital owner who bucks the HMO system will compromise health care in Orange County and drive up patient costs, doctors and insurance executives told county officials Monday. "We believe the business tactics they use are contrary to high-quality health care and cost-effective medicine," said Jim Agronick, chief operating officer for Greater Newport Physicians, a doctors group that treats 114,000 managed-care patients. Dr. Prem Reddy, a Victorville cardiologist and owner of Prime Healthcare Services, which now controls about one in 12 hospital beds in Orange County, says he plans to prove his critics wrong by improving patient care and turning a profit. Tina Buchanan, former chief nursing officer at Reddy's Desert Valley Hospital, said she was fired after refusing to act illegally. She said Reddy wouldn't treat the uninsured and ordered additional tests for those with insurance. "He had a rule: We were not to admit uninsured patients," Buchanan said.

Supervisors to vote on hospital bailout
Plan covers control, funding of Doctors Medical Center
By Jason B. Johnson, San Francsico Chroncile
After years of labor troubles and financial turmoil at the medical center, the supervisors will consider a $20 million bailout plan that would give the county partial control of the hospital and, its supporters hope, ensure its long-term survival. Hospital officials have said they have enough money to continue operating only through November.

Group led by doctors to acquire Alvarado
By Keith Darcé, San Diego Union-Tribune
The two pediatrician brothers leading an investment group that plans to buy Alvarado Hospital Medical Center for $36.5 million say they have the financial backing to overhaul the troubled San Diego hospital and to keep it open for years to come. The brothers grew up in Iran and immigrated to the United States in 1979 with their parents during the height of the Islamic revolution. Alvarado needs a large infusion of cash, perhaps more than $20 million by some estimates, to upgrade facilities neglected by Tenet in recent years. Its medical staff must be rebuilt after shrinking under the strain of the criminal probe. And recent financial losses must be reversed. In 2005, the hospital lost $15.7 million, according to Ingenix, an Eden Prairie, Minn., hospital researcher.

John Muir, Blue Cross agree to 30-day extension
By George Avalos, Contra Costa Times
The John Muir hospitals in Concord and Walnut Creek and Blue Cross of California announced on Friday a one-month extension of their contract, a move that avoids a disruption of health services at the medical centers. Blue Cross and John Muir Health have engaged in intense negotiations in a quest to preserve a contract that enables patients covered by Blue Cross to use their insurance for treatment and services at the Muir hospitals. Up to 36,500 patients covered by Blue Cross who receive treatment at the John Muir hospitals in Concord and Walnut Creek could be affected if coverage lapsed.

Eden Medical Center limits Medi-Cal elective surgery
By Rebecca Vesely, Contra Costa Times
Eden Medical Center will no longer provide elective inpatient surgery to Medi-Cal patients starting Sunday because government reimbursements are too low, hospital officials said.

Drew faces loss of crucial approval
Accreditation council's move against the medical university is tied to its affiliated hospital's impending loss of Medicare funding
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
The national accrediting body for doctor training programs has taken the first step toward pulling its approval from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, one of a handful of historically black medical schools in the nation. The action, made public Thursday, was a direct result of the failures of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, a hospital in Willowbrook long affiliated with the school. In a stern letter to Dr. Nancy Hanna, the associate dean in charge of graduate medical education at Drew, the Chicago-based Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education announced that it was proposing to revoke the school's accreditation because of what it termed a "catastrophic event": King/Drew's impending loss of Medicare funding.

State planning to fire health care official
He worked on OK for acquisition by group he invested in
By Victoria Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle
The state Department of Managed Health Care plans to fire its second-in-command for holding stock in UnitedHealth Group Inc. when he worked on the department's approval of UnitedHealth's acquisition of PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. last year. Kevin Donahue, the department's deputy director, is on paid administrative leave from his $110,000-a-year job and will be fired on Nov. 15 unless the appeals process overturns the decision, said Lynne Randolph, spokeswoman for the agency. "We do have a zero-tolerance policy for ethical violations. This is a clear-cut ethical violation," said Randolph.

Financial remedies may not be enough to save Doctors Hospital
By George Avalos, Contra Costa Times
Despite a series of financial remedies to rescue Doctors Medical Center, its top executive warned Thursday that the hospital's viability remained in question. The hospital is headed for a $13 million loss in 2006, even after a judge on Thursday cleared the way for a county-arranged financial bailout of the bankrupt district that runs the San Pablo hospital, according to Irwin Hansen, chief executive of the West Contra Costa Healthcare District. The agreement with the county would clear the way for millions to be pumped into the failed hospital district, with the first cash infusion to begin the first week of November. Yet the hospital is nowhere near being the clear. The latest difficulty stems from an ongoing inability by the hospital to come close in calculating how much it should charge for a particular procedure or treatment, Hansen said. The average error rate is running about 5 percent to 7 percent on each procedure. The average error should be more like about 1 percent to 3 percent, Hansen figured.

First 5 draws scrutiny for use of researchers
By GRETCHEN WENNER, Bakersfield Californian
A simple question is slamming doors fast at the local tobacco-tax agency, First 5 Kern. That is: Who has oversight of its contract with Cal State Bakersfield researchers? At stake is the thorny issue of who's ultimately responsible for how some $3 million of public First 5 Kern funds were spent by former faculty researchers -- one of whom received a monthly car lease payment from First 5 with apparently little more than a handshake.

Study of High-Risk Surgeries Finds Racial Disparity
By Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times
Black, Latino and Asian patients are more likely than whites to have high-risk surgeries at California hospitals that have less experience doing the procedures, according to a study published today. Less experienced hospitals, with a lower volume of cases, are widely believed to deliver poorer results. The racial and ethnic disparities existed even when such factors as patients' income, insurance status and location were accounted for, according to the study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Police document patient dumping by hospital
By RICHARD WINTON and CARA MIA DiMASSA, Los Angeles Times
The LAPD says it has opened its first criminal investigation into the dumping of homeless people on skid row after documenting five cases in which ambulances dropped off patients there Sunday. Police said the patients, who had been discharged from a Los Angeles hospital, told them they did not want to be taken downtown. Though police have documented other cases of hospitals dropping off recently discharged patients in the district, "this is the most blatant effort yet by a hospital to dump their patients on skid row against their will," LAPD Capt. Andrew Smith said.

L.A. probes homeless dumping
Ambulance firms, hospital may face felony charges, city attorney says
By the Orange County Register
City officials on Monday said they are investigating two private ambulance companies and a hospital accused of dumping five homeless people on the city's Skid Row. The people told police they were taken to Skid Row against their will Sunday after being discharged from Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, Police Chief William Bratton said.

Transplant monitor lax in oversight
U.S. organ network routinely fails to detect problems
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, Los Angeles Times
The little-known organization that oversees the nation's organ transplant system often fails to detect or decisively fix problems at derelict hospitals — even when patients are dying at excessive rates, a Times investigation has found. When it does act, the United Network for Organ Sharing routinely keeps findings of its investigations secret, leaving patients and their families unaware of the potential risks, interviews and confidential records show. "It seems like UNOS is often a day late and a dollar short," said Dr. Mark Fox, associate director of the Oklahoma Bioethics Center and former chairman of the UNOS ethics committee. "Most people are kind of shaking their heads and saying, 'Who's minding the store?' "

False records fuel body-parts traffic
By ADAM GOLDMAN, Los Angeles Daily News
The medical records that accompanied the body of "Masterpiece Theatre" host Alistair Cooke were wrong in just about every possible way. His name was misspelled. His birth date was off by 10 years. His Social Security number wasn't even close. Also wrong were the name of his doctor and the time and cause of his death. There was even a bogus name and phone number for a relative who supposedly agreed to donate the 95-year-old celebrity's body parts for tissue transplants. The records, obtained by The Associated Press, provide the most in-depth look so far into the case of the TV personality, and they raise more questions about the safety of the cadaver-tissue industry. Why didn't the tissue processors who acquired Cooke's body parts catch any of the bogus entries? "It's deeply disturbing," said Susan Cooke Kittredge, Cooke's daughter. "It throws out any kind of faith I had in the system. It's so broken. It's horrible to me that this wasn't caught."

A Plan to Save King/Drew Gets Tough
Supervisors will hear a proposal to move staff, cut services and place control of the facility under Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
By Steve Hymon, John Mitchell and Susannah Rosenblatt, Los Angeles Times
Emergency services would remain intact, but a plan to rescue Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center would sweep out current employees and slash many services to give the troubled hospital a chance to avoid being stripped of vital federal money.