10/17/02 The Argonaut

Bigger turnout for second hearing on Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital closure

BY CINDY FRAZIER

More than 300 people attended the second public hearing held Tuesday, October 8th, by Tenet Healthcare Corp. regarding the future of Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital.

Tenet took the seven-acre Marina area hospital property off the market in mid-August, after the hospital site had been put up for sale at the end of May, according to Tenet spokesman David Langness.

During the two hearings — held at the Venice High School auditorium before a retired federal judge — many begged Tenet not to close the facility and testified that the hospital and its emergency room had saved many lives.

Opponents of the healthcare conglomerate and its plans to close the Marina area hospital were heartened by the turnout of the second hearing, but criticized the hearings as being one-sided.

"We were glad to see hundreds of people come out to support saving our hospital," said Julie Inouye, organizer of Save Our Marina Hospital.

"It was too bad that Tenet's people and the judge were sitting up on the stage and not contributing," she added.

"It was supposed to be a dialogue, but it was more like a suggestion box," she said.

Inouye claimed that 100 people attended the first hearing Monday, September 23rd, and about 500 came to the hearing Tuesday, October 8th.

Others said fewer attended the two hearings but agreed attendance at the second hearing far exceeded the turnout for the first hearing.

COURT ORDER — Tenet held the hearings under a court order, after Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the company over its plan to close the Marina hospital August 26th.

A Los Angeles judge halted the closure through a preliminary injunction and ordered the hospital firm to conduct a "community planning process," as required by Lockyer under the terms of the Tenet purchase of the facility, which had been operated as a nonprofit entity by an order of Catholic nuns.

The hearings were part of that planning process, which also will include meetings with local groups, and possibly focus groups, Langness said.

"The hospital board will take all the input under advisement and start the decision-making process [about the hospital's future] over again," Langness said.

The firm may also conduct new studies to assist in the decision-making process, he said.

"More than 400 people attended the hearings, and we have had lots of letters and e-mails," Langness said.

He added that neither the judge nor Lockyer has placed a deadline on the community process.

Inouye said her Save Our Marina Hospital group met with Tenet Friday, October 11th.

"I am happy that we met and looking forward to meeting with them again to begin defining the comprehensive planning process," Inouye said.

"But they have not fulfilled the attorney general's requirements [for closure] because they have not met with all the groups," Inouye claimed.