November 20, 2003
Honorable Attorney General Bill Lockyer
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
1300 I Street
Sacramento, California 94244-2550
Dear Attorney General Lockyer:
We are writing in a last desperate effort to ask that you stop the closure and continued dismantling of Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital and its cardiac program. Hundreds of thousands of African Americans and Latinos living in the community surrounding the hospital are suffering and dying from disproportionate rates of heart disease. As you may recall, Section IX of the conditions approving the sale of the then non-profit hospital to Tenet Healthcare Corporation on December 7, 2001 stipulated that:
The comprehensive planning process that Tenet DFH has agreed to conduct for Memorial and Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital (Marina) shall provide for solicitation of public input and shall include consultation with community-based healthcare organizations and the County of Los Angeles EMS. Copies of any reports resulting from this planning process shall be provided to the Attorney General.
We assert that Tenet has failed to conduct a “comprehensive planning process,” solicit public input or consult community-based healthcare organizations in any meaningful or substantial manner. You may recall that we asked you to examine Tenet’s lack of compliance when you sought an injunction to close the Marina facility for Tenet’s failure to comply with the same conditions of the asset sale agreement. We recognize that the demands on your office are great and that you have limited resources. However, this lack of enforcement has allowed Tenet to undertake a series of steps designed to dismantle critical services in the community.
First, Tenet shut down the cath lab and heart program at Daniel Freeman as part of a consolidation plan with Centinela Hospital. This action was taken without any community input other than Tenet’s presentation to their board and a convening at which Tenet simply announced their decision to elected officials and a limited number of community health organizations. Next, Tenet got the county Emergency Medical Service to agree to transport all cardiac 911 patients to Centinela Hospital. While Tenet met several times with the staff of the County EMS and its board, they made no effort to engage the immediate community. In contrast, we pressured the County EMS to convene a meeting of healthcare experts and a few community organizations to examine the proposed pilot project that had already been approved by EMS prior to community input. This effort was taken independently of Tenet. It does not rise to the participation level expected from a genuine community planning effort.
Now Tenet has announced its intention to close the following outpatient programs at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital:
Tenet has made no effort to engage the community in their decision to close these programs. This is another blow in a series of program closures and consolidations that have occurred since Tenet purchased the hospital two years ago. We are deeply concerned that the continued elimination of programs serving the community and community needs will result in the eventual closure of the hospital. The programs Tenet proposes to close have saved many lives over the years and have proven effective in reducing unnecessary hospitalization. The most egregious impact is the disruption of care for hundreds of patients in the middle of treatment! For many, there is no alternative, and Tenet is offering no alternative resource for treatment. All of this comes while the federal government is investigating overbilling of Medicare and unnecessary cardiac procedures at Tenet facilities including Centinela.
We are asking that you act today:
Thank you for your consideration of this request. We will contact your office to confirm your availability and willingness to speak at the press conference. We remain hopeful that you will right this wrong.
Sincerely,
Lark Galloway-Gilliam
Executive Director
cc: Tricia Wynnee