San Diego
San Diego County Supervisor Brian Bilbray on Thursday called on the county’s top administrator to fire James Forde, director of the Department of Health Services.
In a letter to Chief Administrative Officer Clifford Graves, Bilbray said that it has become “increasingly obvious that the credibility of the county Department of Health Services has seriously deteriorated.”
“Deplorable conditions that are allowed to continue to worsen and proliferate through so many areas of responsibility as has been the case in the health department are simply not tolerable in a local government responsible for the health care of the public,” Bilbray wrote.
Forde and his department have been under fire for months because of a series of management and patient care problems at the Edgemoor Geriatric Hospital and the county’s mental health hospital in Hillcrest.
Graves did not return calls to his office Thursday. Forde could not be reached for comment but said through a secretary that he had no plans to resign and did not expect to be fired.
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