Santa Ana Traffic Plan and the Plight of the Commuter : Irvine Hospital Controversy and Medical Referral System

The biggest loser in the Irvine hospital issue is the medical care referral system in Orange County. Today, if a doctor in the Orange County medical community needs to refer a patient with a complicated case, then he or she is most likely to refer to UCLA or Scripps. A doctor in Orange County is not so likely to refer to a community hospital in Irvine or to UCIMC in Orange because it is a dump, if I may be permitted to be charitable.

As a practicing physician in Orange County, I can categorically state that Orange County desperately needs a first-class university hospital because it doesn’t have one now. The “golden compromise” referred to in The Times (Oct. 13) has sadly compromised away this much-needed university hospital in Irvine.

The golden triangle is really a terrible place for a hospital, being located next to a Marine Corps air station which may be converted into a civilian airport some day. In my opinion, the golden triangle should be a place for golden office buildings or hotels which could take advantage of a nearby airport, or otherwise have easy freeway access to a growing South County. It is not a place for noise-sensitive hospital beds, noise itself having adverse health consequences.

There has definitely been too much politics in the Irvine hospital issue. Medicine and science should have prevailed rather than land-use profits, university endowments, or other perks of the published “golden compromise.” In this case, we doctors in the Orange County community took a beating. All I can say is that we tried, but failed, to bring a first-class medical referral system to Orange County. We shall still try to get a university hospital at UCI in Irvine, for the people of Orange County.

JAN D. VANDERSLOOT, MD

Huntington Beach