Sherman Oaks Hospital Under Investigation on Admission Rules

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is investigating whether Sherman Oaks Community Hospital criminally refused emergency-room treatment to at least one uninsured patient, authorities said Friday.

A spokesman for the county Department of Health Services, which requested the investigation, and Deputy City Atty. Sue L. Frauens would not disclose specific details.

But the investigation generally stems from a county health investigator’s determination that the hospital regularly was evaluating the ability to pay of patients before learning their medical conditions, said Robert L. Karp, an administrator with the county health department.

The investigator’s report, based on a Sept. 14 survey of records at the hospital, said: “The emergency room has a financial triage system in place. Patients are routinely questioned regarding their ability to pay before a medical examination is performed.” A triage is a system of assigning priorities for medical treatment.

Karp said the “financial triage” since has been corrected. But the hospital denies that such a system existed.

“I consider it ludicrous,” said M. Marc Goldberg, the hospital’s chief executive officer. “Every patient that comes into our hospital is seen, and a determination is made whether or not a medical emergency exists.”

Maximum Fine of $1,000

Nonetheless, Karp said the health department regarded the hospital’s actions as possibly in violation of a state law that makes it a misdemeanor for a licensed emergency-care facility to refuse treatment to someone in danger of death or serious illness or injury.

If convicted, the hospital would face a maximum fine of $1,000. The law also calls for a maximum six-month jail term for any corporate officer held responsible.

Although neither Frauens nor the county health department would disclose specifics, the hospital was cited by the health department earlier this year for transferring a 25-year-old woman who complained of a spider bite. The woman was treated at the county’s Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar, where doctors diagnosed a life-threatening blood clot. Goldberg told health officials later that the symptoms the woman described to doctors at Sherman Oaks did not indicate a serious condition.

Karp, program manager of the health department’s health facilities division, said the spider bite incident prompted the inquiry into the Sherman Oaks hospital’s emergency-admissions policy. He refused to comment on whether that incident was directly related to the department’s request for criminal charges.

Goldberg said authorities have cited no incident of a patient with an urgent health problem being denied treatment for financial reasons. He speculated that the investigation might center on an incident in which an 18-year-old man sought emergency treatment for a minor palm abrasion. Told how much treatment would cost at the hospital, the man decided to seek treatment a county hospital, Goldberg said.

City and county authorities refused to comment on whether the case is part of the investigation.