The State - News from Dec. 25, 1987

State licensing officials released a report accusing San Francisco General Hospital, considered a leader in acquired immune deficiency syndrome prevention for hospitals throughout the nation, of 22 deficiencies in infection-control procedures. The state Department of Health Services’ report, based on 1977 state licensing standards and the hospital’s former written policy, could cause the hospital to lose its license, as well as $45 million in Medi-Cal and Medicare funding. Hospital officials, who have 10 days to formally respond to the charges, said their new policy, put into practice before it had been officially published, was being criticized unfairly. “They are using old rules and old standards with regard to infection control,” a hospital official said. The officials, who called the state investigation sloppy, unscientific and destructive, said they would fight the state Department of Health Services in court rather than change their policies.