Encinitas’ Scripps Hospital Probed for Alleged Drug Stealing and Use

An investigation under way at Scripps Memorial Hospital-Encinitas may lead to disciplinary action--including dismissal--against employees allegedly involved in using and stealing drugs, a hospital spokesman said Friday.

“To conduct an internal investigation like this is painful,” spokesman Michael Dabney said. “It is painful, risking besmirching a respected institution like Scripps Memorial, but such activity is absolutely intolerable and we will take every action necessary to stop it.”

The investigation at the hospital, which has a staff of 780, is even more troubling to administrators since it follows the discovery in April of similar illegal activity at Scripps Memorial Hospital-La Jolla.

In the earlier incident, 30 employees--including nurses, technicians and administrators--were fired, and four of them were also arrested, Dabney said. The activities of two or three physicians were also investigated, but none was charged with any wrongdoing, he added.

Probe ‘At Critical Stage’

“At this time we cannot release details of the investigation,” Dabney said. “Right now, the investigation is at a critical stage. We’re identifying more of the people involved and getting a better idea of what’s going on.”

Dabney insisted that patient safety--as was the case at La Jolla--had not been jeopardized.

“We have quality control measures in place to protect the patient,” he said. “No one person is making a decision regarding a patient. It is always a team effort involving several physicians and nurses. If there was any unusual activity by any one member, it would have been reported. We have received no such reports.”

Although the police have been informed of the hospital inquiry, Dabney said authorities did not initiate the investigation.

After the La Jolla hospital probe, administrators in Encinitas were informed that illegal activity--including drug use on the premises and theft of drugs and equipment from the hospital--was also being conducted at their facility. That discovery prompted the current investigation.

Hospital officials would not say who was conducting the investigation, nor would they say specifically who was the target of the probe. At the La Jolla hospital, administrators hired a private investigative firm, which employed undercover agents within the hospital to note drug theft and usage.

“This investigation is being conducted fairly and within our proper legal boundaries,” Dabney said. Suspected impropriety among any of the 330 physicians and 450 other employees--which include nurses, technicians and administrators--will be questioned, he said.

“Each case will be decided on the level of evidence obtained regarding that individual. Whatever measure is deemed necessary in terms of a disciplinary action, that’s what will be done,” Dabney said.

As a result of the ongoing investigation, Dabney said some employees--he declined to say how many--have been placed on “controlled standby.”

“In the best interest of this investigation some employees have been put on leave with pay,” he said. “They have been told to remain accessible in case investigators need to ask them additional questions. I want to emphasize that they have not been fired or suspended.”

The hospital in Encinitas is a 99-bed facility and one of three major hospitals--along with others in La Jolla and Chula Vista--that belong to Scripps Memorial, a nonprofit community hospital system.

The medical system also operates several specific medical centers, including a drug/alcohol abuse program, and manages two convalescent homes. Dabney said there are no immediate plans to conduct investigations at these facilities.