A Poisonous Route to Take : Counties don’t pay for the benefit they receive--and that could doom poison control centers

It isn’t fair that a few poison control centers providing a vital service for thousands should have to shut down for lack of support. In better times, it worked for a number of Southern California counties to have their heavy lifting done by facilities in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Now that those facilities are facing financial pressures and cutbacks, it’s time for those getting a free ride to put something in the fare box.

Many of these centers in California and across the nation have been hanging on by their fingernails, victims of a patchwork system of funding and the vicissitudes of the economy. In California, the seven regional centers operate 24-hour emergency lines that offer treatment advice to hundreds of thousands of victims of accidental poisoning each year. These services, provided in Southern California by Los Angeles County Medical Assn. Regional Poison Control Center, UC Irvine Medical Center and UC San Diego Medical Center, ensure quick help for poisoning victims.

The centers not only save lives of many young children; they also are an invaluable resource for parents seeking fast information on how to handle potential poison emergencies. Because the majority of such cases can be resolved on the telephone, emergency rooms are relieved of further burden. The centers also provide an important referral service to help people properly dispose of environmentally treacherous poisons.

Now three of the California system’s centers--in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Orange County--are running out of money. The plight of UC Irvine Medical Center is especially illustrative: It serves Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo and Mono counties but gets nothing from any of them, nor does it get contributions from other hospitals in the region. Having dodged a budgetary bullet last spring, it may have to close next July if other hospitals or counties don’t lend a financial hand. Obviously, they should.

The Los Angeles center, which serves L.A., Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, at least has received donations from medical professionals and hospitals, but the amount recently hasn’t been nearly enough. The medical association’s public appeal ought to be met with a generous response from those who may have taken the service for granted.

These are tight times for everyone. But those who benefit from a vital resource must help the neighbors who are helping them.