SANTA MONICA : Emergency Room Briefly Evacuated Over Chemicals

A Santa Monica hospital emergency room was evacuated Thursday after a patient and three hospital staff members complained of respiratory difficulties apparently brought on by unidentified chemicals on the patient’s clothing.

Two registration clerks and a medical technician at St. Johns Hospital & Health Center began coughing after assisting a patient who said he had chemicals on the jacket he was wearing, a hospital official said.

Julius Norman had arrived at the St. Johns emergency room about 10:40 a.m. complaining of shortness of breath. Norman, a security guard in Agoura, said he believed he had been exposed to unknown chemicals at work Sunday, hospital spokeswoman Trish Bartel said.

The hospital closed its emergency room about 11 a.m., transferring 11 patients to another part of the hospital. The Santa Monica Fire Department and a Los Angeles County hazardous materials team were called in to perform tests on the jacket and the emergency room, Bartel said.

No fumes or toxic substances were discovered and the emergency room reopened about 12:15 p.m. Norman was briefly hospitalized and then discharged, and the hospital workers reportedly had no further symptoms, Bartel said.