Mahony Urges Supervisors Not to Cut Health Care : Budget crisis: Citing ‘unthinkable tragedy,’ archbishop warns that all would be affected by spread of disease. Public works projects should be postponed first, he says.

Cardinal Roger M. Mahony on Thursday urged the Board of Supervisors to reconsider severe budget cuts for public health services, warning that Los Angeles County is on the brink of a health care disaster of near pandemic proportions.

The immediate impact of closing some county hospitals and community clinics in the face of a multimillion-dollar budget crisis would fall on the poor and indigent who are without medical insurance.

But Mahony warned in a pastoral letter that an outbreak of disease could quickly spread throughout the general population.

“Every child not immunized, every tuberculosis patient not treated, every infection left unattended and every orthopedic problem not corrected, will eventually become your problem and my problem,” said Mahony, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles.

Millions of people, rich and poor alike, intermingle daily in supermarkets, stores and upscale malls, Mahony said. “Health care denied to one person eventually means an increase of health risk to each one of us,” he said.

“I cannot imagine a more dire crisis in Los Angeles County than the one we are now facing with the dramatic cut in health services,” he wrote. “Past county floods, droughts, fires and earthquakes pale when measured against this unthinkable human tragedy.”

The intensity of the statement was strong even for Mahony, who is known for his defense of the poor and illegal immigrants. Last year, he joined other religious leaders in decrying Proposition 187, in part because it would have denied free medical care and public schooling to illegal immigrants. Mahony also was an early supporter of migrant farm workers during the heyday of Cesar Chavez, the late charismatic leader of the United Farm Workers union.

On Thursday, Mahony repeatedly warned that everyone is at risk if health care is denied the poor.

Mahony’s statement, published as a “pastoral reflection” in the archdiocese’s official English- and Spanish-language newspapers, is being distributed to all 284 parishes in the 3.5-million-member Los Angeles archdiocese, the nation’s largest. The statement was also being distributed at 18 Catholic hospitals in the region.

County supervisors are considering various options for slashing costs in the face of a massive budget deficit, including the closure of county hospitals. No decision on hospital closures is expected before Sept. 19.

But Mahony, endorsing an approach by Supervisor Gloria Molina, said supervisors should look to other areas of the budget, such as public works projects, before cutting health care.

Supervisors voted Aug. 1 to close all six comprehensive health centers and 28 community clinics, as well as make drastic reductions in outpatient services at county hospitals. Those reductions are to take effect Oct. 1, unless the state or federal governments bail out the county or supervisors reverse themselves.

Beyond those reductions, it may be necessary to close some county hospitals.

Mahony said the archdiocese’s 18 Catholic hospitals are doing what they can to fill the gap. But Catholic and other private hospitals are incapable of helping uninsured and underinsured patients on an ongoing basis without government contracts. He said many Catholic hospitals will offer some types of health services for a while. Eventually, he said, the financial burden would become such that they will also have to close their doors to the uninsured.

Private hospitals do not yet have an accurate assessment of the number and type of patients to expect if county facilities shut their doors.

Sister Carolita Hart, director of health affairs for the archdiocese, said it is not clear how many patients Catholic hospitals can expect.

Perhaps nowhere has there been a better indication of the potential impact on Catholic hospitals than at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood.

Since county clinics began refusing new patients, daily losses at St. Francis Hospital, which also operates five clinics, have jumped to $30,000 a day, compared to $13,600 a day last year--a 120% increase, according to Sister Margaret Keaveney, president and chief executive officer.

The number of indigent patients treated daily has jumped to 150 from 50 last year, she said.

Keaveney’s concern and frustration were evident during an interview Thursday. She complained that the county continues to get grants from the state and federal government to pay for patient care. But she said when the county turns those patients away, it still keeps the money.

“It’s a major question of justice,” Keaveney said. “I’m a very simple woman. There is adequate funding for health care in America but the dollars don’t stay with the patient. The equation will never balance if one system, such as the county system, receives the dollars and another system such as a private hospital or St. Francis has the patients.”

Mahony called on supervisors to muster the courage needed to provide additional funding for health care, even if it means delaying public works projects. “If we do not exert the political will now to face this impending health catastrophe,” Mahony said, “we will surely do so when the general health of all our county’s 10 million residents begins to diminish.”

Times staff writer Jeffrey L. Rabin contributed to this story.