New Owners Complain Hospital Left Operating Rooms Unusable

The war of words over the court-mandated sale of Westlake Medical Center escalated Thursday just hours after the facility changed hands.

The community hospital’s new owner, Salick Health Care Inc., accused the previous owner, Columbia/HCA, of using improper procedures while removing supplies, rendering four operating rooms temporarily unusable and preventing at least one patient from undergoing surgery.

“I just can’t imagine why anyone would do that,” said Les Bell, executive vice president of Los Angeles-based Salick. “They may well have taken things that they were not allowed to take. And they deprived a patient that was ready to have surgery from their right to have surgery.”

But Ron Phelps, the hospital’s former head and president and chief executive officer of Columbia-owned Los Robles Regional Medical Center, denied any wrongdoing. Columbia personnel took supplies that were theirs because Salick refused to buy them, said Phelps, who was present when the actions in question took place.

“We removed disposable supplies at the last moment in case there was some emergency surgery,” Phelps said. “These allegations are nothing more than a shocking publicity stunt.”

Thursday morning, deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were called in by Salick officials to conduct an investigation.

“We took a preliminary report,” said Sgt. Mike Santander. “There were allegations that some vandalism and possibly some theft occurred. We are looking into it, and we’re going to determine if there has been a crime.”

Officials with both hospital chains agreed that Columbia was entitled to remove disposable supplies before the facility changed hands at midnight on Wednesday.

But in the process, at least two Columbia employees entered the operating rooms in street clothes, essentially contaminating the rooms and rendering them unusable for surgery, said Pam Kapustay, a nursing director who confronted the two about 10:30 p.m. Thursday morning, six people took six hours to clean just one of the rooms, she said.

“There were cabinets open, sterile supply containers on the floor and surgical packs torn open,” Kapustay said. “I can only describe it as [being like] looking at something after an earthquake.”

But Phelps said operating rooms are cleaned daily, particularly in a situation where lots of supplies are being moved, generating dust in the air.

“This is no big deal,” he said. At least one Salick employee was also in the operating rooms in street clothes, he added.

The late-night incident is just the latest in a series of disagreements between the two companies. Salick had long been a tenant in the Westlake hospital, operating a cancer clinic in the 30-year-old facility in space originally leased from Universal Health Services. When Columbia took over ownership of Westlake in a hospital swap with Universal, Salick became the Tennessee-based conglomerate’s tenant.

As soon as the deal with Universal was finalized, critics of Columbia contended that the company planned to shut down Westlake to avoid competition with the other hospital it owns in the Thousand Oaks area, Los Robles Regional Medical Center. Columbia has long denied those charges.

But last summer, Columbia shut down Westlake’s obstetrics ward and other hospital services. In January, the company announced plans to shut down the emergency room and sell the facility.

Salick has been planning to buy the hospital for more than a year. Initially, the sale, based on a contract negotiated in March 1995, was to have been completed on July 3. But negotiations fell apart at the last minute, and Salick went to Los Angeles County Superior Court to ask for an injunction to stop Columbia from closing down the hospital for at least two weeks while the two parties returned to the table.

Last week, Superior Court Judge Diane Wayne ordered the $8.15-million sale of the hospital to go forward by today. A nervous Salick returned to court once more this week to make sure the order was upheld. On Wednesday, Bell was jubilant that the sale had finally happened.

By Thursday morning, though, he was outraged at what he called a “deliberate contamination.”

“Why do things that jeopardize the care of critically ill cancer patients?” Bell asked. “Why?” Late Thursday, Bell said hospital staff was still taking inventory to determine whether items were missing. But he was vague as to what action Salick may take.

“I can assure you we will act appropriately,” he said.

Times staff writer Mary Pols contributed to this story.