State Denies Hospital License to Owners of Medical Facility

State health inspectors have denied a hospital license to the new owners of a Hawaiian Gardens medical center after documenting several “serious problems” with the facility’s system of patient care.

During a visit last week to the Tri-City Regional Medical Center, inspectors discovered seven patients who had been physically restrained without proper authorization, said a program manager for the Health Facilities division of the county Department of Health Services, which grants licenses on behalf of the state Department of Health Services.

“Restraints are a serious issue,” program manager Jean Olander said. “Basically, you need a physician’s order to restrain a patient, and they didn’t have physicians’ orders.”

She said inspectors also discovered a 79-year-old patient who had been restrained and denied food and drink for 17 hours. She could not say whether there had been proper authorization to restrain that patient.

Inspectors also noted several physicians who were working without being assigned their specific clinical privileges, she said.

Hospital officials were expected to file an appeal of the findings, she said.

Beryl Weiner, an attorney for Tri-City, said the problems cited by inspectors have been corrected.

The inspection was required as part of Tri-City’s petition to operate the 137-patient facility. Tri-City bought the 27-year-old building from Charter Community Hospital earlier this year.