Hospital Ordered to Repay Mothers in Epidural Cases

State health officials have ordered Northridge Hospital Medical Center to pay refunds to hundreds of poor mothers who were wrongly charged cash for delivery-room epidural anesthesia during the last five years.

Between 200 and 300 mothers will receive payments of $400 each--the amount of money they were required to pay to receive a form of anesthesia known as epidural block, said hospital spokesman John Lockhart. It was the hospital’s first acknowledgment that the practice was widespread since The Times disclosed it last month.

The demand for the reimbursements by the Department of Health Services, sent in a June 9 letter to the hospital, comes as the agency is investigating the hospital’s past practice of denying the painkiller to mothers on Medi-Cal. Federal regulators and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office also are reviewing the case.

The hospital also must provide evidence of when the practice began and ended, and send letters to all Medi-Cal beneficiaries who underwent labor at the facility to determine if they were required to pay for epidural blocks.

Hospital President Roger Seaver, in a written statement, said the hospital will make sure the payments are made, and promised to take “all other necessary actions” to ensure that the state does not ban the hospital from caring for Medi-Cal patients.

After paying the women, the hospital will attempt to recover the money--a total of up to $120,000--from the individual hospital anesthesiologists who collected the fees, said Lockhart.

“The hospital will guarantee the payments will be made,” Lockhart said. “That’s not a small amount of money, especially for a nonprofit hospital. But they are dedicated to making this right.”

Last week, Seaver apologized to Ozzie Chavez, a Canoga Park mother of five who was denied an epidural last summer when she could not produce $400 in cash. Her case led to the state investigation, and Chavez’s treatment has been roundly criticized by leading anesthesiologists and obstetricians.

A Simi Valley woman filed a suit against the hospital July 2, making similar allegations to those of Chavez. Julie Tichenor is seeking $5 million for the “severe emotional distress” she suffered when she was denied an epidural while giving birth at the hospital last year.

In 1997, the hospital delivered 2,580 babies; the costs for 985 of them were covered by Medi-Cal. More than 80% of the hospital’s obstetrical patients depend of Medi-Cal for health-care services, according to hospital figures.

As a result of the state investigation, the health agency cited the hospital for poor performance in six areas, from patients’ rights violations to failing to administer treatment as ordered.

If Northridge fails to comply with the state directive, the hospital will be sent a 30-day notice of termination of its Medi-Cal contract, said Ken August, a spokesman for the state health agency. Medi-Cal provides health care coverage for 5 million low-income and needy Californians. The facility has been accepting Medi-Cal beneficiaries since 1993.