Board Creates Post to Help Cut County’s Lawsuit Costs

Maricela Panuco could only eat with the aid of a tube inserted into her small intestine after severe seizures. But when the 28-year-old woman accidentally knocked it out, medical staff members at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, county documents say, failed to take an X-ray to ensure that they reinserted it properly.

Fluid from the tube leaked into Panuco’s abdomen during the fall of 1995 and she eventually died of an internal irritation of the abdomen, according to county files.

Doctors at the hospital changed procedures to X-ray any patients who need feeding tubes reinserted, but officials say that until last week no other county hospitals had taken such precautionary steps.

As the Board of Supervisors approved more than $1 million in payments for people who sued the county--including $300,000 for Panuco’s family--they also took steps that they said would cut down on lawsuits for everything from medical malpractice to brutality by the Sheriff’s Department.

The board on Tuesday created a position of inspector general for risk management, which will evaluate whether departments are following procedures to cut down on lawsuits, which last year cost taxpayers $50 million--more than the county spends on parks.

On Supervisor Gloria Molina’s motion the supervisors also approved a new bureaucratic process designed to correct systemic problems before they rise to the level of litigation.

The actions follow years of publicity about mishaps in the county’s sprawling medical system and staggering judgments against the Sheriff’s Department, including a $23-million verdict for brutality in Cerritos. Supervisors said they hope the actions will not only save taxpayers money, but also prevent the recurrence of incidents such as Panuco’s death.

“Instead of being reactive,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who had proposed the inspector general post when he became chairman last month, “why don’t [we] be a little proactive. . . . You have to have someone autonomous, to have oversight.”

Molina hailed the package as an increased focus on cutting down lawsuits--and the problems that spawn them. “You’re talking about real accountability,” she said.

Dr. Donald Thomas of the county’s health department acknowledged that an investigation of the Panuco case did not begin until the family filed its lawsuit in June 1998. “Our system, up until just recently, has been a reactive system and only recognizes problems when there was a legal problem.”

However, Thomas said it was irrelevant that other hospitals had not changed their procedures after the Panuco case, saying altering policy was not the way to address that problem.