"When you hear about homeless people coming in and the allegations that they are being exploited for financial gain, it's very distressing," Satkin said last week. That's what the county and state inspectors "were concerned about: the exploitation of homeless and possibly mentally ill folks."
Several of the patients whose cases are cited in the county's 2004 report were homeless, and several were seen by Dr. Frederick Rundall, one of the individuals named in the city's fraudulent business practice suit.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday, August 22, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 43 words Type of Material: Correction
City of Angels: An article in Saturday's California section about City of Angels Medical Center identified John V. Fenton, the hospital's former chief executive, as James V. Fenton. The article also said that Fenton left the hospital last year. He left in 2005.
Rundall, the county report states, relied heavily on physician assistants to see his patients, sometimes not seeing them himself "at all during an admission."
Rundall referred a call for comment to his lawyer. "Dr. Rundall runs a completely clean shop," said the attorney, Donald Etra. "He provides valuable medical care to an often untreated universe of patients."
A 10-page report filed by the state from that same visit found that patients were being admitted who apparently didn't need hospitalization.
"It was revealed that patients were being discharged the following day after review . . . because of inadequate criteria for admission to the hospital," the report states.
City of Angels' plan of correction, written by hospital executives and signed by then-chief executive James V. Fenton, promised that the hospital would ensure that each patient admitted to the facility had "a complete history and physical examination within the designated time frame (24 hours) by the attending physician and/or his/her designee."
The hospital's correction plan disputed some of the state's conclusions, stating that less than 10% of patients admitted to the hospital's medical-surgical unit directly without pre-screening failed to meet adequate medical criteria for admission.
But Fenton promised in the correction plan that patients found to have medical and psychiatric issues -- known as dual diagnoses -- would not be accepted for admission directly to the treatment ward but would first be evaluated in the hospital's urgent care center.
Last year, Fenton left City of Angels and joined the management staff of Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center.
He and that hospital are named in the city attorney's lawsuit.
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cara.dimassa@latimes.com
