Patients Rights

New Jersey's state attorney general on Thursday said she had subpoenaed records from Amgen Inc. after accusations by two former employees that the biotech giant engaged in possibly improper marketing practices to boost sales of a top-selling psoriasis drug. Early this week, Amgen was ordered to deliver "a comprehensive array" of documents and information concerning the marketing of Enbrel by Feb. 4, Atty. Gen. Anne Milgram said.

Lawmakers and regulators took aim at California health insurers Tuesday in efforts aimed at making sure they cover members' medical needs and pay physicians and hospitals what they owe them -- and on time. A day after the state Senate killed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to expand healthcare coverage, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner vowed to make sure that current insurance laws were strictly enforced and ordered new audits of the state's largest health insurers.

Spurred by complaints that Blue Cross of California and other health insurers cancel patients' policies after they get sick, a Southland lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require state regulators to sign off before carriers drop policyholders for allegedly failing to disclose preexisting medical conditions.

When Congress passed a federal medical privacy law more than a decade ago, it was hailed as a new level of protection for patients nationwide. But even though the government has received about 34,000 complaints of privacy violations since it officially began enforcing the law five years ago, only a handful of defendants have been criminally prosecuted.

The Bush administration announced its "conscience protection" rule for the healthcare industry Thursday, giving doctors, hospitals, and even receptionists and volunteers in medical experiments the right to refuse to participate in medical care they find morally objectionable. "This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience," said outgoing Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.

Patients who consult with doctors about controversial medical procedures might not be getting the whole story, according to a study that suggests some physicians won't even discuss options they deem to be morally wrong. The study, by ethics researchers at the University of Chicago, found that 29% of physicians surveyed would have problems referring a patient to another doctor for procedures that are legal but controversial, including abortion.

A paraplegic man wearing a soiled hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was found crawling in a gutter in skid row in Los Angeles on Thursday after allegedly being dumped in the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van, police said. The incident, witnessed by more than two dozen people, was described by police as a particularly outrageous case of "homeless dumping" that has plagued the downtown area. "I can't think of anything colder than that," said LAPD Det.

The Los Angeles city attorney Wednesday lambasted Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, saying it was deliberately blocking the release of medical records from a paraplegic man who was allegedly "dumped" last week in a skid row gutter. City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said in a statement that a prosecutor had met with the victim, obtained his written consent for the release of records and forwarded the document to the hospital.

A hospital under investigation for leaving a paraplegic man on skid row last week has released his medical records, the city attorney said Thursday. "These records will serve as an essential tool in our efforts to investigate this recent and shocking instance of homeless dumping," City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said. The handover came a day after Delgadillo accused Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center of "stonewalling" the probe.

Los Angeles police and prosecutors are investigating whether a 70-year-old man taken by taxi to a skid row mission Wednesday after being released from a Downey hospital is the latest example in a wave of patient-dumping incidents. Downey Regional Medical Center officials, however, say that the patient, Moses Davis, was not dumped but properly discharged and transported after a member of its staff called the Los Angeles Mission. The new investigation comes amid efforts by Los Angeles City Atty.