University Of California At Irvine Medical Center

Federal regulators investigating serious failings in UC Irvine Medical Center's anesthesiology department threatened to cut off Medicare funding after identifying dozens of new problems within the hospital. In a 127-page report, regulators described repeated examples of poor oversight and inadequate systems to protect patients. In one case, a psychiatric patient urinated on a pile of bed linens because the audio equipment used to monitor seclusion rooms was not working, according to the report.

UCI Medical Center has been placed under state supervision because of its anesthesiology department's "inability to provide quality healthcare in a safe environment," according to a federal report released Thursday. Among the most serious failings cited by federal inspectors was doctors' practice of filling out medical records in advance, suggesting specific outcomes before procedures were done. Officials with the U.S.

The California Medical Board has accused the former head of UCI Medical Center's anesthesiology department of gross negligence and incompetence after he allegedly falsified records and assigned a resident to operating-room duties even though his left hand was in a cast. If the charges are upheld, Dr. Peter H. Breen, who still practices at the Orange-based hospital, could be suspended or have his license revoked.

The head of UC Irvine Medical Center plans to step down in March, she told staff members by e-mail Monday. Maureen Zehntner, 60, has been on the job less than eight months and had served as the troubled hospital's interim chief executive since 2005. She cited personal reasons for her resignation, effective March 6.

The radiation oncology department at UCI Medical Center has been put on probation for deficiencies in its residency training program, officials said Tuesday. The sanction was issued in January by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education based on a review conducted in May. Officials wouldn't disclose the reasons for the probation, but Dr. Jeffrey V.

A state appeals court has resurrected the malpractice lawsuit that helped shut down UCI Medical Center's troubled liver transplant program. A lower-court judge threw out the case two years ago on grounds that plaintiff Elodie Irvine had agreed to a $50,000 settlement from the hospital. Irvine, who had deadly kidney and liver disorders, spent four years on UCI's organ transplant waiting list before transferring to another hospital and getting the procedures done within two months.

UC Irvine Medical Center has disciplined 22 employees caught in the last month with falsified certificates showing they passed cardiopulmonary resuscitation training, officials acknowledged this week. The fake certificates came to light after an employee presented one during a required recertification class May 15, and a subsequent investigation discovered 21 others. The review was completed June 15.

UCI Medical Center has fired 13 nurses in the last three months and is investigating a union activist who sought information about one of the dismissals, according to the nurses' union. Eight of the nurses have more than 20 years of experience each, and four of those have spent their two decades at UCI, union officials said. Hospital officials would not comment on why the nurses were let go.

The UCI Medical Center liver patient whose case led to the closing of the hospital's troubled transplant program filed a malpractice lawsuit against her former lawyer Thursday, alleging that he had bullied her to accept a $50,000 settlement before the full extent of the problems were known. Elodie Irvine said in the suit that Lawrence Eisenberg failed to put enough effort into her case, then pressured her to accept a settlement using verbal assaults and intimidation.

UCI Medical Center's bone marrow transplant program failed to perform enough transplants in all but one of the last 11 years to meet state standards and withdrew from a state program for the poor after repeated criticism, records show. California health regulators told UCI in 2002 that its program was "persistently inadequate" and rebuffed the hospital's plan to correct deficiencies.