Published in the Oct. 15-28, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Marty Cheek
It had been a hard flight from London to San Jose and it was late when I entered with a turmoil of emotions my mom’s house in Hollister. That journey back home in 1993 had started with an overseas phone call. A doctor told me my mother had suffered a brain aneurism and was dying.
Soon after my arrival, I phoned Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, telling the woman who answered that Gisela Cheek was a patient and I wanted to know my mom’s condition. The woman informed me that no one with that name was listed as a patient. I asked her to re-check the records. Again, she told me no one named Gisela Cheek was at the hospital. I asked if she knew what might have happened to her. The woman plainly told me no.
The shock hit me. How could they have lost my mom? Had she already died? Considering the quality of care Hazel Hawkins was infamous for at that time, I should not have been surprised. My mom had been a patient there two years earlier. After midnight, boyfriends of the night nurses had come to visit. They played music and talked loudly, disturbing the patients. When mom got out of bed and went to complain, the nurses told her to stop bothering them.
An hour after my arrival home, the phone rang. I learned mom had been transferred to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, located at that time in Morgan Hill. For the next two weeks until she died, I went daily to Saint Louise. It was painful seeing her in a coma. But I was truly impressed by the compassion and high quality of care she received from the Daughters of Charity, which ran the hospital.
Last Friday, Daughters of Charity Health System announced it had approved Prime Healthcare Services to purchase its six California hospitals, including O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and Saint Louise in Gilroy. The Daughters had been losing $10 million a month and couldn’t afford to continue operating the facilities. In February, their hospitals were put up for sale as a package deal.
The Catholic-run hospitals need an OK from the Vatican for the deal to proceed. California Attorney General Kamala Harris also needs to sign off. If it gets approval, Prime will keep all six hospitals open for at least five years. The Ontario-based company promises to pay $300 million in cash over taxes and bonds. And it pledges $150 million in capital improvements and equipment upgrades and $300 million in pension obligations.
The deal might unravel though. Santa Clara County Executive Jeff Smith told the San Jose Mercury News he was “gravely concerned” with Prime taking over. “Historically, Prime has overcharged for health care services and has minimized its care to Medi-Cal and uninsured patients,” he said. “If they take this approach in Santa Clara County, the health of the community will be put at risk.”
Prime has a history of being aggressive as a profit-driven business that in the past has overcharged for services. The federal government is now investigating Prime over allegations that it overbills Medicare by improperly diagnosing patients. Allegations include its hospitals having unusually high levels of blood infection and malnutrition rates. Critics also charge that Prime slashes its employee pay and benefits and cuts staff, leading the Service Employees International Union and SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West to start a publicity campaign to oppose the Daughters of Charity deal.
In 2011, Attorney General Harris denied approval of a sale of the Victor Valley Community Hospital to Prime, reasoning it was not in the public interest. We’ll soon see how she decides on the controversial Daughters of Charity deal with Prime. Ultimately, it’s a matter of life and death for the people of the South Valley to continue having access to quality medical care.
