Published in the February 13 – 26 2019 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Dear Gov. Gavin Newsom:
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra
The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law. That’s the question now under consideration as action taken by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra puts at tremendous risk the continued operation of St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, the De Paul Medical Center in Morgan Hill, and O’Connor Hospital in San Jose.
Many of the 110,000 residents living in the southern region of Santa Clara County fear the possible closure of these local medical centers because the Department of Justice is now appealing their sale by Santa Clara County from the current owner, the bankrupt Verity Health Systems of California.
Bankruptcy Court Judge Ernest Robles Jan. 30 rejected Becerra’s first attempt to block the sale. Becerra is now trying one more tactic to block the sale. He asked the U.S. District Court for an “emergency” stay before the sale is final March 1.
These facilities are in bankruptcy for the second time in four years. Residents of South Valley are heavily dependent on St. Louise and De Paul for essential healthcare services. Supervisor Mike Wasserman and other leaders have assured them that, if the purchase goes through, the county is committed to maintaining and growing the services at the three facilities. And unlike a for-profit entity, the county is committed to serving people in need without consideration of their ability to pay.
After Verity filed for bankruptcy in August, there were no bidders for the facilities except the county. Given that no other bidders have emerged, if the proposed sale is successfully blocked by the Department of Justice, these medical care centers will shut their doors forever.
Should that happen, about 1,500 employees will lose their jobs. And residents of Morgan Hill, Gilroy, and San Martin will be forced to travel many miles to San Jose to receive aid — even emergency medical services. The extended distance to drive might mean the deaths of many South Valley residents if precious seconds are crucial to the survival of a victim of an accident or other medical emergency.
The closure of St. Louise and De Paul will especially be a hardship on people of limited financial means. Many will have to take much of their day off from work to travel by VTA bus to facilities in San Jose and elsewhere in the Silicon Valley. And the burden of an increased health care load on the doctors and staff of these northern facilities will reduce the quality of service they can provide all patients.
If a catastrophe such as a major earthquake or gas-line explosion strikes the region, the lack of these facilities to aid victims will mean a potential greater loss of life if they cannot receive the immediate medical care they need to survive.
The closure of St. Louise and De Paul will harm all South Valley residents but especially the Latino community. That group sees a higher rate of health problems and has a higher mortality rate from diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes than the overall population in Santa Clara County, according to county health experts.
At a Jan. 24 press conference, Santa Clara County CEO Jeff Smith stood in front of a group of hospital workers, elected officials and residents holding signs with the hashtag, #SaveSCChospitalsAG. Smith told them Becerra cares more about maintaining “power and control” over regulations than making sure South Valley has a public hospital.
“Attorney General Becerra has rejected all of our good-faith efforts to resolve his objections to the county purchasing the hospitals,” Smith, a medical doctor and lawyer, told members of the media at the press conference. “It is clear the Department of Justice is more concerned about protecting its power than protecting the health of Santa Clara County residents.”
We hope Becerra’s ongoing attempt to block the sale is not merely a dance of political posturing for power. If it is, it’s a political miscalculation. If he shuts down three excellent medical facilities and costs 1,500 healthcare workers their jobs, voters will remember.
Even the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the union representing many of the hospital workers including nurses, released a statement in support of the sale of St. Louise and O’Connor because they believe “the county has made strong commitments to maintain services and protect workers, and we are hopeful that the attorney general’s appeal will not delay the transaction.”
The DOJ sent us a statement beginning: “The Attorney General is entrusted with the responsibility under the state constitution and statute to protect the health and safety of patients and the community served by hospitals.” If he truly seeks to uphold this responsibility, Becerra needs to place the spirit of the law (the intent to protect lives) above the letter of the law (the requirements of a legal document approved by now-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris when she was California’s attorney general).
For whatever reason Becerra threw a monkey-wrench into the machinery of the hospitals purchase, his appeal of the sale is truly “horrific,” as Wasserman told residents at a St. Louise rally Jan. 29. It defies basic common sense for Becerra to put South Valley residents’ lives in jeopardy just to uphold a legal point or prove his political power.
Gov. Newsom, we ask you to step in and help stop the appeal risking the county’s purchase of St. Louise and De Paul. The attorney general is needlessly endangering the health and safety of South Valley residents. If you need to better understand the situation, we invite you to visit the South Valley. The people here will be glad to explain to you the crisis Attorney General Becerra has caused.
