Southwest Healthcare System May Shut Down

Wow, the Press Enterprise is reporting that the State of California is going to shut down Inland Valley Medical Center and Rancho Springs Me...

Wow, the Press Enterprise is reporting that the State of California is going to shut down Inland Valley Medical Center and Rancho Springs Medical Center...

The state said problems at Southwest hospitals have included a failure to follow proper infection control practices, giving patients wrong doses of medication and failing to monitor newborns at risk for severe jaundice, among others.

http://blogs.pe.com/news/digest/2010/04/state-will-seek-to-revoke-sout.html

I'm sure this will go through appeals, and it's going to take a long time before these hospital actually close up. And by that time, I imagine Southwest Healthcare will have addressed the problems.

That new Loma Linda Medical Center in Murrieta couldn't have come at a better time.

And I also imagine this kind of negative publicity for Inland Valley and Rancho Springs might shift some burden over to Menifee Valley Medical Center. But then again, I tend to doubt it.

My wife recently had surgery, and we opted to do it at Loma Linda in Loma Linda. How many people here have faith in any of the hospitals in South West Riverside County?

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  1. These hospitals are wonderful! Try doing some research on the subject of the issues that state is saying these hospitals have had versus their reaction to public hospitals problems. It takes a person passing away in a county hospital for it to have issues with medicare/medicaid (the state does not even attempt to take its license away), but with state permission southwest removes the baby lojack and it is in violation. Please read about the issue before making comments about how badly needed the Loma Linda hospital is needed. What we need is a state that fairly checks each hospital whether it is state run or privately ran!

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  2. Steve,
    As usual, thank you for sharing! Unfortunately, I have been a patient at all three hospitals a number of times. From my experience, the Southwest system is overwhelmed, and the caretakers there are not quite as attentive and caring, nor as careful, as they should be. I don't know why this is, but the mistakes that I personally have encountered are unforgivible. Menifee is not much better. (Keep in mind, this is based on my personal experience!) I am holding my breath in anticipation of the opening of the Loma Linda facility. I have had wonderful experiences with Loma Linda!! I certainly hope that all 4 facilities stay open; but with great changes.

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  3. You know I have also been to all 3 hospitals in the area and have had NOTHING but wonderful care. Menifee's ICU was very professional. Inland I was there 6 days and it was very nice with great care, the nurses were wonderful, very caring and knowledgable. Rancho Springs I have taken my children there and have had great care. Very through, I think there is more to all of this then we all know. I do not believe everything I have read in the paper,I believe what I have have experienced. Papers want to sell a story. I dont believe all the true facts are on the table. Come on support your local hospitals, they really do have great care. I for one say THANK YOU SOUTHWEST HEALTH CARE for a job well done.

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  4. I have had nothing but positive experiences at the Menifee hospital. I've been in the ER, regularly admitted, and also the ICU. I have had only one experience in the ER at Inland Valley with my young daughter and was VERY happy with her treatment. I have nothing bad to say about these hospitals whatsoever, and I hope they stay open - - our community so desperately needs them.

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  5. I heard from my doctor that Loma Linda in Murrieta is in name only and that it will be run by a "physicans group" in our area and that it will be no different from any of the other area hospitals. I hope that's wrong!

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  6. I think a "Physician's Group" running the hospital means that a physicians who have privledges at Loma Linda and offices in our area will be the physicians that you will see at the local hospital. I hope that makes sense. It is still owned by the people that own Loma Linda and I can't imagine Loma Linda putting their name on a hospital that will be less than the best.

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  7. My dad had had multiple terrible experiences at Loma Linda - so it goes to say that nothing is fool proof. Mistakes happen. I hope though for the sake of all our health, that these hospitals stay open and get it together. We desperately need them!

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  8. I've only had good experiences at all three hospitals. I agree with Dave, the ICU facilities, the caring staff, we have a lot of choices here.

    My daughter had an issue with Rancho once, but I felt she was unreasonable in her expectations. These facilities have served my family from childbirth to life changing circumstances and I'm very grateful to have choices so close.

    I don't know if the state needs to stand down or not, but they don't get too many things right. Let's not assume they know what they are doing here. I certainly trust my doctor more than my legislator and a whole lot more than state minions.

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  9. Very well said Mieke

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  10. I have had 3 babies @ Inland and was very happy all three times. My mother, however, had a very bad accident and they could not even treat her there. They had to send her by ambulance to County because Loma Linda was full. In an emergency situation it was very scary!!!

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  11. My son had surgery at Rancho Springs and then was transported to Inland for recovery. Both facilities were more than accomodating to him and our family. My son also had stitches at Menifee Valley and I would rather drive him an hour away bleeding than go there EVER again!

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  12. I did some research and the state AND feds have found serious issues with patient care. And we're not talking about a broom in the meds closet--we're talking about unsafe practices in ORs, LVNs performing procedures they are not qualified to perform, mis-administration of medication. Not all government is bad, and why dispute an entity that is created to protect us. It's time to contact Southwest Healthcare and demand action; to contact your elected officials and move them to action. It will be disastrous to our area to lose these hospitals, and all the jobs and doctors who go with them. And do any of us really want to make the drive to Loma Linda or San Diego is an emergency situation?

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  13. I am a nurse in this healthcare system. I have seen the issues. They are unfortunitly the same ones at every hospital I have worked at, including loma Linda . I'm very sad and scared for all my comrades that may loose jobs including myself. I pray we can fix this....

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  14. Were do you think the staff from Southwest Healthcare will be working once they are (if they do become) shut down? Hmmm the new hospital down the Freeway maybe...bad habits don't go away, they linger...just saying

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  15. GOOD MORNING MENIFEEApril 23, 2010 12:31 PM

    It appears these facilities lack the appropriate staff and equipment to handle a serious injury or illness. Additionally, they continue to be sited for various serious situations.

    Personally, I would never have anything done beyond a simple test at one of these facilities. I would avoid even the simple test if it costs more money, or I have to travel further.

    I am not sure that Loma Linda will offer the community an upgrade in health care. Since it is half Dr owned. Same doctors different place. Why aren't these Doctors crying out with the citizens for better health care in the Valley. The Valley is large enough to warrant a hospital that has the equipment and staff to fix you with out transferring you.

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  16. There have been no serious issues found at the Hospital. You show me in the report where somebody's life was in jeopardy. It is funny becuase the nurse in charge was asked this and she said she does not know of any. This is the CNA(california nurses association) way of fighting back to ensure they can get their union members back into these hospitals. Hemet and Menifee are far...far worse hospitals that serve smaller communities and there has been nothing against them. Lets be honest and state what is really happening at Southwest.

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  17. I was taken to Inland Valley with a broken neck (paralyzed). I spent 4 hours in a hallway before they decided they didn't know what to do and sent me else where.

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  18. Well very interesting. Inland and Rancho are working on fixing issues with collaboration of the state. Wow, people should do a little research before speaking. The violations are minor compared to other hospitals who have removed wrong limbs or removed the good kidney not the bad one. Yes this has happened at other hosptials in the Riverside or San Bernardino counties. What know one realizes is that whether you live here or another state you can find bad things in any hospital systems.

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  19. I love the comment above exactly who do you think will be working there the nurses in this area, which may have worked at any of these hospital systems in this area.

    Politics, politics, politics who pays for it the community.

    And one more thing who ever thinks that medication errors or other errors don't occur in other hospitals, wrong! Its just SWHS on the chopping block right now.

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  20. I had a gallbladder attach last year and went to Menifee Valley. I did receive great treatment while I was there but the Dr. who treated me informed my husband that I needed surgery. The Dr. pulled him aside and told him to take me to Loma Linda and not to let any of the surgeons in this area touch me. What does that say about the hospitals in this area.

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  21. Both Rancho and Inland ER departments have been under construction for seems like years. The ERs in both are terrible. My husband went there for chest pains and they put him in a room with no nurse call button, the bed had former patient body fluids on it. He was told to yell if he had any more pain. After I got there and complained they fixed it after about an hour. I went to sit in a chair and found out the seat was not attached to the back and almost fell. The walls were filthy. We complained to the hospital admninstrator.

    Took my oldest daughter in the midst of an allergic reaction, hard time breathing, etc. to Rancho and there was such a tiny waiting room there was no room. We waited 15 minutes to sign in and then left and went to Inland where we waited even longer to see someone by this time she was placed on an IV and given meds to counteract the reaction, but only after she was gasping for breath.

    Took daughter number two for severe kidney pain and was placed on a gurney in the hallway, where we noticed after a bit that the top sheet had boogers/body fluid on it. Either someone had already used the sheet or? The nurse took it away immediately.

    Never go to the ER at either one unless you are brought in by ambulance you will sit in the waiting room with many kids with runny noses. Although, there was an elderly man in a great deal of pain in a wheelchair with an amputed leg that sat for hours along with us.

    On a positive note, I had two babies there as was treated very well. Meaning we both lived. The c-section was a nightmare of poor care. during the birth of my son the surgeon and the nurses were joking about their experiences with the smell of burning flesh and upcoming hawaiian vacations.

    So I am glad both hospitals have been put on notice to get with the program. It is about time!

    p.s. and if the CNA union will get us better care and more a professional level of nurse, wonderful!

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  22. VIOLATIONS ARE MINOR!!!!! My husband has suffered a blood infection and has had to replace his heart valve and is now paralized because the infection settled in his back! Improper handling causing blood infections to pass on is not minor!

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  23. My wife was infected with MRSA when she delivered my daughter at Rancho Springs. I wonder how many of the doctors at Southwest Healthcare will be moving over to the new Loma Linda hospital. If any do, they'll need to change their methods and attitudes because it would be a shame to bring such poor care practices to a nice new hospital.

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  24. Why do I feel that this is political??
    With Loma Linda coming in the near future, wouldn't it be in their interest not to have so much competition??
    It would be trajic to close Murrietta and Wildemar Hospitals. They are both in highly populated areas with no other hospital in a realitivly close range. Murrieta is a trauma hospital. There aren't many in this southwest area. It could mean life or death to be transported to a facility further away. It is crucial that these two hospitals stay open.

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  25. I think that more lives are lost at murrieta and inland valley. I wonder if they have ever saved a life.

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  26. I had a knee replacement at the Wildomar facility Sept 29th. For two and a half hours directly afterward, I was given NO pain medication because of two nurses' inability to communicate with each other. And that was the highlight of my five day stay there. It would have been four days, but some IDIOT mislabled one of the cultures taken when my incision was made. The result being they thought I had contracted some rare infection hardly ever seen in modern medicine! It took an infectious disease specialist to figure it out. At one point a nurse apologized to me for taking so long to get my pain meds to me but said the first one she picked up was long expired, and had to make two trips. By the third night, so many bizarre, unprofessional, and just plain head shaking things had happened, I actually began to question whether or not I might have possibly died on the operating table, and was in some kind of limbo waiting to be informed of my demise. I am absolutely serious about this, and I'm not a particularly religious person. It was the worst five days of my life. The level of care and professionalism was virtually non-existant on down to the utterly ridiculous, when one day the woman who came around with the menu requests for meals actually asked me if I wanted to make my own selections, or "did I want her to make them for me and be surprised!" There was little to no housekeeping, and my sheets were changed exactly once, the rest of the time they used a folded up square to put down across the middle of the bed for my bottom side. When I was leaving, I was to be picked up by an ambulance service who just showed up in my room, put me on the gurney and away I went. They had NO paperwork from the hospital, nor did I have anyone actually formally discharge me. My next appointment with my orthopedist is in a few weeks, and you can be assured I will question his integrity, his decision to perform surgery in a place like this. (It was just last night on the news that I was informed of the now SEVEN fines levied against this pathetic excuse for a hospital.) I wouldn't go back to this place for care of a nosebleed...

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  27. Maybe all of you negative, simple minded, chronic complainers out there should walk in the shoes of a nurse for one shift. Much of the problem with the errors in the health care industry, I believe, are a result of the HMO's who have changed the entire health care industry. Doctors and other health care professionals had become the victims of MICRO-MANAGEMENT. HMO's told the DR's what tests they could order and in what order, how many days a patient could stay in the hospital for each particular diagnosis, it went on and on. Eventually team nursing, RN & LVN, that once was a common practice to work effectively as a team was nothing but a memory. All in the name of the almighty dollar! HMO's figured a way to train a nursing assistant to do the work of an LVN, with half the pay. Hospital's, DR's, Nurses, and everyone else in the health industry, are not to blame, they are simply tring to do there best. The system is the problem. My father was very ill, we all thought he had cancer, years ago, before the HMO's and PPO's, the Dr. would order whatever he or she thought would diagnose the problem. Now they can only order things the way the system will allow. By the time they finally diagnosed him with the cancer, I couldn't help but wonder how many more of the killer cells had time to multiply and kill hem after nearly 6 months from his 1st visit. Think about the true core of the errors, or not getting something on time or not getting what you want ordered. I think the old way of nursing worked, you had the same nurse giving you your medication, doing your treatment and bathing you, changed your bed, charted and took you temp and blood pressure, she even brought you ice. Now they have someone different for each job. How many people do you need in and out of your room. Primary nursing care is a thing of the past, unless your in the ICU, and even that has changed. Any of you older health care professionals out there reading this and were around before the HMO's in the mid 80's must know what I'm talking about!

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