County Lifts Paramedic Ban at Hospital in Burbank

County health officials Friday said they were pleased with Burbank Community Hospital’s preliminary plan to correct health-care and staffing deficiencies.

At the same time, the officials lifted a three-week ban on paramedics taking patients to the hospital.

Robert Karp, program manager of the Los Angeles County Health Services Department’s health facilities division, said the hospital has moved substantially closer to correcting problems noted in an investigation, the results of which were released last month.

Karp and several other health department officials met with hospital administrators Friday for about two hours.

Tone Called ‘Positive’

“We have not reviewed the plan in detail, but the general tone of the meeting was positive with respect to certain items they have addressed and others they have resolved to take care of,” Karp said.

County investigators found 22 deficiencies at the hospital--in administration, the handling of staff, emergency treatment and quality of medical care.

The hospital’s efforts to correct the problems prompted the county to lift an order issued to paramedics Sept. 16 forbidding them to take patients to Burbank Community. The order was issued because of several problems in the hospital’s emergency room, authorities said.

“Based on today’s meeting and our inspection of the hospital early this week, we’re comfortable that the hospital has made important strides into correcting the situation there,” said Virginia Hastings, director of pre-hospital care and trauma services for the department.

The investigation had found the hospital negligent in assuring that “properly trained and qualified personnel were assigned to the emergency department.” Administrators had allowed some physicians to administer emergency care without authorization, the report said.

Hastings said the emergency department has established a quality-assurance program, that physicians practicing at the hospital are now properly authorized and that new physicians are being supervised by experienced doctors in the emergency room.

Karp and hospital officials refused to give many specifics about the hospital’s plan. But Karp said, “Things seem to be working out.”

Health officials said they will evaluate the hospital’s plan for a week before making a formal decision.

Jurral Rhee, the hospital’s director, said the hospital staff had been working hard to resolve problems. “Now the ball is in the county’s court,” he said. “We’re in a wait-and-see pattern.”

Hospital officials also said that the facility is updating files and paper work.

The investigation by the county determined that there had been little documentation that the hospital staff was acting responsibly in reviewing the quality of health care.

It also said that Rhee was not properly managing the facility.

The investigation was prompted in late August after a transient, treated at Burbank Community for lice, was found collapsed on the ground outside the facility a day after he was admitted. Physicians at the hospital refused to readmit him, saying he already had been properly cared for.

Police took the man to County-USC Medical Center, where he was admitted in serious condition. Doctors there said the man was suffering from dehydration, anemia, malnutrition and alcohol withdrawal.