Abuse in Victor Valley Community Hospital Victorville, California
January 2, 2004
Logged note: I discovered though the Department of Patient's Rights (DPR) that Victor Valley Hospital's 5150 designation was rescinded recently. My contact, Pete was not sure exactly why. When I asked Marilyn, the Risk Management Department Head for Victor Valley Hospital, she said it was because they only want to help the voluntary patients, and that they voluntarily rescinded their 5150 designation. This could be true, except based on all that has happened so far, it is entirely possible, that for legal reasons, or problems with an oversight agency, Victor Valley Hospital was leveraged into dropping the 5150 status.
January 2, 2004, Morning
Today I returned Mary Ann's call, the manager for the Behavioral Health Department at Victor Valley Hospital. She said that she has pulled my medical file and will investigate the matter. She said that her current position with the department is new, and that the last manager in no longer there. I asked about the 'lost grievances' and she said that she had found them. It upset me that the grievances were never filed with DPR. Mary Ann asked me to try and not be defensive until she finished her investigation. She said that she will call me later.
January 2, 2004, Late Afternoon 5:15 PM
Later today, I received the letter from Victor Valley Hospital signed by Marilyn Drone, RN, MSN, Quality Improvement / Risk Manager. It was a 'form letter' in response to my 9-page faxed letter to them. I was upset after reading their response, and especially this line, "The outcome and actions of any investigation are confidential, but may include educational opportunities for staff, and/or disciplinary action if indicated." This line escapes all accountability to the consumer for closure. Basically, I would have no way of knowing if they just tossed the whole case into the trash with a response like, 'it got lost,' as did the recently 'found' grievances.
January 2, 2004, Late Afternoon 5:30 PM
After reading this letter, I called Marilyn at about 5:30 PM today. I told her that I was very disappointed in what appeared to be her 'form letter.' Mainly, that she was going to keep the results of this investigation a 'secret' and admit nothing. She indicated that she didn't mean that. I read to her this sentence in the letter, "The outcome and actions of any investigation are confidential, but may include educational opportunities for staff, and/or disciplinary action if indicated." She said, that wasn't what she meant. She said that after the investigation she will let me know if any action was taken, but not the exact action, if against an individual. I said that was not how the letter read, and that I would like a new letter stating that. She indicated that she may write me another letter on Monday. I said that Mary Ann just found the lost grievances. Marilyn said "that was a good thing." I indicated that I was concerned that the Quality Improvement Department was a major part of this investigation, because, if Quality Improvement had been doing their job all along, those grievances may not have been lost. (It seemed to me like this could be a conflict of interest.) Marilyn's tone changed and she indicated that it was to early to implicate other departments. I suddenly realized that she was the department head for the Quality Improvement Department. At this point, Marilyn was pushing to end the conversation. Her sentences became shorter. The call ended. I thought about something. This seemed like it could be another a conflict. I made one more call
January 2, 2004, Late Afternoon 5:45 PM
I called back and asked for the hospital administrator. I wanted to speak to someone that the Quality Department was accountable to. The operator checked and said that until Monday, Marilyn Drone (the quality person) was the acting administrator on-call. This information disturbed me. The same person that is accountable to the administer at this time, is also the same person that is the department head of quality. As I reflect, and based on the following sentence, "The outcome and actions of any investigation are confidential, but may include educational opportunities for staff, and/or disciplinary action if indicated," how would I know if this case were to 'disappear' like the original grievances did? What assurances did I have based on this form letter from Marilyn? At this point in time, I have none. So far, Victor Valley Hospital has admitted nothing and their letter said they pretty much don't have to. I wanted to resolve this at this level and find some closure. I guess that is not possible based on what I have in writing thus far. The next step is to fax my letter to Licensing and Certification for a parallel investigation. However, I will wait a few days and give Marilyn a chance to act on her own in an honorable way.