Victor Valley Community Hospital


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Abuse in Victor Valley Community Hospital, 
Victorville, California
Victorville, California

Date: 12/04

Small Victory and Corrective Action

After being abused at Victor Valley Community Hospital, I requested swift corrective action and a letter of apology from them, and the letter must take responsibility for each abuse.  What I received looked more like a form letter. I requested another letter that would more acutely address the problems.  Instead, I received one of those letters, "We apologize for any negative experience that you may have have had..."  Lame. This letter took zip responsibility and instead redirected the responsibility how I perceived the treatment.  The letter also indicated they were waiting for 'outcomes' and that information would be confidential.  This wasn't working at all.  I went forward with Patients' Rights for an interview and that interview was converted into transcripts, and finally sent the transcripts to Licensing and Certification.  Nearly a year went by.  I still haven't received an apology letter that took responsibility and corrective action in writing.  In the meantime L&C cited Victor Valley Community Hospital.  Left without options, I sent a demand letter for $5000.00 to Victor Valley Community Hospital, and if necessary, this would be settled in Small Claims Court. 

I acted on the validated findings from L&C.  Once I sent the 10-Day demand letter, I received a call from their insurance agent.  She wanted more time to investigate the matter for herself.  However, there was no more time since the one year Statue of Limitations was about up.  Rather, I referred her to this website, and if it was important enough to her, she could read all the material and get a handle on the situation that night.  I indicated that if they would save me the trouble of going to court, I would accept $4,000.  She called back and accepted the agreement to settle.  Days later I received a fax that had a confidentially clause within the agreement.  Not acceptable.  I would be barred from speaking of this settlement and other restrictions.  The heck with that, this was part of the healing process.  This was now on a Friday afternoon.  I called her and indicated that if the confidentially clause was not omitted, I would file in Small Claims Monday morning.   She indicated that she needed more time because in one (1) hour, we would be going into the weekend, and making these sort of decisions takes time.  I reminded her that I can't be responsible for their screw-ups.  I had never agreed to a confidentially clause, and since it was 'slipped' in the agreement, it would create an emergency on their part, not mine.  I indicated if this was important enough for the hospital administrator not to have to go to court, there should be a way for you to page him.  The call ended.  She called back in 25 minutes and indicated they agreed to remove the confidentially clause.  Still, on the agreement there was only one (1) place for a signature, mine.   I surmised in the event the check was canceled, they would have a signed agreement from me, and I would have nothing with their signature. I requested a signed copy from Victory Valley Community Hospital on the agreement and this would offer some sort of protection.  We concluded our business and I received a check for $4,000. 

Even though I didn't get a corrective action letter from the hospital, I did get a copy of Licensing and Certification demand for corrective action and Victor Valley's response to that demand.  Below you will find all the documentation from beginning to end. 

Last, my motive was never for the money, only a responsible apology and corrective action.  Since that didn't happen after nearly a year, I took other actions that would serve as a RED ALERT reminders so this would not be so easily forgotten.  Between doling out $4,000 and being cited from L&C, it would hopefully get some attention.  And, it did.  Because Licensing and Certification cited them, they had to establish additional criteria to monitor their quality of 'care.'  All that below with original documents from L&C. 

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