Ingleside Hospital
Letter to Dr. Phil
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Ed Haney and I am a Registered Nurse. In April 2005, I was hired as a RN at City of Angels Hospital (Ingleside Campus) in Rosemead, CA. I was actually hired on the day I had my job interview. I was told that the facility had just got out of bankruptcy and the acting Chief Nurse that interviewed me had to seek approval for the 30.00 dollars an hour she wanted to offer me. She left the office briefly and returned with an approval for my wage rate. After receiving my physical and clearances, I started working approximately 2 weeks later. I was set to do a 3 day orientation to the hospital. That is routine for most facilities.
On my first day of orientation, I was assigned to take care of a young man in his early 20’s. I was working the 7am-330pm shift. This patient came in during the night, so he was sleeping all morning. We are required to chart on all patients each shift. That afternoon I decided I better wake him up so I had something to document on him. I reviewed his chart before I went to his room. I looked over his 5150 (Legal 72 Hour Involuntary Hold Form). His 5150 was written by Police. Policemen are known to write poor 5150s. This was definitely the case with the particular patient’s form. The criteria to hold someone in the hospital involuntarily is: danger to self, danger to others, inability to provide a plan for food, shelter, or clothing due to a mental disorder. This patient’s form mentioned only that he got into an argument with his father at home. He did not make any threats or strike his father in any way. I figured if we locked up everyone in a Psych facility for getting into arguments at home, I would be a patient myself. I am certified by Los Angeles County to write 5150s, so I can recognize a poorly written hold when I see one, but I woke up the patient to assess him and see if he really should be hospitalized. His story totally lined up with what the Police wrote on his form. He said he got into an argument with his father. He denied and suicidal and homicidal thoughts and he requested to be discharged. I informed him that I would help him.
I immediately approached the charge nurse of the unit and reported my findings. She told me not to worry about it and the Psychiatrist would dress it up to make it look like he needed to be there. That really shocked me. I feel kind of ashamed now that I didn’t say anything or at least report this to the proper authorities. It was my first day of work there and I really needed the money. I had been out of work for a few months. The patient approached me later and I told him that I was getting ready to go home for the day. His Psychiatrist had not come in yet, so I just told him to mention everything I discussed with him. I assumed that he would be discharged.
I reported to work the following day at 7am. I was immediately approached by a nurse that worked in the Utilization Review Department for the hospital. She wanted to review my documentation on the patient from the day prior. She informed me that it was inappropriate because it was not negative. I told her that I had watched him all day and there was nothing negative to chart. She said I needed to make something up then. I was very surprised to hear her say that. She was actually really nice to me though. She was just letting me know how things ran around at the facility. She told me she knew it was political, but nurses’ documentation reflected on the amount of hours you got to work because the hospital administration liked the nurses that charted well and helped them get paid by insurance companies. This made sense to me because the just got out of bankruptcy. I just thought to myself that their practice was totally unethical. I just went through that second day there wondering if I needed to work at a place like that. I called family and friends after work for advice. I was told basically to suck it up and maybe it won’t have any more issues like that. I failed to mention that the young man was not discharged on the previous day.
On my third day of orientation, fuel was added to my fire. A male nurse told when it comes to documenting on the patients, we could just write what the nurses wrote on the previous day. This facility was extremely hectic and understaffed. I can see why the nurse told me that because there is no way the could properly assess and document appropriately on a unit that busy. I watched the nurses there for 3 days and I never saw them leave the nursing station to do face to face evaluations and chart on the patients, yet the patients were all documented on. Everything made sense to me. Being understaffed is no excuse for their unethical method of documenting and I could not stomach it there anymore. I lasted there for 3 days and I quit. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror and be involved with their mess. As for the young man I mentioned, he was there for all 3 days I worked there.
I went online and reported the facility to the Sheriffs’ Department for MEDI-CAL/MEDI-CARE fraud since a majority of the patients were covered by those insurances. I eventually received a phone call and I was told it would be looked into. I never heard from anyone again on that matter.
Sometime in August, I went online and reported my complaints to the California Department of Mental Health. I requested that my information be mentioned at an upcoming public hearing for proposed regulations in September. I received an email on October 3rd from them. I was informed that my information was reviewed and it was determined that it needed to be forwarded to the Los Angeles County Patients’ Rights Office for investigation. I received a phone call from LA County on October 26th. It was a very brief call. The woman that called me said the facility had a history of many complaints, but the were very savvy, so they were hard to catch. She said she was going to mention this to advocates that routinely go to the facility for hearings, but that was it. I got off the phone with the understanding that nothing was really going to be done.
I then did a Google search and found a woman by the name of Kathi Stringer in the Los Angeles area. She is a mental health advocate and she has her own website: http://www.toddlertime.com/index.html . I mentioned my complaints to her and we contacted each other back and forth via email. I never mentioned the name of the facility to Kathi. She informed me that she wanted to go forward with my complaints and I gave her my permission to do so. Kathi informed me that she was emailed by Carole Matthews, Director of Los Angeles County Patients’ Rights Office. I was forwarded a copy of the email. In the email, Ms. Matthews states that she never heard of any recent complaints like that and asked Kathi if she could get the name of the facility from me so she could look into it. This caught me off guard and I became suspicious because when I was emailed by the California Department of Mental Health on October 3rd, I was informed that my information was forwarded to Carole Matthews and Marvin Southard in Los Angeles County. According to Ms. Matthews, she doesn’t know anything about my complaints. I believe my concerns maybe out of the hands of the agencies mentioned and someone on the outside needs to get involved. That is why I am seeking help from you.
Keep in mind that I did not mention the name of the facility to Ms. Stringer yet. I was just browsing her website and I ran into some complaints posted by her when she was a patient at Ingleside Campus in Winter of 2004. She has 24 pages of complaints listed and nothing was ever done to assist her. These complaints are very serious in nature and it is evident that Ms. Stringer is a woman that knows her rights and was was treated extremely unfairly. I don’t believe it is a coincidence that Ms. Stringer and myself had dealings with the same facility.
Please look into the matter for me and see if there is anything you can do to help all the unfortunate souls that travel through Ingleside Campus for care. I sense that residents of California are giving up big time tax dollars to this facility and patients the the facility are being treated as animals and not human beings with rights. Thank you for your time and God bless you!
[Address withheld]
Email malenurse91016@yahoo.com