Tri-City Medical Center filed a lawsuit today in San Diego County Superior Court against Scripps Health, Inc. and Sharp Mission Park Medical Group, alleging that Scripps puts its own profits ahead of the health and safety of San Diego residents. San Diego residents within the tri-city medical district are being denied the benefit of their tax dollars by being compelled to seek medical care from Scripps and away from Tri-City Medical Center. This practice causes delay and expense to the patients and threatens the quality of their care. Larry Anderson, acting CEO of Tri-City Medical Center stated: "The lawsuit is not about money, it is about the denial of quality medical care."

According to the lawsuit, "Scripps requires patients under the care of Sharp physicians to travel from the Vista area to Scripps Encinitas for emergency medical treatment. However, this shuttling of patients has proved detrimental to the patients' health. In one devastating example, a Scripps patient who resided near Tri-City sought medical treatment at the Tri-City Emergency Room, but was required by Scripps health insurance personnel to leave Tri-City and travel to the Scripps Encinitas Emergency Room for treatment. During this unnecessary transport, the patient entered a code blue status and died shortly after arrival at Scripps Encinitas."

In other examples of egregious conduct by Scripps, "patients have traveled from Tri-City to the Emergency Room at Scripps Encinitas only to be turned away because Scripps was overcrowded, and then sent back to Tri-City for medical care. The ill-conceived, last-minute transportation of patients to distant Scripps' facilities recklessly and dangerously puts the health and safety of San Diego residents at risk. Scripps' requirement that its physicians refer and admit patients only to other Scripps medical facilities causes these physicians to violate their Hippocratic Oath."



Tri-City filed the action today in an effort to preserve the integrity of the healthcare system in San Diego and specifically to ensure that North County residents are able to freely receive medical care and treatment from facilities close to their homes, instead of being shuttled to distant locations so that Scripps, a private hospital, can realize larger profits.

Tri-City is represented by Orange County attorneys J. Craig Williams of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold and Daniel J. Callahan of Callahan & Blaine. "This is the most egregious example of putting corporate profiteering over quality medical care that I have ever seen," said Callahan. Callahan is best known for a $934 Million dollar verdict, which he won on behalf of medical equipment company Beckman Coulter, when a component part manufacture placed its profits ahead of the health and safety of the American public.

A PRESS CONFERENCE REGARDING THESE PUBLIC HEALTH ISSUES AND THE NEW LAWSUIT WILL BE HELD WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2009, AT 11:00 AM, AT TRI-CITY MEDICAL DISTRICT, TO BE DIRECTED FROM THE FRONT ENTRANCE. CONTACT: Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & ArnoldJ. Craig Williams, 949-567-7829Cell:949-422-7617 jcraig.williams@sdma.com orCallahan & BlaineDaniel J. Callahan, 714-241-4444Cell:949-584-4434 daniel@callahan-law.com http://www.businesswire.com