Transfers from Laguna Honda paused — but not before at least 5 patient deaths

Pleas from families and advocates to halt patient transfers out of Laguna Honda Hospital have been heard.

On Thursday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health tweeted that transfers would be put on hold, but for how long is yet to be determined. 

For the past month, advocates and families for the patients have urged the federal government and city officials to halt the transfers. To date, 57 patients have been transferred from the embattled hospital. At least five patients have been confirmed to have died shortly after being moved from the hospital; “transfer trauma” is a suspected culprit. 

Multiple sources have told Mission Local that the call to cease the transfers came from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the California Department of Public Health. 

“This is a relief, and part of the solution,” Teresa Palmer, a geriatrician and former Laguna Honda physician, wrote in an email to Mission Local.

The hospital’s federal funding was slated for revocation by the federal government, citing various mishaps and health violations; these included failure to wear gloves, and improper hand washing. Also cited were longstanding problems with security and drug use in the hospital. 

In a four-month closure plan hammered out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and Laguna Honda, more than 600 patients were to be moved out of the hospital, either to homes, homeless shelters or other skilled nursing facilities. Some are reported to be worse environments for patients than Laguna Honda.

In a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, two resolutions introduced by Supervisor Myrna Melgar were approved addressing the transfers at Laguna Honda. One was to urge Secretary Xavier Becerra to impede and halt the transfer process of patients immediately. The other was for Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency at the hospital.

“It is a human rights atrocity,” said Melgar in the Tuesday meeting. “Is this a way we treat people with dignity in San Francisco and California?”

Every supervisor supported the resolutions.

“This is a crisis of the highest order,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen.“This is outrageous.”

While the transfers have been paused, the hospital must still work on being recertified, which interim CEO Roland Pickens said would be possible during a hearing updating the process of the closure plan last week.

Additionally, if Laguna Honda follows through on its four-month closure plan, federal funding may be extended for an additional two months, pushing the hospital’s closure date from September to November. By that time, hopefully, the hospital will be able to recertify, thereby doing away with the need to transfer out its patients. 

“If the closure plan is not followed as directed, there is a chance that reimbursement will be pulled, which means Laguna Honda will close. There will be no chance to even recertify if that happens,” said Wilmie Hathaway, Chief Medical Officer at Laguna Honda, in the same meeting.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure described the situation at Laguna Honda as “unacceptable” in a statement shared with Mission Local.

In response to the recent patient deaths, a federal on-site facilitator was installed this week to assess the remaining transfers and discharges for patients, which prompted this pause. Brooks-LaSure also noted that the federal body has “notified Laguna Honda that all transfers placed to date should be re-assessed to ensure patient safety.” She stated that the closure plan imposed on Laguna Honda was “required by statute” to shutter the facility after consistently violating health mandates for six months.

“It is our priority that, regardless of income, people have access to safe, high-quality care conditions,” Brooks-LaSure wrote.

While the city, families and advocates see this reprieve as a win, advocates stress that the race is still not over.

“We must remain active,”  Palmer said. A town hall discussing the matter is slated for Aug. 3.