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March 6, 2003
Fallout from Redding medical scandal continues
by
GEOFF S. FEIN
Redding cardiologist Dr. Chae
Hyun Moon, under federal investigation for allegedly performing
unnecessary heart bypasses and for questionable Medicare billing,
resigned his position as director of cardiology at Redding Medical
Center last month, three days after his malpractice insurance
expired.
Dr. Fidel Realyvasquez, Jr.,
who is also under federal investigation, has taken a 90-day leave
of absence to help his attorneys with his legal battles. Unlike
Moon, Realyvasquez has been able to maintain his malpractice
insurance.
Realyvasquez is the chief of
cardiac surgery at Redding Medical Center.
Moon's resignation and Realyvasquez's
leave of absence, means Redding Medical Center's cardiology program
is without a leader.
Whether the departures of Moon
and Realyvasquez from Redding Medical Center have any affect
on patient referrals from Humboldt County remains to be seen.
Allison Book, a spokeswoman
for Mad River Hospital in Arcata, said the hospital does not
refer patients to Redding Medical Center. Referrals are up to
patients and their doctors, she said.
When information about Moon
and Realyvasquez first surfaced, local doctors said they knew
of several patients who had been referred to the two heart doctors.
One local doctor, familiar with
the situation in Redding (who asked that his name not be used),
said the decisions by Moon and Realyvasquez will probably lead
people to rely more heavily on local medical facilities.
"It may decrease the number
of referrals to Redding Medical Center," the doctor said.
"People may start using St. Joseph [Hospital] more often.
They have been doing heart surgeries there for four years."
Moon, 55, and Realyvasquez,
54, allegedly billed Medicare (the federal health insurance program
for seniors) almost $8 million between 2001 and 2002, putting
the pair near the top in Medicare billing among California doctors.
Moon and Realyvasquez's billing practices led the FBI to raid
their Redding office last October.
Since then a number of Moon's
and Realyvasquez's former patients have said they underwent unneeded
heart procedures.
The FBI and the state have not
filed charges against Moon and Realyvasquez. But lawyers representing
hundreds of patients are preparing to file civil lawsuits against
the doctors.
Redding Medical Center and its
parent company, Santa Barbara-based Tenet Health Care, have been
adversely affected by the investigation into Moon and Realyvasquez.
Tenet has become the subject of a federal probe into Medicare
billing practices. At one point Tenet's stock dropped almost
70 percent and Redding Medical Center has seen a 20 percent drop
in admissions since word of the investigation doctors surfaced,
according to a hospital spokesperson.
Neither Moon nor Realyvasquez
have commented on either the federal investigation or former
patients' claims. Moon did set up a website to give his side
of the issue, and several colleagues, nurses and one former patient
have posted letters in support of Moon.
But while Moon's supporters
continue to voice their support for him, Moon's situation continues
to worsen. Blue Shield of California announced in early January
it cancelled health plan contracts with Moon and Realyvasquez.
Blue Shield's decision came on the heels of the state terminating
Medi-Cal payments to the doctors in November. Medi-Cal is the
state health insurance program for the poor and disabled.
The State Medical Board tried,
unsuccessfully, to suspend both Moon's and Realyvasquez's licenses
last fall, but a Shasta County Superior Court Judge dismissed
the case in November.
The medical board is continuing
its investigation.
Redding Medical Center officials
say they are working to find another surgeon. Meanwhile, officials
with Mercy Medical Center in Redding said they are expanding
their cardiology program.
The local doctor assumes Mercy
will become the lead cardiology facility in Redding. It has had
a heart program for a number of years and handles more than 200
heart cases per year, the doctor said.
"If [Mercy] beefs up the
[cardiology] department to take more patients, it wouldn't surprise
me," the doctor said.
Mystery photo -- correction
A photo in last week's paper
of a group of Asian men lined up against a wall next to a police
officer was not a depiction of a roundup of Chinese that took
place in Humboldt County in 1906. Matina Kilkenny of the Humboldt
County Historical Society, which provided the photo, said the
men are Japanese, not Chinese. Kilkenny knows that because the
names of the men are written faintly in the foreground. But she
said she doesn't know much else about the photo. Her best guess
is that the men comprised the crew of a Japanese junk  (below)
that was found on the beach four miles north of Samoa on Aug.
2, 1913. According to historical documents, three Japanese were
arrested at the scene and the rest were captured later. Kilkenny
said they were probably taken into custody because, on shore,
they would have been considered illegal aliens. Given the racism
against Asians that prevailed in Humboldt County at the time,
Kilkenny said the fact that the men were Japanese "would
just have made it harder for them."
Warehouse fire in Old Town
Just before 5:30 a.m. on Sunday
the Eureka Fire Department took a call: There was a huge warehouse
fire raging in northern Eureka. The caller hadn't heard any sirens
yet.
The alarm sounded at 5:35 a.m.
and soon every on-duty firefighter in Eureka and the 1st Humboldt
County Fire District as well as 10 volunteers were on hand to
fight the already well-established blaze at the county warehouse
on Second and K streets.
It took an hour to get the conflagration
under control, as old 55-gallon paint drums, propane cylinders
and welding gas tanks ignited from the heat and blasted off into
the early morning sky.
Luckily, no one was hurt. Ten
vehicles including a forklift, a street-sweeper and a road-striping
vehicle were damaged. Some merely blistered from the heat while
others were turned into smoldering hulks. Many specialized maintenance
supplies and tools were lost. Overall the damage is estimated
to be well over $1 million.
Investigators have narrowed
down the starting area of the fire to the center of the warehouse,
where a natural gas furnace had stood. At the moment they have
no reason to suspect arson, but the investigation is still pending.
The County Materials Testing
Laboratory, adjacent to the warehouse, suffered only minor damage
including some paint bubbling and broken windows, as well as
damaged office equipment, from the radiant heat of the fire.
No injuries were reported.
CR takes another hit
The College of the Redwoods,
already reeling from earlier cuts in state funding, will have
to shave an additional $246,000 off its budget.
Faced with a record budget deficit,
the state has ordered an additional cut of $38 million to the
budget for community colleges. That comes on top of $211 million
that was cut earlier this year.
"Any business that would
be run this way would be out of business," CR President
Casey Crabill said in a press release. "The state is walking
away from its commitment to community college students at a time
when California needs a skilled and educated workforce more than
ever to help the economy rebound."
The cuts are expected to heavily
affect CR's summer schedule, but decisions on the details have
yet to be made.
Tackling gas prices
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Napa,
has introduced legislation aimed at reining in gas prices, which
broke the $2-a-gallon mark here last week.
The heart of the legislation
is a rule that would require oil companies to charge the same
wholesale price regardless of service station ownership.
"This is timely legislation
that will provide long-needed reforms to restore fairness and
competition to wholesale fuel pricing," Thompson said in
a press release. "Northern California motorists should not
be paying on average 20 cents more per gallon than the rest of
the U.S."
Nationwide gas prices are at
a 20-month high and in Eureka the gas price is a full 27 cents
higher than the national average.
Thompson introduced similar
legislation during the last Congress that foundered. This time
around he has the support of the Service Station Dealers of America,
among others.
The bill is expected to be referred
to the House Energy and Commerce Committee for consideration.
Meningitis surfaces
Three children between the ages
of 9 and 15 contracted meningitis last month, a potentially fatal
disease that is highly curable if caught early.
The children, who live in McKinleyville,
Arcata and Eureka, are recovering.
While health officials were
avoiding the term "outbreak," the number of cases represented
about half the number of people in Humboldt County who get the
disease in a normal year.
None of the cases appear to
be related -- the children attend different schools in different
regions of the county. The only thing in common, besides the
disease itself, was that the kids came down with the illness
during the week of Feb. 17-21, a vacation period for local schools.
Early signs include a sudden
fever, headache, a stiff neck, confusion and a rash. If someone
thinks they may be coming down with the disease they should immediately
consult a physician.
The disease is spread through
saliva so sharing drinks, lipstick and food utensils should be
avoided. Kissing is another way the disease spreads.
For more information, call 268-2105.
Illegal outfitters beware
Attention, unlicensed fishing
guides: The U.S. Forest Service and the California Department
of Fish and Game are coming to get you.
In the last few years an increase
in fish runs has led to an increase in the number of illegal
outfitter guides, and the government has initiated a crackdown.
So far one guide has been cited
in Orleans and investigations are ongoing in the Happy Camp and
Willow Creek areas. Penalties for illegal outfitting can include
up to one year in jail, a $1,000 fine and confiscation of fishing
equipment and boats.
Animal shelter out to bid
County supervisors put the design
of a state-of-the-art animal control shelter out for bid Tuesday.
One county official said the
facility, to be located on Hilfiker Lane behind Pierson's Building
Center in Eureka, could cost any where from $1.5 million to as
much as $4.5 million.
"But we just don't know.
It's one of the reasons we're asking for proposals," said
Alexandra Wineland, deputy county administrator.
The shelter will serve unincorporated
areas of the county as well as the cities of Blue Lake, Arcata
and Eureka.
Supervisor Bonnie Neely cited
a stumbling block. The city of Eureka, which owns the property,
is looking into rezoning it from coastal dependent to public
facilities, a request that requires approval of the Coastal Commission.
Such approval could take six to eight months. The county would
seek a long-term lease from the city and in turn, Eureka would
pay the county for animal control services.
The county and cities previously
contracted with the Sequoia Humane Society, a nonprofit, for
animal control services, including housing of strays and euthanasia.
County costs for animal services rose from about $10,000 per
month in fiscal year 2000 to more than $35,000 per month this
year due in part to new state laws.
Farewell to Orick Johnny
John Joseph "Orick Johnny"
Antonioli passed away last week at the age of 81. The gruff,
opinionated but eminently lovable local character touched many
people over the years, many of whom gave him rides as he hitchhiked
from Arcata to his childhood home of Orick.
A packed memorial service was
held at Paul's Chapel in Arcata last Friday where Arcata Mayor
Bob Ornelas and former City Councilmember Robert Noble, along
with many others, spoke of how Johnny touched their lives.
He passed away in his Arcata
home on Feb. 24.
Donations can be made in his
memory to St. Mary's Catholic Church, 1690 Janes Road, Arcata
or the Newman Center at Humboldt State University.
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