Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) continues to be the subject of numerous investigations and inquiries. The hospital, once a shining star in our county, has lost its luster in wake of accusations of mismanagement, malpractice, patient abuse, and fraud. Much of the controversy involves the empire-building by former County Administrative Office Mark Uffer and ARMC Medical Director Dr. Dev Gnanadev. Both men are known for their tyrannical control of every aspect of hospital operations, with Gnanadev even running roughshod over the always-despotic Uffer.
In their quest to gain recognition and respect for ARMC and, more importantly, themselves, both men plotted to contain any negative publicity about the hospital. Employees who question practices or report misconduct are themselves subjected to threats of discipline, using the loss of medical licenses due to phony accusations by hospital management as a means of control.
However, upon Uffer’s termination as County Administrative Officer in 2009, employees came forward with stories of botched surgeries and cover ups. But the hospital’s Administrator, Patrick Petre, has not taken the position of “Let’s fix things, ” but rather, “Let’s find the whistle blowers.” Everyone who they think has talked to us or to the newspapers has found themselves in trouble.
Even before Uffer’s departure, not all incidents could be kept quiet. In September of last year, ARMC was fined by the state of California for two instances of patient abuse/malpractice. The first involved a behavioral health patient who was slapped by a psychiatric technician, who then attempted to drag the patient to his room, all while five other employees failed to intervene. In the other incident, a sponge was left in a 26-year-old woman during surgery and had to be removed at a later date.
A few years ago a nurse by the name of Owen Jay Murphy, Jr., put a patient in a head lock and shoved her against a wall. Since then there have been accusations of almost torture in the behavioral health unit where patients have been subjected to restraints for as long as four months based on fraudulent reports and charting by nurses who are afraid to deal with high-risk patients. They were not bathed or fed properly and left for days in the same bloodied clothing.
I personally witnessed employees wrestling employees down and administering strong medication to patients the nursing staff simply did not want to deal with because they were asking to use the phone or were hungry or lonely. Some staff is simply not properly trained or mentally incapable themselves of handling mental health patients.
But the Behavioral Health Unit is not the only hospital department where chilling examples examples of abuse and malpractice take place. In one case a 13-year-old girl came in with a spinal cord problem. The misdiagnosis resulted in her being a paraplegic. A patient was admitted for a spinal fracture and was operated on for seven hours, but the surgeon never treated the spinal injury. In another case a man was rendered impotent when a surgeon did not properly insert screws into his spinal canal. Yet another patient with a dislocated spine had to wait 36 hours for treatment.
In one case of medical malpractice the county of San Bernardino was ordered to pay $1.45 million to a decedent’s husband and five children after ARMC doctors failed to properly treat a women for continuing high blood pressure after the birth of her child. The court ruled her symptoms of severe eclampsia should have been diagnosed. She ultimately had a stroke and died.
The emergency room is another area of the hospital that is not being properly managed. Rather than licensed doctors making the decisions of who should be admitted and who should not, that decision is being made by the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, who also must answer to Gnanadev. Much of the care is being handling by interns and nurse practitioners but then being billed to insurance companies as though licensed physicians provided the care.
ARMC’s trauma center was once known as “the place to go,” especially by law enforcement in the case of wounded officers. It is now the place to avoid. It is said that emergency personnel avoid bringing severe cases to ARMC when it is feasible to bring them other facilities.
And finally, in writing this article, I contacted current and former employees of ARMC. They do not paint a picture of a doctor who practices his profession with concern for the care of patients but rather with concern for his bank account. Several items were pointed out to me in his current contract. I was told to play close attention to:
- The Services Gnanadev, as Chairman of Surgery, Supervises: Gnanadev is administratively responsible for all surgical services except anesthesia and orthopedics, which happens to be the two contracts that he is trying to cancel with the intent that he will have the new groups report to him as Chairman of Surgery (note not Medical Director) with the intent that if he is replaced as Medical Director he will still be in charge of ALL surgical services.
- The section which mentions that his corporation will supply the Chair of Surgery (which is him and all the other personnel mentioned in this section): In other words he hires them and pays them as well as doing all their billing while keeping ten percent of the monies collected. Therefore as Chair of Surgery and Medical Director he has the sole responsibility of supervising physician whom he hired and pays. Specifically these are: General Surgery, Otolaryngology (Ears, Nose and Throat Surgery), Burn Surgery, Oral Surgery, Neurological Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Opthalmalogic Surgery and Transplant Surgery.
Here is a copy of Dr. Dev’s contract: Dev’s Contract
Under Dr. Gnanadev’s control, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is on the verge of becoming San Bernardino County’s next and biggest scandal to date. Authorities from the local, state and federal branches of law enforcement are investigating and we expect to see results soon. Hopefully, no more patients are harmed while we wait.
This is very sad. Many years ago, Dr. Gnanadev was instrumental in saving my stepdad who was at the time, very ill.
Perhaps Dr. G. was at one time better in the role of a healer than that of administrator?
I would really tend to doubt this articles truth. First, a threat of “lose of medical license” can’t be accurate. An accusation of medical violations is always investigated by the California Medical Board, and if there are violations, an Accusation is filed by the Attorney General’s office, and then the accused, usually represented by counsel, can challenge the accusation. There is also always the threat of civil lawsuits for filing false claims of medical negligence, and since both parties in the case would have money, those are not hollow threats in these types of situations.
Every hospital has had problems, and if patients complain, they complain to the CA Medical Board, so hints at a “cover up” by the hospital just are not believable, because they are not the entity that would be performing the investigations of abuse in the first place.
Please, when throwing out accusations, please at least research the plausibility of what you allege. Anyone that does a little independent research can find out that your story is bogus….but I guess you are hoping that doesn’t ever happen.
I must respond to Guest who may not be aware of how Sham Peer Review of Physicians works: If a physician raises a quality of care issue; or for any other reason falls out of favor with the hospital establishment – false charges are made against them for which they have no recourse. They will be suspended and entered to the National Practitioner data Bank; and labelled as ‘Disruptive’. They will not be allowed to see the allegations against them. There will be no ‘Due process’ because the only requirement recognized by HCQIA 1986 is that a process occurs. The good physicians are being railroaded every day. They are being labeled ‘disruptive’ and blackballed. I encourage everyone to inform themselves about this covert abuse of medical integrity.
To the guest who made a comment on April 29th you don’t know what the hell you are talking about. Until you have actually layed in a hospital bed for a whole wk due to a sponge left in you I wouldn’t talk. This article is so true and brought me to tears.
i have experienced the abuse @ arrowhead in the WHC and when i reported, it got worse i had my 4th child in aug 2010 and i then experienced that my care was abandoned…i wonder why? then i was abused verbally while recovering from having my baby by the same doctor. then got very sick, the nurses had to step in and the RAT team then took over my care, went home and a month later went back to the ER had to be operated on due to infection from a c-section….i wasn’t properly cleaned out, i now have 21 staples running down my stomach. Let’s see verbally abused, care abandondment that sounds like malpractice to me. Let’s hope i recover so i can be a mother to my children, it’s hard having to give up breastfeeding and not being able to hold your newborn which you wait many months to meet.
this happens because county want to sleep and collect overtime money i know i worked there
On Nov9,2009 me and my fianca were in a very serious car accident we were hit by a drunk driver at 90miles and were transported to arrowhead regional medical and all I remmber was the abuse @ the arrowhead hospital all I remmber is them miss treating me and miss treating my fiansa thay had me but naked and I had no one around me didnt no were my boyfriend was I was so medicated out I could barely see anything than finally a malr nurse came in and I started crying asking were my boyfriend was he told me dont woory I will bring him to you than after a few hours my boyfriend was walking in but he could bareley stand he was so medicated out and next thing I no I see him trying to reach for something before he fell I yelled for help but all the nursses that came in just stood there looking at my boy friend and I remmber yelling at them to help him then next thing I remmber a doctor comming in yelling at me and my husband saying if you guys werent on drugs this wouldnt never have happened first of all it wasnt are fault and I was so neglected rhere thay didnt even want to give me cloths to go home and didnt even want to lend us the phone and didnt even want to tell us were we were thay were all so desrespectful and didnt even finish doing my wounds the morning we got home was nov 8 2009 we were still in bad pain i still had road rash that werent even cleaned and had to get transported to the hospital by are house arrowhead also over charged us on or hospital bills i feel thay are a very bad hospital and hope nobody has to ever go there and experience what me and my boyfriend have sincerly rg camacho
I would like to offer My Openion of Conspiracy involving the hospital & the County Court System,
no dates since i am still going to court,
Ch-into Arrowhead 200?, have infected boil that is getting worse by the Hour, Red-vaines are showing, Total time in Hospital less then 14 hrs, I ask not to be put into Room as i do not want to pay for a room BUT-the doctor addmits me at 7ish and i get breakfast and before i can swallow my Pancakes I am told i have to leave, 14- hours, get bills Totaling way-over and almost over $ 25,000.00 Dollars ? 4-A Boil, Now I get bills and argue with Collections that they need to check the billing and that i need to Know People Breakdowns and Types of bandages and Medicine that i was given since those were a whoping $2,500.00 4-A-BOIL, it was a decent size Paper Bag, So now I go ahead and pay just under 1/2 of Bill and tell them it is a closed account, NO we will take what ever you have, they harrasset my place of employment, My Parents, put many/many Marks on my credit report and then served Family! with a Summons for court for Me, What business do they have serving Family A summons for me when they are the whole Problem and belive me They even Know This!!! Thats How Blatten they are, I fought Bullies Growing up in East Los Angeles But These People would and dont think they have not done it KILL if it Was Benifitul to the Keeping the hospital running and A Paycheck in there pocket, Well i go to court and as Far as the Judge is concerned Lets Tip him upside down and Make that Good for Nothing Pay up, I was Treated Like A Pocho in in Jalisco by the very Judge that our Tax s Check after I Said that I could Verify That i was not even in the Hospital on the Years That the County Complaint Said ? what ?? Yes they even dumped some Other Persons Bills in my Folder But NNNOOOOOOHH, The Judge Says Durmurrer Denied.
Yes We Pay these People To Screw Us. More to this story but now i am Upset Because I will Probably Loose My Home, The Only Good Thing will be Leaving San Bernardino:-)
Hey April 89th,
Why don’t you do a undercover Inveestigation and say you have a Missed Cycle and when you wake up with out a leg because they think you wrecked on your Cycle we can read your Little Story:-)
I wish I had known about all of this so much sooner – although in a way I always did know Arrowhead was bad news becuz I always hated going to this hospital and dealing with the nurses and doctors. They put me in a bad mood and never seemed to care.
Two weeks ago my father bled out in our home and my friend rushed him to the Arrowhead ER. He had died, but luckily they brought him back and kept him on life support and he was in ICU for just a week. Then for another week he went to a regular room in the cancer ward. He had stage 1-2 lung cancer and two hearts attacks from chemo.
They only kept him in the hospital for two weeks and let him go this past Thursday. He was scared to death he was going to bleed out again, but they assured him that although there was a *slight* chance it most likely wouldn’t happen. By 5am on Friday he had bled out and died in my arms in the front yard waiting for the ambulance to come. Seems like no one, not even the paramedics cared.
They had rushed him to Loma Linda cuz it was closer. I blamed Arrowhead instantly and Loma Linda tried to say that it could have happened anytime even in the hospital – funny cuz it never happened until he was OUT of the hospital, and if that was the case, why did they not warn us so we could have kept an eye on him? Why did they let him out? Becuz they didn’t care. They most likely knew he was going to die and didn’t want to waste the money on him regardless of what it did to his family – including his 86 year old mother.
I feel this is wrongful death and reading this article has confirmed it for me. I am going to be looking into this further to fight for my Father.
I am 100% sane…I don’t hear voices, I don’t want to hurt myself or anybody else other than that Viet Namese poor excuse of a psychiatrist and gimpy side kick with the lame looking glasses(Tang)… If I was really as mentally ill as they say, I would have taken the opportunity to choke the living shit out of both of them..
Neither one of the two are competent professionals as a doctor must be or has the least bit of concern for the well being of any patient that for some reason or another ends up with the misfortune of being a patient of those two morons…
A doctor is supposed to at least talk to a patient and do a real professional evaluation that a doctor of his science studied for and has been trained to perform his science at the level of a professional with no excuse for incompetence,failure and disregard for the well being of a patient that is left in his care.
I am not a doctor, but I know a doctor must be careful with the use of medication and not just prescribe medication blindly the way those two morons do..The body’s best medication is the body itself and drugs should be used sparingly..
I am not at all mentally ill , but I ended up in their care, due to a complete misunderstanding and nothing more..Those two yahoos based their treatment for me on nothing more than allegations by someone who is actually mentally ill and causes her to make things up and also on a rough draft of a police report that was not completely investigated.
Without even asking me what happened or at least looking me straight in the eyes and making a minimal doctor’s analysis of what was going on in my head before using anti psychotic medication on someone that is just a little upset, but still completely cooperative, calm, and 100% mentally normal..
These two idiots would rather sedate a person with psychotic medication, which in my opinion, just creates a few extra zombies for the county to pay disability every month..some really need meds, but not all do.
A professional psychiatrist should first talk to a patient and see what is going on and see if he can calm the patient with compassion and concern to build trust and at least respect, instead of suspicion and no trust and no respect..I am the nicest person in the world, but these two only earned a malpractice suit from me..
Nguyen and Tang should be suspended asap… Neither one of the two even bothered to ask me what happened or gave me any type of psychological evaluation whatsoever, but kept me imprisoned for 5 days without any medical reason to justify my imprisonment…
I asked Nguyen what my diagnosis was that requires me to be held in a mental institution and he was stumped..He didn’t have a diagnosis because he never even bothered to check what my case was about..
Nguyen did hold me at least one day extra because I told him I felt violated and a victim of Malpractice and would be seeking representation…He said get a good lawyer and denied my release even after already held more than 24 hrs over the said 72 hr hold…
I never created any problems and cooperated completely with everything other than taking meds…If I am calm and cooperative, why should I take meds? I guess they don’t take into consideration that not everybody needs anti psychotic medication that ends up there..Someone needs to inform those idiots that it is possible for a sheriff deputy to make the wrong decision and send someone that is not mentally ill and just a little pissed about the stupidity of others..
I did nothing wrong at all , other than dial the wrong number first thing in the morning and just said something wrong, which was in no way threatening to anyone or myself…I was just in a hurry to get to the airport and was convinced I was being harassed by someone that kept calling me even after I assured her everything was fine..several times.
Due to failures starting with 911 dispatch, which managed to convince me the girl liked my voice and kept calling back(I wish)and the complete failure,incompetence and disregard of my livelihood by the psychiatrist at Arrowhead regional, I lost my place to live, work, caused my family false disappointment of me and now I am listed as a certified mentally ill person, even though I was never evaluated by a psychiatrist.
I worry about possibly losing my own state professional licenses due to this. If
it happened to me, it could happen to anybody. I broke no laws at all, what could have been straightened out by a real concerned professional doctor, was made into something that could easily ruin someone that is passive..I kick ass and I will come out on top,but only after a lot of pushing..
Tang and Nguyen, I hope you get fired and end up in a hotel like I am right now..You make real doctors look bad and need to be checked..I am sure you create more havoc than good as a doctor..
I am the one they left the sponge in a few years ago . I just came across this website and very shocked on how much of a big deal other people made it. At the time arrowhead assured me these things happen and it was nothing new. Now I would like to talk about the hell I went through and still going though. I have to look at the contract they made me sign first to see if I am allowed to share my story.
I have been mistreated by Arrowhead Reginal a few times .Does anyone know what the unethical use of hypnosis is ? Once I got antibiotics with double the correct dose on the bottle . I looked it up and found the correct doseage myself . In their poor people program MIA abuses are even worse . It’s no accident this place is butted up with a mental health center . The poor are becoming a burden to this community and they have a better idea . Arrowhead Reginal should change it’s name to Snakehead Reginal . These people are agressive rightwing nuts and a danger to the poor .
anyone win a lawsuit or know where to report them ?