Tri-City Medical Center in the top 100? Really? Or did someone do some fixing? Also: Larry Anderson placed on administrative leave

Larry Anderson, well-traveled hospital CEO

Click HERE for new video from the San Diego Union Tribune on Tri-City Healthcare's Larry Anderson.

Becker's Hospital Review, which came up with its own ratings, is a good pal of Larry Anderson. They paid him, for some reason, to visit Chicago and stay at a $569 per night hotel. But Anderson didn't report the gift until SDUT asked him about it.

US News and World Report wasn't quite as impressed with Larry Anderson and his hospital. In fact, Tri-City got a ranking of 1.1 out of a possible 100 in cardiology, with survival "much worse than expected. Tri-City's overall score was 20.5 out of 100.

Quite a discrepancy, wouldn't you say?

On the other hand, Scripps La Jolla received a ranking of 63.4 in cardiology with survival "much better than expected."

I've started preparing a comparison of local hospitals HERE.

Becker's also ranked Larry Anderson himself in the top 100 of hospital administrators, but it now reports that Mr. Anderson has been placed on leave:

Tri-City Medical Center CEO Larry Anderson Put on Administrative Leave
Written by Anuja Vaidya
Becker's Hospital Review
September 06, 2013

Larry Anderson, CEO of Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, Calif., has been put on paid administrative leave, according to a U-T San Diego report.

Hospital board chair Larry Schallock told U-T San Diego that Mr. Anderson was put on leave in relation to a personal matter and declined to comment further. He also said that Casey Fatch, the hospital's COO, will serve as interim CEO.

Judge feels sorry for hospital that hired thugs to silence doctor, sets aside jury verdict punishing hospital

Larry Anderson is now CEO of Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, California.

"The doctor in question, Michael Fitzgibbons, alleged IHHI's former CEO, Bruce Mogel, hired a thug with alleged ties to the Santa Ana police to, among other things, frame him on a false gun brandishing charge. The jury returned a verdict of $5.7 million for Dr. Fitzgibbons."

The Nightmarish Saga of Michael Fitzgibbons
The case pitting the whisteblowing doc against Integrated HealthCare Holdings Inc. appears to be over
OC Weekly News
Feb 21 2013

On June 28, 2006, Santa Ana police arrested Dr. Michael Fitzgibbons, an infectious-diseases specialist at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, for allegedly waving a gun in traffic after they found a pistol and a pair of black gloves in his car. There are still many questions surrounding the incident: Who were the mystery callers who dialed 911, reporting the suspect was a man in a white medical coat driving a brown Toyota Camry? How were police able to find the vehicle so quickly in the hospital's parking lot several blocks away? Why would a soft-spoken doctor who'd just won a whistleblowing lawsuit celebrate by pointing a gun at strangers in traffic?

These questions may never be answered. But according to a jury trial that just ended at the Orange County Superior Courthouse in Santa Ana, there's one fact upon which everyone agrees: The alleged road-rage incident in question never happened. Instead, somebody planted the gun and gloves in Fitzgibbons' car. On Feb. 13, a jury went a step further, agreeing with Fitzgibbons' claim that he'd been framed by his employer in retaliation for an email he sent to colleagues questioning the company's financial outlook. The jury awarded him a whopping $5.7 million in damages.

In his successful lawsuit against the company, Integrated HealthCare Holdings Inc. (IHHI), Fitzgibbons had sought more than $46.8 million, arguing that his arrest at the hospital—and a series of subsequent strange events that nearly killed a family member—nearly destroyed his medical practice and left him permanently scarred with post-traumatic stress disorder. Lawyers for IHHI tried to convince jurors that Fitzgibbons had somehow set himself up in a bizarre ploy to appear as an unstable martyr, a strategy the jury took less than a day to reject.

This surreal saga began in 2005, a year after IHHI took over the cash-strapped Western Med and three other Orange County hospitals from the scandal-plagued Tenet Corp. As chief of the hospital's medical staff, Fitzgibbons was concerned that patient care might suffer under IHHI because the company just defaulted on a $50 million loan; in May of that year, he sent a pointed email to colleagues raising that concern. When IHHI officials got wind of this, they promptly sued him for slander and interfering with business practices. Fitzgibbons countersued, arguing that IHHI's lawsuit violated his free speech; a judge agreed with the doctor and tossed out the company's suit in June 2006.

Two weeks after the [dafamation case] decision, Santa Ana police arrested Fitzgibbons for the alleged gun-waving, but he was released after the department impounded his car and fingerprinted and strip-searched him at the police station. Because prosecutors had no eyewitnesses, his fingerprints weren't on the gun and DNA taken from the gloves failed to show a match, the doctor was never charged with a crime. But when he went to pick up his car at the impound lot on July 5, he quickly saw something that hadn't been in the vehicle when the police had found the gun—a plastic sack full of pills, each one stamped with the Playboy-bunny logo. Figuring someone was hoping to frame him yet again, Fitzgibbons immediately handed the bag over to his attorney, who flushed the pills down the toilet.

His troubles weren't over yet. On July 16, his daughter's car flipped on the 22 freeway. Miraculously, neither she nor her two passengers was injured, but as Fitzgibbons pulled out of his driveway, he realized one of his tires was flat. Although authorities ruled the crash an accident, Fitzgibbons was suspicious enough to hire a private crash investigator, who found a two-inch slash in one of the tires (see "Car Trouble," Aug. 4, 2006). Irvine police refused to investigate his claims, however, and Fitzgibbons tried to move on with his life.

Yet controversy and lawsuits continued to circulate around IHHI. The company's main lender, Medical Capital Holdings, turned out to be a Ponzi scheme whose investors lost hundreds of millions of dollars, while the lender's executives used the cash to finance lavish parties and even purchase a multimillion-dollar private yacht. In yet another bizarre twist, IHHI chief executive officer Bruce Mogel personally pressured the lender to obtain a $5 million loan for an Internet-porn advertising firm, E-Mark, that appeared to be a phony company (see "New Complications In the IHHI Saga," July 30, 2009).

One of the lawsuits swirling around IHHI led to an under-oath deposition of Larry B. Anderson, IHHI's vice president, which provided the first clue about the mysterious road-rage incident involving Fitzgibbons. According to Anderson, shortly after Fitzgibbons won his lawsuit against IHHI, Mogel told him that the doctor needed to be "humbled." Mogel, Anderson added, then proceeded to brag that he had a friend named Mikey Delgado, a weight-lifting thug who had Santa Ana cops on his payroll and could cause trouble for Fitzgibbons or any other doctor who interfered with the company.

Mogel instructed Anderson to issue a $10,000 check to Delgado's webpage-design company, Form Labs, which never did any work for IHHI, whose own investigators later determined it to be a front company with nothing to show for itself but a post-office-box address in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Mogel lives. After he cut the check and Fitzgibbons was arrested, Anderson suspected the mysterious Delgado had planted the gun in the doctor's car. Those suspicions were confirmed, he adds, when Mogel appeared to relish in Fitzgibbons' plight, even remarking, "People don't know how powerful I am."


Court Reverses Run-Away Multi-Million Dollar Jury Verdict
An Orange County judge has reversed the jury verdict that found Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc liable for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on a doctor.
by Enterprise Counsel Group, lawyers for IHHI
24-7PressRelease
May 10, 2013

In February, it was widely reported an Orange County jury found a hospital chain, Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc. (IHHI), liable for intentionally inflicting emotional distress on a doctor. (Campbell, Orange County Register, 2/13; Campbell, Orange County Register, 2/8). The doctor in question, Michael Fitzgibbons, alleged IHHI's former CEO, Bruce Mogel, hired a thug with alleged ties to the Santa Ana police to, among other things, frame him on a false gun brandishing charge. The jury returned a verdict of $5.7 million for Dr. Fitzgibbons.

Yesterday, Judge Gregory H. Lewis of the Orange County Superior Court set aside the jury's verdict in its entirety. In doing so, the Court granted judgment for IHHI. The judgment states, "Plaintiff Dr. Fitzgibbons will take nothing from Defendant IHHI" and "Defendant IHHI [will] recover from Dr. Fitzgibbons its cost of suit."

Judge Lewis explained, "after full consideration of the evidence presented at trial, the court determined the jury's verdict was not supported by substantial evidence." Judge Lewis also determined "it is more probable than not" the jury engaged in misconduct prejudicial to IHHI. Finally, Judge Lewis found the jury's verdict appeared "to be a product of passion and prejudice instead of an evaluation of the extent of [Dr. Fitzgibbons'] emotional distress."

"Needless to say, this is a huge relief for a company dedicated to putting its money toward the best possible patient care, not paying millions of dollars to a single doctor who hired a contingency lawyer to complain he was distressed, even though the doctor in question admittedly never missed a single day of work or presented evidence of the slightest economic loss," says David A. Robinson, IHHI's lead trial attorney. Per Robinson: "As noted in the Court's order, 'at worst' Dr. Fitzgibbons claimed 'some other doctors poked fun at him.' That is hardly 'severe' emotional distress justifying taking money from patient care to make a single doctor and his lawyer rich."

One reason the Court found the jury's verdict was not supported by substantial evidence is the Court rejected Dr. Fitzgibbons' claim that IHHI ratified its former CEO's alleged conduct. Per Robinson: "The evidence showed Dr. Fitzgibbons' entire case rested on the testimony of one man, Larry Anderson. Anderson admitted his conjecture that his former boss, Mogel, might have hired a thug was 'without meat' and 'without substance.' Indeed, this is why Anderson claimed he kept this story a complete secret from everyone else at IHHI while Anderson worked there. Anderson never got around to telling anyone about this admitted speculation until almost two and a half years later, and then under suspicious circumstances. How could IHHI have ratified conduct that Anderson admittedly first concealed, then later claimed was only speculation?"

Enterprise Counsel Group, A Law Corporation (ECG) is a business law firm specializing in trial, appellate, transactional, labor and real estate matters...

When doctors rely on attorneys who lie: Tri-City Healthcare attorney contradicts her own witness

The tale of the out-of-control Andersons (CEO Larry and board member Charlene--no relation) and their odd little co-conspirators continues at Tri-City Hospital.

Paralegal says Tri-City report is wrong
She balks at hospital's version of events involving board member Kathleen Sterling
Aaron Burgin
San Diego Union-Tribune
Nov. 17, 2011

Oceanside — In making their case that elected Tri-City Healthcare District board member Kathleen Sterling should remain excluded from closed session meetings for the rest of her term, administrators cited what they considered traitorous activity.

At a meeting last month, Tri-City attorney Allison Borkenheim offered a sworn affidavit saying that paralegal Linda Elsner informed district officials that Sterling in 2003 or 2004 divulged confidential information to her law office, which was suing the district.

In response to the report, the public hospital board voted 5-1 to keep excluding Sterling from closed session, where issues such as CEO Larry Anderson’s performance and the strategic direction of the hospital are discussed.

The Watchdog contacted Elsner to verify Tri-City’s statements. Elsner said Tri-City officials misrepresented what she said — that she specifically told them Sterling shared only public information.

“How can they get away with this?” Elsner said. “How can they say I said these things and put them out as fact when I didn’t say them?”

Tri-City officials declined to be interviewed and issued a statement that they stand by Borkenheim’s affidavit and the belief that Sterling divulged confidential information to Elsner.

“The accounting set forth information provided by Linda Elsner, which she reported to at least four individuals in separate conversations, that Kathleen Sterling actively provided assistance to parties directly involved in legal matters against Tri-City Medical Center,” the statement said.

“Kathleen Sterling received information, some of which was confidential, while she was a member of the board. Under the state’s Ralph M. Brown Act, information deemed to be confidential is expected to remain confidential, and not arbitrarily made public at any point, unless the board authorizes its release. Ms. Sterling used that information to aid parties in litigation against the hospital.”

Elsner worked for personal injury lawyer Jennifer Lynch, who was pressing an ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit against Tri-City on behalf of patient Thomas Corelis over a surgery.

Elsner said she met Sterling while working on the Corelis case at the Vista courthouse. Sterling approached her and asked her if she was doing work on a lawsuit against Tri-City. When Elsner said yes, Sterling said she could give her information that could help.

Sterling later met with the attorney and pointed her in the direction of a report by the Joint Commission, an accreditation agency, on Tri-City.

Reached Thursday, Sterling confirmed that she gave public information to the plaintiff’s legal team at the time — when she was not a board member — in the hopes it would improve care at the hospital.

“I never gave them anything confidential,” she said.

Elsner said that this year, a former intern at her law firm mentioned the encounter to Charles Perez, the president of Tri-City business partner Medical Acquisition Co.

For months, Elsner said, Perez and Tri-City officials sought her cooperation in their ongoing probe of Sterling for alleged disloyalty to the hospital.

On April 25, Elsner said, she received a call from the former intern, again asking for information. Elsner said she told her that it was not a good time to contact her because she was going through personal and financial issues, including a car that needed the engine replaced, which would cost $3,000.

“She said, ‘Charlie could help you out, right?’” Elsner said. “And then Charles said, ‘Of course. All we need you to do is talk to these people and tell them what you know about Sterling.’”

Elsner said she did not accept any money. She said she told her story to District Attorney’s investigators, who took no action on a Tri-City complaint against Sterling regarding the incident. The DA’s office declined to comment.

Perez told The Watchdog, “My company had a professional relationship to Ms. Elsner for a couple of years and appreciated her law firm business referrals. I have never offered Ms. Elsner any money to break attorney-client privileges. My only involvement at the meeting was to introduce Ms. Elsner to Tri-City.”

Elsner said that on May 3, she met with Anderson, Borkenheim and Perez — the meeting Borkenheim described in her affidavit. Lynch, Elsner’s boss, attended by speaker phone.

Contacted for this story, Lynch corroborated Elsner’s account that Tri-City officials were told Sterling divulged no confidential information to them.

Borkenheim’s affidavit says she strongly believes that Sterling helped Elsner with other cases against Tri-City.

“I believe this because Ms. Elsner, when recounting discussions with Ms. Sterling to me said ‘in the first case...’ leading me to believe that there were other cases or matters in which Ms. Sterling sought to give or gave assistance,” the affidavit says.

Elsner told The Watchdog that’s not so. According to Elsner and a records search by The Watchdog, her law office had no other cases against Tri-City.

Let board members in, attorney tells Tri-City

See all posts for Larry Anderson.
See all posts in SDER blog re Tri-City Healthcare.

Let board members in, attorney tells Tri-City
Two have been exluded from public health board’s closed session meetings
Aaron Burgin
SDUT
Oct. 17, 2011

Carlsbad attorney Leon Page is demanding that the Tri-City Healthcare District reopen its closed door meetings to two board members who have been excluded.

Page argued in a cease-and-desist letter to Tri-City on Saturday that he is being disenfranchised as a constituent of Randy Horton and Kathleen Sterling. The letter is a required step before filing a lawsuit.

The two have been kept out of closed session meetings since April as a disciplinary action by the public health board, which provides hospital service for Oceanside, Carlsbad and Vista.

The Watchdog earlier this month wrote a story in which experts questioned on what grounds Tri-City was excluding the elected board members, whose attendance at board meetings is granted by the voters who elected them.

The agency declined to cite a legal justification, as the action was taken in a closed session.

Sterling has been censured by the board for allegedly being disruptive and hostile to agency executives. Horton was accused of leaking information from a closed session meeting.

Tri-City’s board attorney, Greg Moser, said that the district would “consider this threat of litigation in due course.”

Members of the board majority say they believe the punishments handed down against Horton and Sterling are justified to protect the integrity of the district’s executive process.

Board member Charlene Anderson has been among the most outspoken critics of the two. She said she stands by the legal advice that Moser has given.

“I believe that Greg Moser knows what he is doing, and so everything that we’ve done he has advised us to do,” Anderson said. “I feel that we are on solid ground. We have to take steps to protect the district when you have board members who are working against the district.”

Page’s letter gives the board until Oct. 28 to reopen closed sessions to Horton and Sterling, or face a lawsuit. A seven-page draft of the lawsuit is attached to the three-page letter.

Page also demands that $100-per-meeting board meeting stipends, withheld from Sterling and Horton, be reinstated with back pay.

“Simply stated, your board lacks the authority to nullify the results of an election,” Page wrote. “Especially for what appears to be a politically motivated effort by the board majority to silence those dissident directors.”

Horton, reached Monday, said he applauded Page’s actions, but was disappointed that it took a citizen to stand up for him and Sterling.

“I just think it’s a shame that the grand jury and DA aren’t representing elected officials and you have a member of electorate spending their own money and time,” he said. “It’s just not fair.”

The courts are currently sorting through a maze of lawsuits and counter lawsuits dealing with the board’s previous discipline of Sterling, who must attend public sessions of board meetings from a video hookup from across the street. She is barred from hospital property (except in emergency) by a temporary restraining order, which the district is hoping to make permanent.

Page said he believes the board’s actions are an attempt to silence viewpoints critical of the hospital administration’s bonuses and salary increases, viewpoints he shares. The closed session issue, he said, has not been discussed in any of the existing lawsuits.

The board met in closed session last month and authorized CEO Larry Anderson to launch a study of whether he should be given a raise. Anderson last received a raise in November, when his base pay increased to $500,000 from $480,000 and a bonus option was added. He was given a $115,000 bonus in August.

Anderson was one of the highest-paid public officials in the state in 2009; his pay ranked 20th among more than 800,000 local government officials listed in a database compiled by the state controller and reviewed by The Watchdog.

“We are litigating my rights as a taxpayer to equal representation,” Page said. “There is an effort to exclude certain viewpoints from that board room, and those directors are being prohibited from meaningfully representing their constituents.”

Page is the attorney who successfully sued the MiraCosta College District to void its $1.6 million severance to former President Victoria Richart.

In 2007, Page sued MiraCosta to invalidate the settlement with Richart, who had fallen out of favor with school officials after a scandal involving the school’s horticulture department and the illegal sale of taxpayer-funded palm trees broke out under her watch.

Page’s lawsuit argued that the settlement was the fruit of illegal secret meetings held by board members in the months leading up to Richart’s resignation.

In 2010, Page backed a slate of candidates who swept out incumbent members of the college board linked to the settlement.

Scandals seem to follow Larry B Anderson (currently of Tri-City Healthcare)

Scandals seem to follow Larry B Anderson (Video and comments)
See all posts for Larry Anderson.
See all posts in SDER blog re Tri-City Healthcare.

Larry B Anderson is now CEO of Tri-City Medical in Oceanside, which is funded by the taxpayers of Oceanside, Carlsbad, and Vista CA, a Tri-City Heathcare District.

(Video) Tina Jillings calls out Tri City Medical Center Board of Director Rose Marie Reno
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axPknhw3oH4
http://bit.ly/gBKr26

...Judge Mills denied all restraining orders against the outspoken hospital director. (See second story below.)


OCEANSIDE: Tri-City again sanctions embattled director
By PAUL SISSON
North County Times - The Californian
March 31, 2011

Tri-City Healthcare District directors again sanctioned one of their own Thursday, deciding not to wait for a Superior Court judge's ruling on six pending restraining orders against the woman.

On a 5-1 vote, board members approved a seventh sanction against hospital director Kathleen Sterling for her alleged role in two pushing incidents that occurred at a hospital board meeting Feb. 24.

The board's censure accuses Sterling of pushing and injuring hospital security guards at the meeting in two attempts to enter the board's meeting room at Tri-City Medical Center, even though the board's previous sanctions required her to stay out.

The facts cited are the same as those in six pending requests for permanent restraining orders against Sterling. Judge Richard E. Mills is deliberating whether to grant the orders after a four-day hearing that ended Thursday.

At the hearing's conclusion, Mills expressed reservations about whether the incidents truly constituted battery or an escalating pattern of violent behavior by Sterling, and said he would rule on the orders Monday.

Sterling has said all along that she had a right to enter the room before the meeting started in order to visit with her constituents. She said a second incident, which occurred between the board's open and closed sessions, was her attempt to notify board Chairwoman RoseMarie Reno that teleconferencing and video equipment, which she relies upon to participate in the meetings from a different room at the hospital, was not working.

Several community members who sat through all four days of the restraining-order hearing spoke in support of Sterling at Thursday's meeting.

Tina Jillings of Vista noted that Mills had expressed doubts in court about whether the incidents are battery, and she berated the board for proceeding even though Mills has not yet ruled.

"None of the allegations that you are making today ... have been proven in court," Jillings said.

Sterling attended Thursday's meeting from a separate room in the hospital's facilities building because of a temporary restraining order approved March 4, where again there were problems with the communications system. Sterling also said that she was missing one page of the proposed censure that the board approved.

Scott McMillan, Sterling's attorney, said Wednesday that he will help her challenge all of the board's censures in court.

He said he intends to work pro bono on a belief that Sterling is the victim of a board that wants to stifle her regular, and often loud, criticism of hospital policy.

Except to read the censure as written, hospital directors did not discuss the latest censure before voting Thursday. Director Randall Horton voted against the sanction. It was unclear whether Sterling voted no or abstained.




OCEANSIDE: Judge rejects restraining order against Sterling
By Paul Sisson
North County Times - The Californian
April 4, 2011

A judge refused Monday to grant permanent restraining orders against Tri-City Healthcare District Director Kathleen Sterling, saying there was no clear and convincing evidence that Sterling posed a risk to the safety of board members or employees at the Oceanside medical center.

A seventh censure against Sterling, 60, passed by the hospital board on March 31, requires her to continue attending meetings from a location outside the main hospital building.

Walking out of the courtroom Monday morning, Sterling didn't pause to celebrate, saying other legal battles remain.

"We have a long road ahead of us to ensure that my constituents have representation," she said.

The hospital director still faces a felony charge of vote trading and a $100,000 civil lawsuit brought by the hospital and one security guard regarding the events that occurred during a Feb. 24 hospital board meeting.

The requests for restraining orders ---- made by three Tri-City directors and three employees ---- centered on two allegations of violence that some witnesses said took place before and after that meeting.

The witnesses said Sterling injured hospital security guards while trying to push her way into the board room, from which she had been barred after being censured six times by her colleagues in the past several months.

Sterling has always insisted that the censures pertained to the meeting itself and not to her ability to enter the room and chat with constituents before and after.

In making his ruling, Judge Richard E. Mills agreed, saying that his reading of the censures indicates Sterling was barred only during the meetings themselves.

"It was not proved by clear and convincing evidence, to me, that Ms. Sterling did not have a right to enter the board room before the meeting," Mills said.

The judge added that he was also not convinced that Sterling intended to injure anyone on Feb. 24.

"This court cannot find, by preponderance of the evidence, that Ms. Sterling committed an assault or battery. Her intention was clearly to get around the guards before the meeting, not to come into contact with them," Mills said.

Those who testified in favor of the restraining order during the four-day trial said they feared that Sterling's behavior at that meeting was a sign that her often vocal and sometimes in-your-face behavior was escalating and becoming more dangerous.

After the judge's decision Monday, Tri-City attorney Allison Borkenheim said the requests for the restraining order were always about safety.

"We're obviously disappointed, but this was always about protecting the employees of Tri-City," Borkenheim said. "There was a very high burden (of proof), as (Judge Mills) mentioned, and unfortunately the conduct did not rise to the level of that burden, but we believe we were right in bringing the case forward, because it was about the safety of the employees."

Sterling's attorney, Scott McMillan, said he plans to pursue attorney fees against the hospital and challenge the censures that prevent Sterling from attending board meetings in person.

McMillan said he will also ask Tri-City to dismiss the $100,000 lawsuit it has filed against Sterling.

The suit alleges that Sterling injured a hospital security guard and has damaged the hospital's reputation.

Borkenheim declined Monday to discuss the hospital's legal strategy on any pending cases.

CORRECTION: Sterling must still attend meetings from adjacent building

Tri-City Medical Center director Kathleen Sterling will continue to attend board meetings from a building adjacent to the hospital, despite a judge's recent denial of six restraining order requests against her. The original version of this story incorrectly said that denial of the restraining orders allowed Sterling to return to the main hospital building, but a seventh censure, passed by the hospital board on March 31, requires her to "be excluded from the main hospital building" for the remainder of her term. We apologize.