Supervisors to Go on Record Against Sutter’s Closing of St. Luke’s, Investigate Legal Responses to Medical Redlining and Civil Rights Violations

Mirkarimi Legislation Demonstrates City Commitment to St. Luke’s, as Broad Community Coalition Rallies to Save San Francisco Landmark

Healthcare Rally Precedes Hearing

Scores of nurses, doctors, and patients from St. Luke’s Hospital will be joined by community and civil rights activists Thursday January 24 as a Board of Supervisors committee considers a resolution mapping out the City’s responses, including possible legal action, to Sutter Health’s attempts to engage “medical redlining” by abandoning the heavily Latino and African-American patient population at the facility.

The patient advocates will gather for a 12 noon rally on the steps of City Hall, preceding the 1 p.m. committee hearing, Thursday January 24.

The committee will also investigate the depth and severity of the cuts that Sutter Health has made thus far in the “medical-surgical” or general hospital units. The recent closure of a medical/surgical floor follows a string of service cuts, most recently the October announcement of the elimination of neonatal intensive care at St. Luke’s.

The Committee on City Operations and Neighborhood Services will take up a resolution by Sup. Ross Mirkarimi to place the Board of Supervisors on record against Sutter Health’s efforts to close St. Luke’s and to direct the city attorney to outline responses to the clear violations of civil rights and other laws that Sutter Health is engaging in. The same resolution also orders all city departments to send the board information about any pending permits related to the closure of St. Luke’s. At the same hearing, Sup. Michaela Alioto-Pier will continue her investigation into the cuts that Sutter has already made at the facility, specifically on the med-surg floors, leaving those units overcrowded during the flu season.

Reflecting the widespread outrage that Sutter Health’s plans have drawn, the rally will feature members from an impressive coalition of groups that have come together to save St. Luke’s Hospital and stop Sutter’s cuts. Attendees will be drawn from the Coalition to Save St. Luke’s Hospital, which includes Senior Action Network, United Healthcare Workers-West, Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center, PODER, Dolores Street Community Services, Global Exchange, La Raza Centro Legal, Excelsior Action Group, Grey Panthers, Day Labor Program, Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist, Mission SRO Collaborative, and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee.

Zenei Cortez, RN, a member of the CNA/NNOC Council of Presidents said, “This is an unprecedented effort between elected officials, caregivers, patients, and the community to save St. Luke’s Hospital. Closing this facility, with its mission to serve the underserved, will significantly degrade patient care resources for San Francisco. We just can’t let that happen.”

The Mirkarimi legislation notes that Sutter is “abandoning services provided to uninsured people, Hispanic and African American residents, and medically underserved neighborhoods in San Francisco and expanding hospital operations for access by insured, middle and upper-income, non-Hispanic, largely non-African American residents.” From 2006-2007, St. Luke’s treated a patient population that was 39.56 percent Hispanic and 17.82 percent African-American. By contrast, Sutter’s favored hospital north of Market served a patient population that was less than 1 percent Hispanic and only 6.41 percent African American.