OXNARD : St. John’s Diverts 40 to Other Hospital

The emergency room at the new St. John’s Regional Medical Center refused to admit 40 patients over the past 3 1/2 months because the hospital’s intensive care unit was full, according to county statistics.

Ambulances transporting the patients were diverted to Pleasant Valley Hospital, 12 miles away.

Although the decision by St. John’s to send the patients to Pleasant Valley has prompted sharp criticism from one Oxnard resident, county health officials and hospital physicians said the practice is acceptable.

“I think there would be a greater danger if they took a patient they could not properly care for,” said Barbara Brodfuehrer, the county’s Emergency Medical Services Agency administrator.

Dr. H. Allen Hooper, medical director of emergency services at St. John’s, added: “The only patients that we actually divert are in stable condition. . . . It has never compromised health care.”

But Skip Harkson, an Oxnard resident who has led a fight to increase paramedic service in the county, said it concerns him that patients must travel farther for care.

“It’s so, so scary,” Harkson said.