Medical professionals will gather outside Regional Medical Center of San Jose to protest plans by its corporate owner to close the hospital’s trauma center and a heart attack program, and reduce stroke care.
The hospital will shut its Level II trauma center and a program for a dangerous type of heart attack known as ST-elevation myocardial infarction on Aug. 12, citing a decline in utilization, according to its website.
The medical center, owned by HCA Healthcare, also plans to downgrade its stroke services from comprehensive to primary on the same date.
The protest is planned for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday after the California Department of Public Health said it lacked authority to intervene as long as basic services continued.
The Adult Trauma Center sees an average of 2,450 trauma patients a year, or a quarter of all reported trauma cases for the trauma system, according to a press release Sunday from organizers of the protest.
“These services provide essential care and life-saving procedures to heart attack and stroke patients,” protest organizers said.
“A significant portion of Regional Medical Center’s patients are covered by Medi-Cal or are uninsured,” organizers said. “The proposed downgrade in services will require these patients with the most critical health care needs to be transported further distances resulting in significant delays in the provision of life saving care.”
The changes come four years after the closure of RMC’s maternity care services.
“The proposed downgrade in services will require these patients with the most critical health care needs to be transported further distances resulting in significant delays in the provision of life saving care.”
Protest organizers
“We continuously evaluate how Regional Medical Center can best meet our patients’ evolving healthcare needs,” the hospital said in announcing the closures in February.
“After careful consideration, we’re making several changes that align with those needs,” the hospital said.
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