DA investigation finds illegal hazardous, medical waste dumping at Santa Clara Co. hospitals
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- In a year-long investigation into the three Santa Clara County-owned and operated hospitals, the District Attorney's office uncovered disturbing findings.
In full hazmat suits, Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office investigators dug through tons of trash dumped by county hospitals.
What they found was astounding, disgusting and illegal: confidential patient information, vials of pharmaceutical drugs including fentanyl, blood-covered materials, and even human flesh.
"The county must stop illegally dumping hazardous waste and untreated medical waste," Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. "This is not a polite, bureaucratic request from one county agency to another. This is the law and we are enforcing it."
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The investigation started in November 2023 and uncovered tens of thousands of illegally disposed items at St. Louise, O'Connor and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.
Now, Rosen's office is taking civil enforcement action against his own county.
"If you're going to be in the healthcare field, there's no immunity, no freebie just because you're the government," Rosen said. "We're the county - it's not a defense. And in our view, the county should be setting a good example, not a bad one."
A Santa Clara Valley Healthcare statement read:
"Santa Clara Valley Healthcare (SCVH) understands the immense efforts and work invested by the District Attorney's Office in reviewing medical and hazardous waste disposal and is taking the matter very seriously. We are committed to adopting industry best-practices to prevent future occurrences and upon learning of the details three weeks ago, immediately began implementing corrective actions to address the concerns, including reviewing and updating policies, creating an audit review process, and designating department liaisons to quickly facilitate necessary changes. We take environmental stewardship and the confidentiality of patient health information seriously and are working to strengthen our efforts in these areas while still delivering high-quality patient care."
This is not just happening at county hospitals -- a separate investigation by the DA uncovered illegal dumping at Regional Medical Center in San Jose as well.
State law provides for fines for up to $70,000 per hazardous waste and $10,000 per medical waste illegally disposed of.
Based on the amount of items recovered, Rosen said that amount would be more than a billion dollars.
But he says the actual fine will be negotiated later and would likely be in the millions.
