MODESTO BEE
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

By TIM MORAN
tmoran@modbee.com

Last Updated: July 12, 2007, 04:53:39 AM PDT

A physician's assistant and clinic administrator from Delhi chained himself to the door of the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency clinic on Scenic Drive Wednesday morning to protest the treatment provided to a patient.
William Dennis-Leigh, 69, administrator at Delhi Medical Center and Hilmar Family Medical Center, chained himself to the door for about 45 minutes.

The patient, Christina Brown, and two of her sons joined the protest at the entrance to the clinic at 830 Scenic Drive.

After an animated conversation among Dennis-Leigh, Stanislaus County Counsel Michael Krausnick and HSA managing director Mary Ann Lee, Dennis-Leigh unchained himself and the demonstration ended.

Krausnick told Dennis-Leigh that he was free to protest but that he could not chain himself to a public building.

Dennis-Leigh replied that he was engaging in civil disobedience to call attention to the poor quality of health care offered at the county clinics.

Krausnick and Lee offered to meet in private with Brown and Dennis-Leigh to discuss the case, but Dennis-Leigh insisted that a reporter and photographer from The Modesto Bee attend the meeting as well.

Krausnick said the county could not discuss a patient's medical condition in public. That left the situation at a stalemate, and the protesters left the clinic.

Brown, 53, of Turlock, said she sought medical care in September for abdominal pain, and a CT scan showed a cystic mass on one of her kidneys. Dennis-Leigh, her personal care provider, sent her to the HSA clinic because she is a Medi-Cal patient and no other physicians would see her.

According to Dennis-Leigh, Brown was seen by three urologists, and surgery was scheduled on March 29 to biopsy the cyst.

The surgery was canceled because Brown had a low oxygen intake from a chronic lung disease, Dennis-Leigh said. By the time Dennis-Leigh found a pulmonologist to test and clear Brown for the surgery, the Medi-Cal authorization for the surgery had expired.

Dennis-Leigh contends the doctors at the clinic didn't reapply for authorization from Medi-Cal for the surgery, and no request was pending as of Tuesday.

Krausnick said that's wrong. The authorization question had been resolved and dates have been set for Brown's treatment.

Brown is just one of many Medi-Cal patients who fall through the cracks in the system, Dennis-Leigh said.

"It's been 10 months. She's depressed and can't sleep. No one should be walking around with a tumor in their body for 10 months. It's unconscionable. It's inhumane," Dennis-Leigh said. "The diagnosis was clear after the first visit. She needed surgery."

Krausnick and Lee said Brown had not filed a complaint about her treatment, so her case had not come to the attention of HSA administrators until Tuesday.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.