Aug 10
30
California Planned Parenthood clinics stripped of affiliation
The New York Times – August 29, 2010
Planned Parenthood Clinics Are Stripped of Affiliation After Complaints
By Katharine Mieszkowski
A financial and administrative meltdown in recent years has led to the end of one of the largest Planned Parenthood affiliates in the United States. Patients visiting Planned Parenthood’s eight clinics in San Francisco and four other Bay Area counties often encountered wait times exceeding two-and-a-half hours. Shortages of critical supplies, including intrauterine devices, meant some patients were turned away. Doctors, nurses, midwives and physician’s assistants complained to the national organization about low morale and a hostile work environment at Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, the local affiliate that owned and operated the clinics. “P.P.G.G. is experiencing major system issues that are affecting the access and quality of patient care that we provide,” warned a 2008 letter from 30 doctors and clinicians detailing these problems to Bay Area administrators and senior officials at Planned Parenthood Federation of America in New York.
On Sept. 3, Planned Parenthood Federation of America will take the rare step of stripping a local organization of its affiliate status, citing financial and administrative problems. The national organization sent a letter in July saying that the affiliate’s conduct might jeopardize patient care and Planned Parenthood’s trademark, said Therese Wilson, the Bay Area affiliate’s interim chief executive. Ms. Wilson denied the accusations. The national organization would not comment on the reasons for disaffiliation.
By the end of this week, there will not be not a single Planned Parenthood clinic in San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin, Sonoma and Alameda Counties.
The care of some 50,000 patients, more than 90 percent of whom live at or below poverty level, is at risk, health care providers in the area say.
Planned Parenthood Golden Gate said it planned to continue to offer the same services in the same facilities, under the name Golden Gate Community Health. Yet tax filings show that the nonprofit lost $2.8 million during the 2008-9 tax year, at the same time its chief executive’s total compensation exceeded $340,000. The organization has not broken even since the 2005-6 tax year, records show.
Patients depend on the Planned Parenthood clinics for birth control, cervical-cancer screening, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and abortions. “If their services were to be diminished or not be there, clearly that is going to have consequences,” said Dr. Juan Vargas, an obstetrician and geneticist at Benioff Children’s Hospital. “There would be a void that would be very difficult to fill.”
The national federation has assigned Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s five Bay Area counties to neighboring Planned Parenthood affiliates, which are racing to get new clinics up and running.
Read the complete article here.