HOSPITAL COURT CASE DROPPED.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Hospital directors have dropped their legal action against Los Angeles County government to try to prevent closing inpatient wards at High Desert Hospital.

High Desert Hospital will be converted to an outpatient clinic on July 1.

A federal judge last week rejected hospital officials' request for a temporary injunction, saying they did not demonstrate a ``potential for irreparable harm'' to their community, and she questioned whether they even had legal standing to bring the lawsuit in federal court.

``On advice of our counsel, we agreed to drop the suit,'' director June Snow said. ``They felt that we didn't have much of a chance of winning it at this point.''

U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper had barred the county from closing Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center and from reducing the number of beds at County/USC Medical Center.

``She was probably our best shot, and she was not sympathetic to our cause,'' Snow said. ``I don't think the county (officials) or the judge really realizes what a crisis we are facing (in) ... lack of beds in our area.''

Closing High Desert as a hospital, not just a clinic, will have repercussions reaching far beyond the uninsured patients who make up most of the population it serves, Antelope Valley leaders say. Lancaster Community Hospital and Antelope Valley Hospital are already crowded, and eliminating High Desert's beds will make conditions in the other facilities even worse.

``It means that the county no longer accepts their responsibility of caring for indigent patients in any other than an outpatient setting and that Antelope Valley Hospital will have to do it because it's our commitment to the community,'' Snow said.

``It's not going to be pretty for our bottom line. It's very difficult to make money in health care these days, and we have to or we can't stay open. Having the additional burden of caring for all indigent patients will definitely have an impact on us.''

County officials said they can't afford to keep High Desert operating as a hospital. A $16.5 billion budget plan released in April calls for 2,158 fewer employees and $467.2 million in cuts across the county, with more cuts expected after state government deals with its own budget deficit.

High Desert stopped admitting tuberculosis and long-term nursing patients April 1, and county officials called for an end to admitting other patients in May, with the intention that all inpatients be gone by May 30, union officials said.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com