San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, September 12, 2000
Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writer

A Chronicle investigation disclosed the phony lab test scandal in July. Since then, the Department of Corrections has ordered medical staff members to hand-search the medical records of all 162,000 inmates housed in the state's 33 prisons.

B.C.L. Clinical Labs of Santa Fe Springs (Los Angeles County) closed its doors in December 1996 after state inspectors found evidence that the lab was simply making up results on vital medical tests and typing them into a computer.

Prison rights advocates said the harm caused by such fraud can reach far beyond prison walls -- when inmates complete their sentences and return to their families with potentially incorrect diagnoses.

"Negligent care of prisoners affects not only their health, but the health of their communities," said Cynthia Chandler, director of the Women's Positive Legal Action Network in Oakland.

'ARDUOUS PROCESS'

Although only 11 prisons had contracts with B.C.L. between July 1995 and December 1996, all prison medical records are being searched because inmates are frequently transferred from one facility to another. "This is a long, arduous process," said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the Corrections Department.

A review of records of 150,000 inmates has so far turned up more than 4,000 inmates who had medical tests run by B.C.L., Thornton said. Of those, the Corrections Department has concluded that most inmates were retested within the past four years or that there was no medical need to retest. But Thornton said that 650 inmates appear to have no record of a repeat of critical tests that might include Pap smears for cervical cancer and screens for AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases.

Thornton said some of the 650 inmates have already received new tests as a result of the investigation or will get them if any doubt remains. "It's apparent that the potential for problems is there," she said. "We will err on the side of caution."

Of those retested so far, Thornton said, none turned up with unexpected illnesses.

Thornton has no estimate of the cost of the record search or of the retesting. After current inmate records are screened, the department will try to track inmates who had B.C.L. tests but have since been paroled.

The record search and retesting effort comes almost four years after the Department of Corrections was warned that B.C.L. lab test results could not be trusted.

Records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that in February 1997, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued letters to at least seven California prisons warning them that the conditions found at the lab posed "immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety." The letters recommended "immediate follow- up, particularly in the area of Pap smears and HIV testing."

LITTLE EVIDENCE OF RETESTING

But The Chronicle investigation found scant evidence of any attempt to retest inmates whose laboratory results were suddenly thrown into question. At the request of the newspaper, a San Francisco prison rights law office, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, examined 13 records of female inmates who had medical tests performed by B.C.L. within six months of its closure. Only two showed any evidence of a repeat test. One was retested for a thyroid condition. The other had received a second AIDS test, but it was given 13 months after her initial screening by the suspect lab.

Donna Willmott, litigation coordinator for the law office, said the belated retesting of inmates is a step in the right direction, but she remains skeptical.

"I think there should be some oversight by the Legislature of this retesting program," she said. "If this problem hadn't been exposed, these people would never have been retested."

Dr. Corey Weinstein, a San Francisco medical consultant for prisoners, said he also believes that the Corrections Department's handling of the problem needs to be examined.

"How can we trust a department that sat on information like this for four years, and then begrudgingly begins to do it?" he said. "To regain my confidence, the people responsible for this ever happening need to be identified, and let go."

Department of Corrections officials maintain that doctors at each of the 11 prisons were well aware that there were problems with B.C.L.'s testing, and that prisoners got the retesting they needed. They concede, however, that they have yet to find any record of a large-scale retesting program after the discovery that the lab had been fabricating test results.

PRELIMINARY COUNT

Prison spokeswoman Thornton said the current count of prison records is preliminary. Records at all but six facilities have now been fully screened. She declined to identify the prisons where the work is not completed.

During the two-year period in which B.C.L. contracted with 11 prisons, doctors at several facilities complained of slow response times and unreliable test results. The Robert J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego spotted problems with B.C.L. Labs only days after the start of its contract with them in July 1995 and terminated its contract after only two months. But other prisons, apparently unaware of the problem facing other institutions, were starting up new contracts up to a year later, because B.C.L. offered bids at half the price of its competitors.

Thornton said a review of state records showed that the lab had signed nine contracts for services totaling $736,000, but the state had actually paid the lab $336,000.

E-mail Sabin Russell at srussell@sfchronicle.com.

BC: PRISONS THAT USED ROGUE LAB

1995 to 1996, 11 California state prisons used B.C.L. Clinical Labs to process inmate medical tests. Most prisons encountered problems and terminated their contracts early, but B.C.L. was able to sign up new prisons until it was shut down for faking test results in December 1996.

Facility Location Dates of contract

California State Prison, Sacramento Represa 7/1/95-10-4-95

California Rehabilitation Center Norco 7/1/95-9/18/95

R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility San Diego 7/1/95-8/28/95

California State Prison, Los Angeles Lancaster 7/1/95-6/30/95

Deuel Vocational Institution Tracy 7/1/96-10/28/96

Central California Women's Facility Chowchilla 7/1/96-11/15/96

Valley State Prison for Women Chowchilla 7/1/96-11/15/96

Calipatria State Prison Calipatria 7/1/96-10/1/96

Chuckawalla Valley State Prison Blythe 7/1/96-12/26/96

Ironwood State Prison Blythe 7/1/96-12/26/96

Northern California Women's Facility Stockton 7/1/96-11/30/96

Source: California Department of Corrections
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