An LA County committee will oversee a new health department policy meant to protect the rights of patients in immigration custody and help public hospital staff respond when federal agents bring them in for care.
The policy, which has been described as a “new gold standard of care,” took effect in March after widespread reports last year of immigration agents interfering with patient care and privacy at local hospitals. It clarifies that patients brought in by civil law enforcement officers, including immigration agents, have the right to communicate with family members, legal counsel and advocates.
On Tuesday, the LA County Board of Supervisors approved creating the committee, which will require training for public health workers on the policy. The group — composed of hospital officials, county counsel and the Office of Immigration Affairs — will also collect feedback from staff on how to improve the policy and report back to the board in a month.
This latest move from the Supervisors follows reporting by Boyle Heights Beat and LAist that found that many healthcare workers were unaware of the policy, even though the Department of Health Services said the policy has been shared with staff. Members of the People’s Care Collective, a network of health care workers and organizers, said an education campaign was crucial to inform hospital workers and the broader public about the new guidelines.
A Department of Health Services physician said it was heartening to see the Supervisors being “responsive to our concerns and asks around making sure that the policy actually becomes a reality.”
The physician, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation, said the committee should be transparent and inclusive of hospital workers who have “direct and real experience with the cases of patients in ICE custody.”
“To my knowledge, none of those folks have been reached out to,” said the physician, who is a member of the People’s Care Collective. “Our concern right now is we definitely want there to be a committee that includes the voices of people who are actually on the front line.”
For months, healthcare workers and community advocates have worked to safeguard patient rights in the wake of federal immigration raids.
Supervisor Hilda Solis, who introduced Tuesday’s motion, said since ICE raids ramped up last summer, public health workers have had more interactions with federal agents. And in trying to protect patients, Solis added, some workers risk being accused of obstructing justice.
“Despite the county’s sensitive location policy … immigration enforcement officials have pushed boundaries or blatantly ignored laws,” Solis said. “This has put many of our county employees in a difficult position of trying to enforce the law and protect patients’ rights.”
The policy, which came at the direction of the Supervisors, instructs staff to ask agents to remain outside of a patient’s room at all times, absent safety concerns. It forbids unnecessary restraints or shackling of patients.
It also requires agents to remain in public areas of the hospital unless they have a judicial warrant, and to “remain identifiable at all times.”
The policy prohibits agents from acting as interpreters or surrogate decision-makers for detained patients and instructs staff not to physically interfere with ICE agents or assist a patient in hiding or fleeing. It forbids discharging the patient back into immigration custody “until custody is confirmed as lawful and documented.”
These new guidelines only apply to public health care facilities and not private hospitals such as Adventist White Memorial in Boyle Heights, where doctors last year reported ICE agents violating the privacy rights of detained patients and prohibiting contact with patients’ family members.
Tuesday’s directive from the Supervisors makes note of that, stressing the importance for the county to collaborate with non-county hospitals and medical facilities “to gather lessons learned and identify additional opportunities for enhancing existing policies.”
A White Memorial physician, who asked to speak anonymously due to fear of retaliation, said the policy could give private institutions “something to work with.” The Department of Health Services policy, the physician said, can still be used as a standard of care “to guide our practice for what our patients need and deserve.”
“My concern is that where ICE patients are being treated the worst and brought the most is not under the jurisdiction of the policy,” the physician said. “Anywhere the patients go, they need to be protected.”
The physician said the committee should include members of the “targeted community [who] should have a voice about what they’re experiencing as patients.”
LAist reporter Destiny Torres contributed to this report.
