UCI, Doctors Deserve Support

Re “UCI Doctor Stone Indicted on 10 Counts of Mail Fraud,” April 26: Dr. Sergio C. Stone had the courage to remain in this country and face the music. I am sure the worst he did was not dot the I’s and cross the Ts.

Now that the immaculate [state Sen.] Tom Hayden, an expert in higher education and southeast Asia, plans to bring more charges against him, there is more reason to support Dr. Stone and his suffering wife and family.

JOSE M. CUETO, M.D.

Santa Ana

* The impending paralysis, if not demise, of the UCI trauma center is a harbinger of yet more disruption of vital medical services in the coming years (“Key Departures Wound UCI’s Trauma Center,” April 20).

With the rising popularity of managed-care coverage, there is simply no financial provision for medical luxuries such as trauma centers, training or researchers. Even under the best of circumstances, the trauma center is usually a money-losing concern for the hospital since much of the services provided are never compensated by those trauma patients who not uncommonly have neither insurance coverage nor finances.

Yet each hospital with a center is required by law to accept all patients regardless of their financial status. With the dwindling reimbursement from managed-care insurers for hospital care, it is likely that even the few surviving trauma centers we have in our county will soon go the way of the full-service gas stations.

Until the consumers wake up to the fact that one really gets what one pays for in health-care coverage or the government starts to mandate some financial contribution by the managed-care industry to share the cost for these trauma centers, we may well wake up one day from a major accident and find ourselves either in a Nevada trauma center, where managed care has not yet flourished, or lose our lives or limbs due to the lack of such facilities.

The moral is that at least in health care: A penny saved may well end up as an amputee earned.

JOHN T. CHIU, M.D.

Corona del Mar

* I have been a registered nurse for more than 20 years and am proud to be employed by the UCI Medical Center. For the past 3 1/2 years, I have worked in an infant special-care unit.

What I would like to bring to public awareness is what an excellent facility UCI Medical Center is. We are a large multiservice institution, serving patients of all ages. Because we are the only university medical center and Level I trauma center in Orange County, we are capable of handling the most serious injuries and illnesses with specialized, top-quality patient care.

My fellow employees and professionals are caring and knowledgeable. Our management motivates all of us, both in our careers and personally. We function in an environment of equality and teamwork. Though UCI Medical Center may not be flawless, we reach levels of perfection in patient care.

ANN GILLESPIE

Orange