The Santa Clara County-run hospital system is under investigation and facing steep penalties for illegal dumping of hazardous waste, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Santa Clara Valley Healthcare's three hospitals -- Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, O'Connor Hospital in San Jose and St. Louise Hospital in Gilroy -- mixed waste such as blood-filled vials, human flesh, fentanyl and confidential patient information with regular garbage, the DA's Office said.
Even after the DA's Office notified the county about the waste issues earlier this year, the hospitals continued to discard waste illegally, the DA said.
"The County’s health and hospital system is run with taxpayer dollars,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "The public needs to know what happened, and the County will not get a free pass when it comes to environmental protection and consumer privacy laws."
The investigation began in November 2023, and involved DA investigators putting on hazmat suits and conducting unannounced inspections of garbage that had been hauled away from each of the hospitals, the DA said. Workers with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control assisted with the inspections.
Among the prohibited items found in the regular garbage were: human tissue; fluid blood; non-empty vials of prescription drugs, such as antibiotics, anesthetics and fentanyl; over-the-counter drugs; liquid and solid hazardous waste; batteries; e-waste; and hundreds of documents and labels with unredacted personal patient information.
The DA estimates tens of thousands of hazardous waste items were dumped illegally.
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Santa Clara Valley Healthcare faces fines of up to $70,000 per disposal of hazardous waste and up to $10,000 per disposal of medical waste, the DA said.
Anyone with information about the illegal waste dumping should contact DA investigators directly by sending an email to StopMedicalWaste@dao.sccgov.org.
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A separate DA investigation has found medical and hazardous waste in garbage compactors at Regional Medical Center in San Jose, which Santa Clara County has announced it intends to buy, the DA’s Office said. The hospital's owner, HCA Healthcare, faces possible environmental enforcement action.
