Friday, November 22, 1996Chimp treatment in ER raises
questions
Olive View Medical Center officials have launched an internal
investigation into how an ailing baby chimpanzee was admitted and
treated in its emergency room before dying there last weekend.
The hospital has acknowledged that very unusual circumstances
turned its doctors into acting veterinarians on Saturday.
An internal hospital report on infection control concluded no
one was placed in any jeopardy by the incident.
"It was an emergency and this was a chimpanzee that needed care
and it was through compassion," hospital spokeswoman Cherry Uyeda
said Thursday.
"The chimp was looked at in a vacant observation area by some
physicians," Uyeda said. "There were no patients around. Infection
control precautionary measures were taken.”
Rochelle Skolnick, a nurse who serves as the hospital’s director
of infection control, said the 2-week-old animal was brought to the
hospital suffering from lethargy, dehydration and a fever.
It apparently had been rejected and abused by its mother.
"It was sick from birth. It didn’t eat. It didn’t absorb
anything. It remained dehydrated and didn’t gain any weight," she
said.
Its Sylmar-area owners raise chimpanzees for the movie business.
They normally have their baby chimps examined by pediatricians but
couldn’t reach any of the pediatricians who normally work with them
on Saturday.
They turned to the hospital as a last resort, calling ahead to
see if treatment would be possible and passing through an empty
corridor leading to the vacant examination room with the sick baby
primate.
The doctors "gave it fluids, sort of stabilized it and sent it
home." But the chimpanzee returned for a second emergency room
visit about half an hour later and died, she said.
Preliminary results of routine laboratory work indicates the
infant chimp was suffering from dehydration, but no infection. An
autopsy has been ordered and "we anticipate nothing infectious will
show up," Skolnick said.
Skolnick said she wrote an internal report on Wednesday
summarizing her findings, produced in conjunction with Dr. Glenn
Mathisen, the hospital’s chief of infectious diseases.
"There was no blood, body fluid splashes, needle sticks,"
Skolnick said. "The infection risk we believe is as low as we can
say."
The incident has raised questions inside and outside the San
Fernando Valley hospital. Sharon Wanglin, a spokeswoman for the
county Department of Health Services, said despite the animal’s
grave condition, doctors "were not licensed to treat animals and
should not have done so. I’m sure there are times when a physician
might treat an animal, but my understanding is they should be under
the direction of a veterinarian."
Because the hospital is not licensed to treat animals, "we did
inform the licensing and certification department of Health
Services," Uyeda said.
Berkeley’s Tien may be offered Cabinet post
Reacting to reports that outgoing UC Berkeley Chancellor
Chang-Lin Tien may be offered a place in President Clinton’s
Cabinet, members of the Berkeley campus community said yesterday
that Tien’s charisma would make up for his lack of political
experience.
Tien is one of five prominent leaders targeted by Clinton to
become Secretary of Energy, according to media reports.
If named, Tien would become the first Asian to assume the post
and would succeed incumbent Hazel O’Leary.
As head of the Energy Department, the chancellor would oversee
the operations of more than 25 department research laboratories
within the United States.
Tien was out of town Tuesday and could not reached for
comment.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports