Loma Linda University Medical Center and Loma Linda University Health Care along with their affiliated organizations have agreed to pay $7.5 million in civil penalties, reimbursements and fees in addition to implementing extensive compliance measures to resolve allegations that their employees unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste, medical waste, and confidential patient information at facilities throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The $7.5 million settlement was worked out between the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, the District Attorney of Riverside County and Loma Linda University Health Care, following an investigation that was ongoing for nearly four years and a two-month long discussion between the party’s with regard to the implication of the information obtained in the course of the probe.
The investigation began in April 2022 and focused on how waste generated at hospitals, clinics, and medical facilities within the Loma Linda University Health network was being identified, handled, stored, and disposed of.
Investigators found numerous instances in which regulated waste was improperly disposed of into regular trash containers destined for municipal landfills. Items that turned up during inspections of landfills in both Riverside and San Bernardino included hazardous pharmaceutical waste, batteries, aerosol cans, medical waste, and documents containing protected health information. It was discovered during the course of that investigation that the healthcare provider unlawfully disposed of hazardous waste, medical waste and confidential patient medical information into dumpsters and bins at Loma Linda health facilities in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, and those containers were emptied into refuse trucks and transported to municipal landfills by the private sector trash haulers that have franchises in Loma Linda and Riverside. The trash handlers penultimately reposited the collected materials into landfills.
In Riverside County, the Loma Linda University Health network operates the Loma Linda University Riverwalk Clinic at 4244 Riverwalk Parkway, Suite 100, the Ear Nose Throat/Head & Neck Surgery Clinic at 4646 Brockton Avenue and a Behavioral Health Clinic at 4095 County Circle Drive. 
As part of the settlement Loma Linda has agreed to take significant steps to prevent future unlawful disposals.
The cavalier dispensing of hazardous medical waste is a glaring departure in the protocol observed by the operations associated with Loma Linda University Medical Center and Loma Linda University Health Care, associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, extending to Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta, Loma Linda University Shared Services, Loma Linda University Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center, Inc., Faculty Physicians and Surgeons of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine. The doctors and other health professionals associated with the university pride themselves and the system they are associated with as embracing a lifestyle or lifestyles that emphasize healthy living and life decisions. Moreover, the professional standards relating to patient confidentiality  within the medical community have been codified in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s privacy rule, referred to colloquially by the acronym HIPAA, which carries the weight of law, requiring that nothing related to an individual’s medical condition or treatment be revealed without the patient’s explicit, written consent or a court order.
According to prosecutors with both counties, documents found at the landfills contained patient health information, and those documents should have been shredded, erased, or otherwise rendered unreadable before disposal.
Under the settlement, Loma Linda University Health will pay $7.5 million, including $6.75 million in civil penalties, $500,000 to reimburse investigative and enforcement costs, and $250,000 to fund environmental projects that benefit California communities.
As part of the settlement, Loma Linda University Health must comply with a permanent injunction prohibiting future violations of California laws governing hazardous waste, medical waste, and the protection of confidential medical information. The settlement also requires the health system to maintain and enhance a comprehensive compliance program. In addition, a $1 million penalty will remain suspended for five years and may be imposed if the health system fails to spend at least $3 million on required compliance measures.
The settlement resolves the allegations without trial and is intended to protect public health, safeguard patient privacy, and ensure compliance with California environmental and healthcare laws. Another consideration in the civil settlement was that it avoids hauling employees with the Loma Linda University Medical, Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, Loma Linda University Medical Center – Murrieta, Loma Linda University and Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center, Inc., ranging from relatively low-standing grounds staff, orderlies, nurses, professors, physicians, surgeons and hospital administrators, several of them held to be pillars of the Loma Linda community into court and charging them criminally.
“During the investigation, Loma Linda University Health cooperated with prosecutors and undertook significant corrective actions, including a system-wide overhaul of its waste management program, modifications to employee training, and improvements to waste handling procedures,” the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office stated.
“Loma Linda remains an excellent community partner in our county, particularly as it pertains to their care, treatment, and expertise in pediatric cases,” San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office Public Affairs Officer Jacqueline Rodriguez said. “We appreciate their cooperation with the district attorney’s offices throughout the investigation.”
This case was handled for Riverside County by Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Lauren R. Martineau of the office’s the environmental protection team. San Bernadino Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Weissman worked in conjunction with her office’s consumer environmental protection unit in pursuing the case.