SAN JOSE — The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is alleging that the South Bay’s three county-run hospitals are improperly disposing medical waste including human flesh, high-grade narcotics like fentanyl, and even patient records into its normal unsecured garbage streams.
Thursday, District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced plans to file civil litigation against the county over the alleged practices.
“The county’s health and hospital system is run with taxpayer dollars,” 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 hospitals targeted in the investigation were Valley Medical Center, O’Connor Hospital and St. Louise Regional Hospital. The DA’s office contends that even after officials for the hospitals were alerted to the waste mishandling earlier in the year, the illicit practices persisted.
Violations reportedly discovered by DA investigators — who in November 2023 began clandestinely inspecting the hospitals’ garbage after it left the facilities — included biohazardous waste not being separated into special red bags and incinerated, but instead discarded along with regular garbage, contaminating the trash and creating exposure risks for waste handlers.
Related Articles
San Jose: Suspect arrested in Halloween night shooting
Judge denies Santa Clara Vice Mayor Anthony Becker’s request to throw out case
San Jose: One arrested, one sought in fatal 2021 shooting in Cadillac-Winchester neighborhood
Former girlfriend of Stanford professor denounces dismissal of domestic violence case
Campbell man arrested after alleged DUI hit-and-run
Within the inspected garbage, investigators claimed to have found human tissue, vials of blood, prescription drugs, fentanyl, antibiotics and anesthetics, batteries and electronic waste and assorted liquid and solid hazardous waste. They also reported finding “hundreds of documents and labels with unredacted personal patient information.”
Prosecutors estimate that based on eight inspections, tens of thousands of medical and hazardous waste items were illegally disposed in the past year, exposing the county to civil fines of up to $70,000 for each instance of illegal hazardous waste disposal and $10,000 for each instance involving medical waste.
The DA’s office is separately investigating similar violations at Regional Medical Center — which the county intends to purchase and add to its public health system — and is negotiating with its owner HCA Healthcare over enforcement actions.
There are unavoidable political undertones to the investigation: Earlier this year as the county budget was being set, Rosen publicly criticized the county for proposing sharp cuts to his office, and juxtaposed it against the county’s major investments in the hospital system. He lamented that essential services were being unfairly slashed when carving away a small portion of the healthcare funding would have kept his office whole.
Ultimately, the county eased the budget crunch on the DA’s office.
Anyone with information for investigators about improper hospital waste disposal can email StopMedicalWaste@dao.sccgov.org.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
