A private health company plans to reduce lifesaving care at an East San Jose hospital as it expands another hospital in a wealthier part of the city.
HCA Healthcare is increasing the number of acute care beds at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose’s Cambrian neighborhood on the West Side, close to Los Gatos. Company representatives said the expansion is driven by state mandates to bring the campus up to seismic standards — with 200,000 square feet of new office space. At the same time, HCA is downgrading trauma, heart attack and stroke care at Regional Medical Center on the East Side, where there are more Vietnamese and Latino residents — and uninsured patients .
Community health advocates led a caravan of cars adorned in protest signs from Regional Medical Center to Good Samaritan on Thursday, and protested outside Regional the day before. Improving one hospital while divesting from another leaves more questions than answers for resident Lupe Friaz, who recently rushed her brother, who lives on the East Side, to Regional to save him from a stroke.