Representatives of two local hospitals plan to appeal a state finding that they potentially endangered patients' lives after their on-call specialists declined to come in after hours.

Instead, the patients were transferred to other facilities, a process that delayed their treatments, though those generally had been available at the hospitals.

Universal Health Services, which owns and licenses Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar and Rancho Springs Medical Center in Murrieta, was fined last week by the state Department of Public Health for not always having specialists available for emergency room patients. The two hospitals were fined at least $25,000 each for the violations.

The hospital system, according to a state report, failed to provide adequate on-call physician coverage to meet the needs of nine of 56 patients at Inland Valley and of seven of 68 patients at Rancho Springs during an unspecified time frame.

Most of those patients were transferred to other hospitals that could address their needs in a swifter manner, state officials found.

Universal Health's administrators disagree with the findings - and the premise - of the report. In addition to challenging the findings, representatives said they also intended to appeal the financial penalties imposed by the public health department.

"The report and the premise for the citation are incorrect. There is no basis to cite this facility," said Jim Lahana, Universal Health's attorney, referring to both Inland Valley and Rancho Springs in an interview Monday. "The facility has done everything possible to … provide coverage to any patient that comes through the door."

But the state health department's report found that specialists employed by the hospitals sometimes opted against coming in to work to address the needs of emergency room patients. A policy amendment in August 2006 made it no longer mandatory for on-call doctors to head back into the medical centers to treat patients after hours.

Also, the hospitals lack a formal call panel of neurologists and ophthalmologists, among other specialists, prompting the transfer of patients to other facilities, the report states.

Two complaints led officials to investigate, said Department of Public Health spokeswoman, Lea Brooks. Both are anonymous, she said, and were not available to the media Monday.

After reviewing medical records, state officials reported that they found several instances of patients whose treatments were delayed because Inland Valley and Rancho Springs transferred them to other facilities. According to the state report, they include:

• a 26-year-old man who arrived at Inland Valley's emergency room complaining of multiple seizures, but couldn't be helped there because there was "no neurology on-call;"

• a 62-year-old man who complained to Inland Valley emergency room doctors of blindness in his right eye - signs of retinal detachment - but had to be transferred to another facility for a "higher level of ophthalmological care" because "this institution does not have an ophthalmologist on call;" and

• a 77-year-old woman who was found by emergency room doctors at Inland Valley to have bleeding inside of the brain, yet because the on-call neurosurgeon did not come to the hospital, she was transferred to another facility for a "higher level of care."

Lahana, however, contends the hospitals have complied with a state code mandating the specific services that facilities must provide.

"We certainly believe we've complied with those requirements," he said.

- Contact staff writer Brian Eckhouse at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2626, or beckhouse@californian.com.