Ambulance Company Claims O.C. Cities Conspiring To Create Monopolies For Emergency Services
The lawsuits target both cities that run their own ambulance services, as well as cities that have exclusive contracts with competing private companies.
Orange County Register:
A Dozen O.C. Cities Face Lawsuits Over Alleged Ambulance Monopolies
A local ambulance company’s legal battle against what it contends are illegal emergency-service monopolies has expanded to a dozen Orange County cities.In a series of complaints filed over the past month, attorneys for AmeriCare MedServices have demanded jury trials involving a wide swath of local cities, attempting to push municipal officials to open up competitive bidding for ambulance services. Several of the lawsuits target competing CARE Ambulance Services, listing it a co-defendant and alleging that the company “conspired” with the cities to “monopolize the market and exclude other providers.” (Emery, 10/20)
In other news from across the state —
KPBS Public Media:
Toxic Plume In El Cajon Reaches Beneath Mobile Home Park
State and county officials have long had a map that shows an underground plume of the toxic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) stretching from a former aerospace firm in El Cajon for more than a mile toward the county airport, Gillespie Field. An area of high concentration runs beneath a K-5 school, Magnolia Elementary. But the map also shows the plume flows beneath manufactured homes in a mobile home park adjacent to the school. No action and little testing have taken place there — until now. (Lobet, 10/20)
Orange County Register:
Fountain Valley Doctor Accused Of Sexual Misconduct
A Fountain Valley doctor faces possible state Medical Board discipline for alleged sexual misconduct toward a female patient, according to legal documents made public this week. Dr. Arfa Babaknia, who practices family medicine, is accused of “sexual abuse and/or misconduct” stemming from a 2015 visit with a patient who sought treatment for a urinary tract infection. The documents say that Babaknia examined the patient without anyone else in the room and touched her genitals without a medical reason to do so. (Perkes, 10/20)