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Puliafito Evening 7/28
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California Today: The Golden State, From Above
Jul 28, 2017 | New York Times
By Mike McPhate
The story is included in the New York Times "California Today" roundup of news. Relevant portion included below. -
City, Police Clarify Positions on Former USC Medical School Dean Incident
Jul 28, 2017 | Pasadena Now
By Eddie Rivera
The City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Police Department have pushed back against the implications of a series of recent Los Angeles Times articles which seem to posit that City and Police officials may have covered up by failing to properly report and act on an incident in March of last year which involved the former dean of USC Keck Medical School, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito. The year-long investigation by the newspaper resulted in articles which apparently question why Puliafito was not more extensively investigated or arrested on the night he reported the drug overdose of a young woman staying in a Pasadena hotel room he had rented. -
Lurid case in California puts drug screening to the test
Jul 28, 2017 | Crain's Cleveland Business
By Scott Suttell
Dr. Paul Terpeluk, medical director of employee health at the Cleveland Clinic, is quoted extensively in this StatNews.com story about a high-profile case in California that some experts say highlights the potential value of random drug testing.
Traditional Media Coverage
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California Today: The Golden State, From Above
Jul 28, 2017 | New York Times
By Mike McPhate
“We could have done better,” wrote C.L. Max Nikias, the president of the University of Southern California, in a letter sent to faculty, staff and alumni this week.
After more than a week of damaging headlines about the alleged drug use of the former dean of the medical school, Dr. Carmen Puliafito, Mr. Nikias’ lengthy letter appeared to be an attempt to defuse the anger and frustration that many people have directed at the top administration.
Dr. Puliafito resigned from the university last year, saying he was pursuing opportunities. But according to The Los Angeles Times, his resignation came less than a month after he was in a hotel room where a woman overdosed and police found methamphetamines.
The university now admits that the president’s office received a call about the incident, but said it never reached top administrators.
The president did not go on to elaborate about what could have been done differently, but wrote that there were “only loosely defined procedures and guidelines for dealing with employee behavior outside the workplace.”
A task force led by the provost and the senior vice president for administration will try to answer a long list of questions Mr. Nikias addressed in the letter, including: “How do we get a fuller account of the record of those hired for sensitive positions, and better assess them appropriately on an ongoing basis?”
But Mr. Nikias does not yet to appear to be in any danger of losing support from the people he answers to. John Mork, the chair of the U.S.C. Board of Trustees, released a statement Wednesday saying he had the “utmost confidence and trust” in the president’s ability to “lead U.S.C. through this challenging time and move the university forward.”
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City, Police Clarify Positions on Former USC Medical School Dean Incident
Jul 28, 2017 | Pasadena Now
By Eddie Rivera
The City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Police Department have pushed back against the implications of a series of recent Los Angeles Times articles which seem to posit that City and Police officials may have covered up by failing to properly report and act on an incident in March of last year which involved the former dean of USC Keck Medical School, Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito. The year-long investigation by the newspaper resulted in articles which apparently question why Puliafito was not more extensively investigated or arrested on the night he reported the drug overdose of a young woman staying in a Pasadena hotel room he had rented.
In that incident, the woman was subsequently transported to Huntington Hospital and released the following morning, at which time she rejoined Puliafito, according to the newspaper.
A related Los Angeles Times story revealed the unnamed officer had not filed “a required report on the overdose … until three months later,” and said it “remained unclear if the department followed up on its investigation after questioning Puliafito at the hospital.”
Following the publication of an article in the Times on July 17 detailing the incident, City Manager Steve Mermell initially said in an email to the City Council that the Times’ account of the conduct of the officer who responded to the overdose call by the hotel staff ‘reflects poorly on the city and the Pasadena Police Department.’”
However Mermell updated his earlier statement on Thursday, telling Pasadena Now that the email “to the City Council was based on information that I had at the time.”
“My review of the incident has since documented that our officer properly seized evidence; took and filed a property report; that he recorded and preserved an interview with Dr. Puliafito and he spoke with hotel employees about the overdose situation,” Mermell said. “I agree with our Chief of Police that an incident report should have been prepared at the time and our Police Department has taken positive steps to ensure such reports will be written in a more timely manner. Police work, by its very nature, is difficult and I commend the good work of the men and women of the Pasadena Police Department.”
Asked if he had found any evidence that indicated that the officer on the scene knew who Dr. Puliafito was during the time of the incident, and decided to cover up some wrongdoing on behalf of Puliafito, Mermell said, “no.”
Asked if he had found any evidence one way or the other of any wrongdoing on the part of the officer on the scene, Mermell again answered, “no.”
On Tuesday, the City took the unusual step of releasing to the media both audio files and minimally-redacted documents relating to the incident.
According to one law expert, there was no reason for Pasadena police to further investigate or arrest Puliafito the evening of the incident, since, legally, he had committed no crime.
Lora Thomas, Deputy State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said the California 911 Good Samaritan law ensures that people aren’t punished for doing the right thing in cases where a life is at stake.
As Thomas explained, “Anyone who is at the scene of an overdose, or witnesses an overdose, and calls 911 or otherwise contacts emergency services to ensure that the person who has overdosed is taken care of, is given some limited immunity from prosecution for drug possession or paraphernalia possession.”
The law was enacted in response to the drug overdose of actor/comedian John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose at the Chateau Marmont hotel in March, 1982, after being injected by Catherine Smith with a fatal dose of heroin and cocaine. Smith served 15 months in state prison, and said at the time she did not call paramedics because she was afraid of getting in trouble.
“Specifically,” said Thomas, “Police can’t arrest people who call in, for drug possession or paraphernalia possession.”
Thomas added that the law only provides immunity from prosecution for a limited set of charges related mostly to drug possession and paraphernalia possession.
Police Chief Phillip L. Sanchez said following the incident, that police usually do not arrest victims who are hospitalized for overdosing on drugs or alcohol; nor do they automatically arrest or cite people who report an overdose or who are at the hospital with an overdose victim. Also, according to Sanchez, there was, and still is, no evidence in the possession of the Pasadena Police Department that Dr. Puliafito committed a crime the night of March 4, 2016 in Pasadena.
In addition, the 1.16 grams of methamphetamine found inside the unoccupied hotel room were not in anyone’s physical possession, limiting any value as possible evidence for prosecution.
“The officer filled out a property report that night,” said Sanchez, “and he preserved the evidence and documented the confiscation of methamphetamine in a timely manner. The officer also conducted and recorded an interview of Dr. Puliafito, correctly preserving his statement and ultimately writing a report on June 8, 2016. “
Sanchez also noted the Pasadena Police Department regularly makes arrests and/or issues misdemeanor citations for even small quantities of illegal drugs, including methamphetamines. In those cases, the officers had either found the persons to be in direct physical possession of the drugs or they were able to show a link between the persons and the drugs sufficient enough to support an arrest or citation, he said.
“Had officers arrived at a drug party where possession and consumption of illegal narcotics was clearly visible, or if this had been a fatal overdose, the law enforcement response would have been very different,” said Sanchez.
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Lurid case in California puts drug screening to the test
Jul 28, 2017 | Crain's Cleveland Business
By Scott Suttell
Dr. Paul Terpeluk, medical director of employee health at the Cleveland Clinic, is quoted extensively in this StatNews.com story about a high-profile case in California that some experts say highlights the potential value of random drug testing.
The case concerns Dr. Carmen Puliafito, the University of Southern California eye surgeon and former medical school dean who lost those jobs, as The Los Angeles Times revealed, as the result of methamphetamine use, partying in the dean's office and his presence at the scene of a 21-year-old's overdose.
It prompts StatNews.com to ask: Could it all have been prevented by random drug testing?
Drug testing is fairly common in a lot of industries, but hospitals "have been resistant to embrace the practice," according to the story.
The Clinic, though, is an exception, having instituted random drug testing for all employees in January 2016.
"We're a health care organization and we consider basically every job at the Cleveland Clinic to be a safety-sensitive job," Terpeluk says. "We don't believe people who work in those positions should be under the influence of drugs."
He tells the news service that the random testing policy has led to the discovery of drug use by employees, though he declined to elaborate on the number of positive results.
If there is a positive result, Terpeluk says, the clinic's policy is to provide treatment to the employee. "Rather than fire people, we try to help them and get them back to work as soon as possible," he said.
If the employee with a positive result is a licensed clinician, the Clinic "is obligated to report positive results to the state medical authorities, who run an independent process to determine whether the caregiver should be fined or have their license suspended or revoked," StatNews.com notes.
"We feel good this program is in effect and helping to identify people who may have a problem," Terpeluk says.
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