Court temporarily blocks closing of Sacramento County's health clinics

rlewis@sacbee.com

Published Thursday, Jul. 01, 2010

A Sacramento Superior Court judge ordered Sacramento County to stop its scheduled cuts to medical programs for the poor. The cuts were supposed to take effect this holiday weekend.
The Board of Supervisors had passed a fiscal year 2010-11 budget that called for the closure of two medical clinics and the halving of services at the one remaining clinic, which treated indigent residents who didn't qualify for other medical coverage. Two indigent residents and Sacramento Loaves and Fishes sued the county over the cuts, which they claimed would put poor residents in danger and lead to inadequate medical care.
On Thursday, Judge Allen Sumner granted the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order in their lawsuit and ordered the county to keep the clinics open.
"It means that the cuts aren't going to go into effect until we have a preliminary injunction hearing," said Stacy Wittorff, an attorney with the Legal Services of Northern California, which is representing the plaintiffs.
Reached by phone Thursday afternoon, interim-County Executive Steve Szalay said he hadn't heard about the court's decision and wasn't sure how it would impact the county.
"We'll be looking at our options," Szalay said.