Judge grants restraining order in Wagner Clinic case

By Dennis Gale
Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS -- A federal judge has ordered that the emergency room at the Wagner Indian Health Services Clinic remain open.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol of Sioux Falls has granted a temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo at the facility.

On Thursday, the tribe sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Indian Health Service and several officials, protesting the government's plan to close the emergency room, change it to an urgent care facility and reduce the hours and levels of service.

Plans had called for the emergency room to close Saturday night. IHS officials had said there was not enough funding to continue.

Piersol issued his order late Friday afternoon.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Charles Abourezk, cites provisions of the U.S. Constitution, 1851 and 1858 treaties with the Sioux and various federal laws.

It contains statistics showing that the people who use IHS facilities have a shorter life expectancy and a much greater chance of dying from injuries, accidents, diseases and crimes.

The IHS also had proposed closing the emergency room in 1994, and the tribe got the federal court to issue an injunction and order the government to tell Congress about the impact of closing 24-hour emergency room services at the Wagner IHS facility, the lawsuit said.

A report was submitted more than three years later but did not delineate the specific impact of the emergency room closure, the court document said.

Several proposed deadlines to close the emergency room have come and gone since then, the lawsuit said.

A consultant's report in 2005 said lives have been saved at the emergency room and that lives could be lost if it closed, contradicting conclusions in the 1977 government report, according to the court document.

Another report cited in the 27-page lawsuit said that the Wagner Community Memorial Hospital emergency room would not be able to take up the slack if the IHS emergency room closed.

According to minutes of a telephonic court hearing Friday afternoon, Diana Ryan of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Sioux Falls said she was worried about being able to reach the appropriate people to tell them about the restraining order.

Piersol told her that if the government didn't comply with his order, a contempt of court hearing would be held on Monday.

Meanwhile, Sen. Tim Johnson said he's introducing a provision for $500,000 within the coming year's Health and Human Services spending bill to fund emergency room services at the Wagner facility. The provision is co-sponsored by Senator John Thune.