Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center and its parent company Adventist Health face a laundry list of 23 complaints, including allegations of wrongful death, elder abuse, medical battery, and negligence after an elderly and cognitively impaired man was taken from his home and treated in the hospital, which a lawsuit claims contributed to his demise.
Filed by the deceased Phillip Baker’s sons, granddaughter, and his power of attorney, Alice Wysocki, on Dec. 30, 2025, the lawsuit also points fingers at San Luis Obispo County, Department of Social Services Director Devin Drake, and a slew of doctors, nurses, social workers, and Adult Protective Services staff.
Adventist Health and the county told New Times they couldn’t comment on pending litigation. County Counsel Jon Ansolabehere added that the county hadn’t been formally served with the complaint as of Jan. 6.
According to the complaint, Adult Protective Services and sheriff’s deputies transported Baker to Sierra Vista without consent in May 2025 after a neighbor claimed abuse.
“Beginning on May 21, 2025, Dr. Baker was restrained to a bed, in a locked emergency department (ED) for more than twenty-four hours,” the complaint said. “During this time Dr. Baker was without a lawful advocate, without food, water, or his assistive devices, despite three ED providers documenting a condition which was ‘essentially unremarkable’ and recording that ‘there is no medical indication for admission.’”
The complaint added that the hospital staff had an incomplete understanding of Baker’s medical history, subsequently choosing “dangerous and inappropriate” treatment for him.
Baker’s condition rapidly deteriorated, leaving him struggling with issues like loss of mobility and speech and organ failure, the lawsuit states. Plaintiffs claimed that Baker was unlawfully confined for 35 days, saying that it was only when his power of attorney, Wysocki, sought an emergency order from the SLO Superior Court that Adventist Health agreed to release Baker into hospice care.
The complaint says that hospital staff initially ignored Wysocki holding power of attorney and blocked her from speaking to him for weeks. Instead, staff allegedly worked with Adult Protective Services to control his care without court permission.
“Plaintiff Wysocki alleges that [a licensed clinical social worker] stated, while
Plaintiff Wysocki was emotionally distraught and sobbing, just moments after learning
of Dr. Baker’s pathology results, ‘Oh, Alice, sometimes we just know someone is an abuser, even if we can’t prove it.’”
Following the court order, Baker returned home more than a month later at the end of June 2025. He lost consciousness within hours and died a day later. His official cause of death was listed as sepsis.
An unspecified misdemeanor charge was filed against Wysocki in connection with the same abuse allegations involving Baker, according to the complaint. Prosecutors allegedly dismissed that charge in September 2025. Wysocki is scheduled to appear in February 2026 for an evidentiary hearing, which allows for the finding of factual innocence and provides for the sealing and destruction of arrest records.
“Hundreds of accusations of felony abuse against Plaintiff Wysocki remain
memorialized in Dr. Baker’s permanent medical records where they will forever remain unverified, uncharged, and legally unfounded,” the complaint said.
The case management conference for the Adventist Health litigation is scheduled for May 4, 2026. ∆
This article appears in Jan 8-15, 2026.