By Chellis Ying

Guardian photo by Lori Spears Old-school doc: Dr. Richard Rider regularly treated the poor at his California Pacific Medical Center office before being evicted.

Rider, 81, has been caring for low-income people for more than 50 years. Up to three-quarters of his patients are enrolled in Medi-Cal or Medicare. And for the past 35 years he has been working out of Suite 338 at the Davies campus of the California Pacific Medical Center. He has renewed his lease 10 times without difficulty.

But in March, Rider received word that he would have to move out of his office this summer. "Given the long-term needs of CPMC and its physicians, your lease will not be renewed," CPMC medical director Dr. Allan Pont wrote.

Pont didn't return the Bay Guardian's calls for comment, but CPMC spokespeople told us the hospital is reorganizing office space as it undergoes seismic improvements required by the state. Rider's space, they said, was needed for another physician.

Rider and some of his patients don't buy the explanation – and fear he is being targeted because of the clientele he serves.

Ray Guiducci has been seeing Rider for four years – ever since Guiducci was hit with a hammer to the head. He lay near the Berkeley BART station for several hours before his body was discovered. By the end of the ordeal, he had severe brain damage, and he soon lost his job and his home.

As a Medi-Cal holder, Guiducci found himself unable to find the proper treatment – until he went to Rider. He told us Rider saw him every month during his recovery. "Dr. Rider saved my life," said Guiducci, who now has a home and has spent hours contacting public officials and the media about Rider's impending eviction.

Rider – who is the only physician in his building who regularly accepts Medi-Cal patients – told us CPMC, which is run by Sutter Health, seems more interested in accommodating neurosurgeons and other high-end specialists than traditional doctors like him.

"Last October, Dr. Pont suggested that I retire," Rider said. "When he knew that I wouldn't, suddenly they wouldn't renew my lease."

CPMC spokespeople told us the hospital offered to help Rider find a new office, but none of the letters they sent to the doctor say anything of the sort. Meanwhile, as the July 1 deadline for Rider to move approached, he had to undergo major surgery. CPMC granted him a temporary delay, but remained adamant that he vacate as soon as possible because another physician was preparing to move into the space.

Rider told us the urgency seemed peculiar since the suite next to him had been empty for six months. "If a physician needs the space, why don't they move them there?" he said.

Then, on July 8, CPMC spokesperson Chris McMurrey called us to say Rider would be allowed to stay in his office for at least six more months. When asked how this would affect the new physician that was meant to take Rider's place, McMurrey answered, "We have bent over backwards for Dr. Rider. This retrofit is complicated."

When we called Rider for his reaction, he was still packing in preparation for the move. CPMC representatives had not yet informed him of the extension. And though Rider was delighted by the news, he remained skeptical: "I wonder why they have not told me."

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