President of the LA County Medical Association
President of the Los Angeles County Medical Association, a professional association representing physicians in Los Angeles County; orthopedic surgeon based at Kaiser
PROFILE
Ralph Di Libero
Guest
FROM Ralph Di Libero
Which Way, L.A.?
King Harbor Hospital on Life Support Closing down LA County’s King/Harbor hospital once seemed unthinkable. Yesterday, Los Angeles County Supervisors asked the health department to draw up contingency plans. After years of substandard care and needless deaths, the federal government has threatened to withdraw their half of the budget. After pleas for delay and promises to retrain the staff, more than 40% of licensed vocational nurses failed to pass tests on their professional skills. The incident that best dramatizes conditions at King/Harbor is the videotaped death of a woman who writhed on the floor while hospital staff ignored her. Edith Isabel Rodriguez was buried yesterday in Tehachapi.
Which Way, L.A.?
Harbor-UCLA to Take Over King/Drew Hospital The King/Drew Medical Center was opened by LA County after the Watts Riots of 1965, to provide much-needed medical care in South Central Los Angeles. But King/Drew has been plagued by years of bad management and inadequate staffing, which led to the unnecessary deaths of an alarming number of patients. Late last month, King/Drew flunked yet another federal inspection , and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid decided to pull out $200 million--half the hospital's budget. Though the hospital won't go out of business, it won't be the same, either. County Supervisors today agreed unanimously to put it under the control of Harbor-UCLA , another County facility 10 miles away. How much will medical services be cut back for the people who live in South-Central LA? Will doctors, nurses and other staff be able to keep their jobs? What are the consequences for Harbor-ULCA? We talk with some of the major players.
Recommended
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.