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.
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