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.