Pressure to shut LA's King hospital after woman dies on ER floor
Jun 13, 2007 8:28 PM
By ROBERT JABLON, AP
Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, once a symbol of hope in the
inner city, struggled Wednesday to survive amid new reports of breakdowns
in
patient care, the replacement of its chief medical officer and an
ultimatum
to correct long-running problems or close.
The treatment of a woman who was ignored as she died on the floor of the
emergency room last month "was callous, it was a horrible thing," Los
Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Burke said.
Earlier this week, the county Board of Supervisors grilled health
officials
about conditions at the public hospital and ordered them to return in two
weeks with a plan to deal with a hospital shutdown if it is unable to
correct deficiencies laid out in a federal inspection that concluded
emergency room patients were in "immediate jeopardy."
The federal decision was based, in part, on a report that in February a
man
with a brain tumor waited four days in the emergency room when he needed
to
be transferred to another facility for lifesaving brain surgery.
After the inspection last week, the federal Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services gave the hospital 23 days to correct problems or face a
loss of federal funding that provides much of its budget. That could force
it to close.
Burke said the county-run hospital, which handles 49,000 emergency
patients
a year, is a crucial facility and efforts should be made to keep it open
because nearby hospitals could not handle the load.
"I can't tell you whether it can be fixed but ... the community can not
stand to lose another emergency room," she said.
Dr. Roger Peeks, the hospital's chief medical officer, was placed on
"ordered absence" Monday and replaced on an interim basis by Dr. Robert
Splawn, the county Department of Health Services' senior medical director.
Health department spokesman Michael Wilson confirmed the change but
declined
to elaborate Wednesday, citing privacy requirements involving personnel
matters.
Health officials are "doing everything in our power to help MLK-Harbor
meet
national standards," Dr. Bruce Chernof, director and chief medical officer
of health department, said in a statement.
In a report to the supervisors on Tuesday, Chernof said quality of care
had
improved but warned that there was no "roadmap" for what he called the
most
difficult effort to "reinvent a failing hospital" ever undertaken in the
United States.
The hospital has served "thousands of patients well and a few very
poorly,"
he said.
Weeding out poor nursing has been a major issue. Chernof reported that 47
percent of the hospital's licensed vocational nurses failed recent nursing
skills tests initially, although most passed after retraining.
The hospital, formerly known as Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical
Center,
was built in unincorporated Willowbrook several years after the 1965 Watts
riot to provide badly needed medical care in the South Los Angeles area.
However, it has been cited more than a dozen times in 3 1/2 years for
inadequate care that has led to patient deaths and injuries.
The facility, already downsized in a multimillion-dollar reform effort,
came
under renewed scrutiny with release of 911 calls seeking help for a woman
who lay dying and unattended on the floor of the emergency room last
month.
Edith Isabel Rodriguez, 43, died of a perforated bowel on May 9. Her death
was ruled accidental by the county coroner's office.
Relatives said she lay in pain for 45 minutes before dying, and Chernof
has
termed the delay "inexcusable."
A security camera may have recorded the scene but the tape was not being
made public because of state laws on patient privacy, Wilson said
Wednesday.
"We know we have the responsibility to make sure justice is done for our
mother," said Rodriguez's son, Edmundo Rodriguez, 25.
In his report to county supervisors, Chernof said the hospital violated
requirements to medically screen the woman. The person who failed to
arrange
the examination resigned and others in the emergency room were "counseled
and written findings placed in their personnel files," his report said.
Rodriguez's boyfriend, Jose Prado, used a pay phone outside the hospital
to
call 911 and told a dispatcher, through a Spanish interpreter: "My wife is
dying and the nurses don't want to help her out."
A second 911 call was placed eight minutes later by a woman bystander. The
dispatcher argued with the woman over whether there really was an
emergency,
refused to call paramedics to take Rodriguez to another hospital and
eventually cut off the call.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said the department was
reviewing the handling of the 911 calls by two dispatchers from its
Century
station.
http://www.examiner.com/a-779503~Pressure_to_shut_LA_s_King_hospital_after_woman_dies_on_ER_floor.html
Board threatens to close King Harbor
Published: June 13, 2007 at 11:05 PM
LOS ANGELES, June 13 (UPI) -- Los Angeles County's Martin Luther King
Jr.-Harbor Hospital could be closed if patient care does not improve.
Federal inspectors reported last week that emergency room patients were in
"immediate jeopardy" of harm or death, the Los Angeles Times said
Wednesday.
The hospital, which serves some of Los Angeles County's poorest
neighborhoods, was given 23 days to shape up or risk losing federal
funding.
The county board threatened to close the hospital if it can't pass
regulatory muster, the newspaper said.
The board said the hospital's chief medical officer has been replaced and
more than 40 percent of licensed vocational nurses and nursing assistants
failed to pass detailed skills tests on the first try.
Dr. Bruce Chernof, head of the county health department, said there have
been gains in the quality of care.
"I am more confident today than I was six months ago about the care at
MLK-Harbor," he told the board.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/upi/20070613-092957-9263
|
