just the other night I was being told by some stupid Bush supporter
that America has the best medical care in the world, "second to none"
I think the stupid a.s said.. gee, I'd hate to think how bad it is
elsewhere if this is "second to none"

just the other night I was being told by some stupid Bush supporter
that America has the best medical care in the world, "second to none"
I think the stupid a.s said.. gee, I'd hate to think how bad it is
elsewhere if this is "second to none"

There is absolutely NO EXCUSE WHATSOEVER for a hospital to allow
a PATIENT TO DIE ON THE WAITING ROOM FLOOR and have the staff
IGNORE her as SHE DIES IN AGONY! People *must* go to prison for this,
this is no less than murder through neglect.

She did not have insurance.  Let her lie there -- better yet, drag her
outside so she doesn't take up space that could be used by a paying
customer.

(page is down on site, here's Google cache of it:
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:0gClOyB1LeEJ:go.sosd.com/servlet/nrp%3Fcmd%3
Dsty%26cid%3DRIM%26pgn%3D1%26ino%3D1159823%26cat%3DCalifornia%26lno%3D5+king+dre
w+medical+center+perforated+bowel

Pressure to shut L.A.'s King hospital after woman dies on ER floor By
Robert Jablon ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:24 p.m. June 13, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- 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.

Juan Ponce told KABC-TV Wednesday that he was ignored after initially
being seen by a doctor.

"He never come back," he said in broken English.

"Better they change the hospital ... fast," Ponce said.

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 3½ 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.

AP Television Senior Producer Steve Fluty contributed to this report.

Sponsored Links (ASSOCIATED PRESS

5:24 p.m. June 13, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- 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.

Juan Ponce told KABC-TV Wednesday that he was ignored after initially
being seen by a doctor.

"He never come back," he said in broken English.

"Better they change the hospital ... fast," Ponce said.

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 3½ 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.

AP Television Senior Producer Steve Fluty contributed to this report.

Sponsored Links)

06/14 9:11 AM

LOS ANGELES -- 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.

Juan Ponce told KABC-TV Wednesday that he was ignored after initially
being seen by a doctor.

"He never come back," he said in broken English.

"Better they change the hospital ... fast," Ponce said.

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.