Feds Say Los Angeles Hospital Endangered Patients
Federal health officials determined a hospital had jeopardized the lives of its emergency room patients and threatened to cut off funding if the problems are not fixed in 23 days.
LOS ANGELES --
Federal health officials determined a hospital had jeopardized the lives of its emergency room patients and threatened to cut off funding if the problems are not fixed in 23 days.
The review was conducted following a report in the Los Angeles Times about a woman writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the floor of the emergency room lobby at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital without receiving medical attention in May. She later died.
Inspectors also were looking into another case from this year in which a man with a brain tumor waited four days in the hospital's emergency room when he needed to be transferred to another facility for life-saving brain surgery.
The hospital has been cited more than a dozen times over the past 3 1/2 years for inadequate care that has led to patient deaths and injuries.
Hospital officials and supervisors at the Los Angeles County Department of Health have insisted that the hospital is improving. Inspectors are to visit the hospital again next month.
Even if the issues cited in Thursday's inspection are dealt with, the hospital could still lose its federal certification. That is because the hospital did not meet the terms of an agreement with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that called for the hospital to adhere to Medicare's basic standards.
State and federal regulators were expected to issue their formal, written findings next week.
"We are disappointed with these findings given the extensive efforts to reform the hospital, but the issues identified are correctable within the time limits" set by the Medicare regulators, said Dr. Bruce Chernoff, director and chief medical officer of the county Health Department, in a statement.
It has faced the risk of losing its federal certification and funding before, but has been able to avoid it. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has intervened in the past to keep the hospital certified.
The Board of Supervisors has said the county cannot continue operating King-Harbor long term without federal funding. Without another solution, they have said, the hospital could be forced to close.
News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.
