Downey Regional Medical Center has told Los Angeles County officials it might close its emergency room, threatening to become the 10th hospital to cut those services since 2003 as they struggle with the cost of treating the uninsured.
If the medical center follows through, it would be the largest emergency room to close in recent years, further straining the county's already overstretched emergency medical system.
The county has lost emergency rooms that treated nearly 136,000 patients a year, but state figures show that the Downey facility alone saw 46,307 emergency patients last year.
If the hospital closes, already crowded hospitals in Whittier and Bellflower would have to absorb those patients, county officials said.
"It's going to be horrible," said Carol Meyer, the county's head of emergency services. "Our emergency system is falling apart."
On Tuesday, the private nonprofit hospital appealed to the county Board of Supervisors for financial aid to help cover the cost of treating poor patients. But supervisors rejected the idea and expressed concern that paying Downey could lead to a run of other hospitals looking for help. The county is facing its own financial crisis in healthcare, stemming from the cost of treating the uninsured. The Department of Health Services is expected to plunge into the red by nearly $1 billion in three years.
"I don't know how you could ask us to subsidize a private nonprofit," Supervisor Gloria Molina said. "Every single hospital would line up, because they have the same situation as you do."
A closure or significant reduction in emergency services at the 199-bed center could be catastrophic for some patients, said Dr. Jack Kennis, associate director of the hospital's emergency care center.
Two weeks ago, he said, an ambulance brought in a 6-year-old boy who had choked on a hot dog. His heart and breathing had stopped, but doctors and nurses were able to resuscitate him because he had arrived quickly, Kennis said.
"If this facility were not here, the patient might have died," he said.
The issue facing the hospital is one that has hit private medical centers throughout the region as jammed public hospitals turn patients away. A recent study commissioned by the Hospital Assn. of Southern California found that the number of uninsured patients visiting the county's private emergency rooms has risen by a third in the last five years. About 2.25 million residents lack health insurance in the county, which has one of the highest percentages of uninsured of any major U.S. metropolitan region. Most are employed but work at jobs that do not provide health insurance. Illegal immigrants account for about 20%.
