King medical chief is ousted; nursing woes are disclosed
In new signs of turmoil at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, officials said Tuesday the chief medical officer had been replaced and more than 40% of licensed vocational nurses and nursing assistants recently failed initial skills tests.
The disclosures came as the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, grappling with federal findings that the hospital continues to endanger patients, bluntly discussed preparations for possible closure of the public facility.
After grilling health department officials about recent patient care breakdowns, including the case of a woman who writhed in pain on a lobby floor for 45 minutes and later died, the board ordered health officials to return in two weeks with contingency plans to close the hospital if it can't pass regulatory muster.
Supervisor Gloria Molina, who pushed for the shutdown plan to be prepared, was openly skeptical about assurances that much of the hospital medical staff has been retrained under a sweeping reform package adopted by the board last fall.
"We are playing Russian roulette with everybody that is right now waiting in that emergency room," Molina said.
Molina and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky acknowledged that in previous weeks they had discussed contingency plans for the hospital in closed session, even though such discussions were not, as is required by law, listed on agendas for those meetings.
Federal inspectors last week said emergency room patients were in "immediate jeopardy" of harm or death. King-Harbor was given 23 days to shape up or risk losing federal funding.
As supervisors contemplated a worst-case scenario, Dr. Bruce Chernof, head of the county health department, said the hospital could weather the current crisis and earn the approvals needed to keep its doors open.
"In spite of what you have heard and what has been said, there have been gains in the quality of care," Chernof told board members. "I am more confident today than I was six months ago about the care at MLK-Harbor."
Turning around King-Harbor, which serves some of the county's poorest neighborhoods and has been an icon for many African Americans in Watts and Willowbrook, is among the toughest challenges faced by health officials anywhere in the country, Chernof said in a report to the board. The facility has served "thousands of patients well and a few very poorly" in recent months, he wrote, despite daunting challenges.
