Los Angeles County government leaders blamed their own employees for many of the problems that forced the closure of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, the notoriously troubled public medical center near Watts. Some workers had neglected patients. Others had gone missing for months. So when the hospital ended inpatient and emergency operations last August, county supervisors promised to "wipe the slate clean" of problem employees.
But a Times review of personnel data and disciplinary appeals shows that at least 22 employees with significant disciplinary histories at King either still work at what remains of the facility -- several outpatient clinics -- or have been reassigned to other county hospitals. Exactly how many problem employees from King are on the job remains a mystery.
After receiving an information request from The Times, county officials said they discovered that a computer glitch had destroyed electronic records used to track where disciplined King workers were sent after the hospital's closure.
King hospital employee: An article in the California section on July 3 about Los Angeles County's effort to discipline employees of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital incorrectly reported the year in which John Henderson, a former clerk in King's morgue, is alleged in records maintained by the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission to have accepted payments for steering families of people who died in the hospital to a private mortuary. According to those commission records, Henderson's alleged dealings with the private mortuary had occurred in 2005, not last year, as the article had stated.
Some members of the Board of Supervisors expressed dismay at The Times' findings, saying they showed that the board had failed to make good on its pledge a year ago. "It frankly sticks in my craw that we have not been able to deal with the people who personified the culture that caused King to close," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said. "We have not fulfilled our promise to clean things up."
The Times conducted its own review by comparing a roster of former and current King workers against a list of employees who have filed appeals of disciplinary actions with the Civil Service Commission. The picture is incomplete because, although such appeals are public records, many disciplined workers never file one.
According to Civil Service records, among the workers who remain on duty are:
* Danielle Jordan, a nursing attendant suspended in 2005 for sleeping while she was assigned to keep watch over patient heart monitors. Healthcare officials noted that her behavior occurred while the hospital was under "serious scrutiny" by state and federal regulators and "could have had frightening consequences" for patients.
