Emergency Room

Lakewood Regional Medical Center last week joined a small but growing number of Southern California hospitals that allow patients to make emergency room appointments online. In exchange for a fee, instead of sitting in a waiting room wondering how long they'll have to wait, users can show up at the assigned time with the assurance they will be seen within 15 minutes or get their money back. In a region where it's routine for emergency room patients at public hospitals to wait half a day or longer to be treated ?

Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center was forced to divert ambulances away from its emergency room Friday after all 13 of its emergency room nurses called in sick, officials said. The one-day sickout, which union leaders said was organized by the nurses, reflects labor unrest at a county hospital that saw 130 doctors and other health workers dismissed Monday as a cost-cutting measure.

The County Board of Supervisors has allocated $15,000 to the Malibu Emergency Room, a $5,000 increase over last year's funding. Additionally, $5,000 has been reserved for the emergency program operated by Dr. Susan Reynolds for services to county indigents on a fee-for-services basis. The Malibu Emergency Room is the only emergency facility within the 26-mile coastal area between Santa Monica and the Ventura County line.

Most July 4th-centric health warnings involve fireworks and the nightmarish consequences of setting off pyrotechnics -- death, loss of limbs, severe burns, etc. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration wants to warn people that that's not the only potential danger of the weekend. Hospital visits that involve underage drinking jump over the three-day Fourth of July weekend by a lot. On a typical day in July 2008, 502 emergency room visits in the U.S. were linked with underage drinking, according to the Drug Abuse Warning Network, which monitors drug-related hospital emergency department visits in the U.S. But on the weekend of the 4th, those numbers jumped to 938 visits per day, an increase of 87%. "Underage drinking is not a harmless right of passage," said SAMHSA administrator Pamela Hyde in a news release.

The emergency room at Long Beach Naval Hospital will be shut down beginning July 28 because of a shortage of doctors, the Navy has announced. The emergency room will be converted into a 24-hour-a-day sick call station for active military personnel only, said Capt. M. F. Hall. Dependents should seek emergency treatment through CHAMPUS military dependents' insurance, Medicare or private insurance, he said.

Employees and community members worried about the scheduled closure Wednesday of the Westlake Medical Center emergency room plan to rally to save what they say is a vital service. "The community leaders are hoping that, if we get enough support on the day the hospital changes hands, they'll keep it open," said Dr. Frank Gillingham, medical director of the emergency room. The rally is scheduled to begin 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, the day the hospital is expected to become a specialty care facility.

The emergency room at Northridge Hospital Medical Center was closed for an hour Wednesday after fumes coming from a patient who tried to kill himself by drinking poisonous chemicals made some of the staff members sick, authorities said. The unidentified 43-year-old man was brought to the hospital from his home in the 8400 block of Corbin Ave about 2:30 p.m., said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Residents here will lose one of five emergency rooms Friday. The 2-year-old Bakersfield Heart Hospital can't survive without cutting its emergency room, which is losing as much as $500,000 a month, Chief Executive Randy Rolfe said. The hospital, which receives about 25 to 30 patients daily, blames the losses on the failure of insurance company PacifiCare to pay patient claims. The hospital has filed suit against PacifiCare, which denies it is the problem. Trial is scheduled for June 3.

Two women cleaning a garage set off a tear gas canister Tuesday, and their contaminated clothing prompted closure of the hospital emergency room where they were treated. The emergency room at Downey Community Hospital remained closed more than three hours after the women were brought in. Emergency workers suffered eye irritation from the gas, a hospital spokeswoman said.