Martin Luther King Jr Harbor Hospital

Los Angeles County supervisors have agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the children of Edith Rodriguez, the woman who died after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the waiting-room floor of Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Rodriguez's death nearly two years ago attracted national attention, becoming a symbol of an indifferent emergency system.

Some health experts and community leaders have criticized news that a small private hospital is the prime -- and perhaps only -- candidate for the contract to reopen Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital, signaling possible continuing hurdles to reestablishing a hospital for the county's most underserved communities.

It made news around the world, hard evidence of an American public hospital's indifference to a dying patient. Edith Isabel Rodriguez writhed for 45 minutes on the floor of the emergency room lobby at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital as staffers walked past and a janitor mopped around her. Her boyfriend called 911 from a pay phone outside the hospital, pleading futilely for help.

Los Angeles County supervisors continued Tuesday to refuse to release details about 17 employees who worked at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital despite having serious criminal histories or lying about their records. After 16 of the workers were suspended two weeks ago, Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke said one of the employees had been convicted of rape.

At least 19 Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital employees will be fired and 45 others disciplined after a breakdown in vetting allowed scores of people with criminal records to remain on staff even after background checks indicated their past crimes, Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday.

Mark Ridley-Thomas vowed to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital as he was sworn in Monday as Los Angeles County's newest supervisor. Ridley-Thomas, a former state senator, plans to appear outside the Willowbrook facility this morning to announce details of how the county can reach a January 2010 goal to restore hospital services.

For six months, Los Angeles County supervisors have courted the University of California as their last, best hope to reopen Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Then Mark Ridley-Thomas was sworn in this week as the newest board member. He immediately signaled that, as far as the troubled hospital in his district is concerned, he wants to be considered the first among equals. Ridley-Thomas' arrival changes the dynamic on one of the board's longest-running and most vexing problems.

Four months into a radical overhaul of the former Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center near Watts, the long-troubled hospital shrinks to its smallest size today. The restructured medical center, renamed Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, has been scaled down to just 48 beds, including six for obstetrics. Plans call for the hospital to grow to 120 beds -- far fewer than the 233 it once had.

Officials with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science announced Tuesday they will sue Los Angeles County for $125 million, claiming breach of contract when the county cut ties between the medical school and a faltering county hospital near Watts late last year. Calling the termination of support to 248 medical residents a "callous betrayal," school officials charged that the recent restructuring of the facility, now known as Martin Luther King Jr.

As county health officials lobby Washington to extend crucial, about-to-expire federal funding for Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, they also face the possibility of permanently losing 250 medical resident slots.