Feds give thumbs down to L.A. hospital |
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Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:43
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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Federal regulators announced Friday they are pulling $200 million in funding from Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, a move that will almost certainly force the medical center that serves one of the city's poorest inner-city neighborhoods to close.The decision was made after the hospital failed two federal inspections, including one last month, in which it was found that 'conditions at the facility have placed the health and safety of patients at great risk,' said Herb Kuhn, the acting deputy administrator for the U.S.. Centers of Medicare and Medical Services.'While some progress has been made, significant problems persist,' Kuhn said in a statement.The federal agency plans to end is hospital provider agreement with King-Harbor on Wednesday.A call to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services was not immediately returned. However, the county had warned that loss of federal funding -- which represents about half the hospital's budget -- would force King-Harbor to close.A contingency plan is already in place to shift patients to other hospitals should King-Harbor close, and officials have said they would try to find a private operator to take over the facility and reopen it, perhaps in a year.The hospital, formerly known as King-Drew, was built after the 1965 Watts riots to bring health care to poor, minority communities in South Los Angeles.In recent years, however, it has been troubled by poor patient care that has been blamed for several deaths.A woman died in May after writhing untreated on the floor of the emergency room lobby for 45 minutes, and in February, a brain tumor patient languished in the emergency room for four days before his family drove him to another hospital for emergency surgery.AP Science Writer Alicia Chang contributed to this story.Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Suburban NY hospital gets reprieve 