Martin Luther King, Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center
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The Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center, formerly known as Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center (King/Drew), and later Martin Luther King Jr.–Harbor Hospital (MLK–Harbor or King–Harbor), was a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
urgent care center and
outpatient clinic An outpatient department or outpatient clinic is the part of a hospital designed for the treatment of outpatients, people with health problems who visit the hospital for diagnosis or treatment, but do not at this time require a bed or to be admitte ...
and former hospital in Willowbrook, an unincorporated section of Los Angeles County,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, north of the city of Compton and south of the
Watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People *Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' *Watts family, six chara ...
neighborhood of
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. Founded as a major public hospital, it was shut down in August 2007 because of its poor record of patient care. The urgent care center and outpatient clinic, however, remained operating on the site. In 2014, a smaller hospital under a partnership between Los Angeles County and the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
opened as a nonprofit organization governed by a seven-member board of directors.Jennifer Steinhauer
Deal Will Turn a Los Angeles Hospital Private
''The New York Times'', November 23, 2009, Accessed November 23, 2009.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske
UC regents approve partnership with L.A. County to reopen King medical facility
''Los Angeles Times'', November 20, 2009, Accessed November 23, 2009.
MLK Outpatient Center was operated by the
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals. DHS ope ...
. In the 2000s, widely publicized problems related to incompetence and mismanagement caused the hospital to undergo a radical overhaul, which reduced the number of beds from 233 to 42 before it finally closed.Susannah Rosenblatt
Former King/Drew scales down to smallest size
''Los Angeles Times'', March 1, 2007.
Since 2004, 260 hospital staffers, including 41 doctors, had been fired or had resigned as a result of disciplinary proceedings. To alleviate the impact on the community of this large loss of capacity, the Los Angeles County Medical Alert Center contracts ambulances take approximately 250 patients per month to other local hospitals. At the beginning of the 21st century and before its crisis, MLK–MACC (then MLK/Drew) had 537 beds, was the
teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...
of the adjacent Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, spread over a site, which included a dormitory for
medical resident Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...
s, employed 2,238 full-time personnel, and in 2004 treated 11,000 inpatients and 167,000 outpatients. Located near high-crime streets, the hospital had a very active
trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...
unit. In 2003, it handled 2,150 gunshot wounds and other life-threatening injuries. Because of the large number of gunshot wounds the trauma unit saw, the
US military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...
sent their trauma teams to MLK/Drew for training.


History


Founding and early history

The facility's founding was spurred by the 1965 Watts Riots. In the aftermath of the unrest,
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he w ...
appointed a commission to identify factors that contributed to the unrest. This result was the December 1965 McCone Report. One major finding of the report was the lack of healthcare access near the low-income neighborhoods of
South Central Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of downtown. It is "defined on Los Angeles city maps as a ...
. At the time, the closest major public
trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergen ...
was
Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, also known as County/USC, or by the abbreviation LAC+USC (and sometimes still referred to by its former name Los Angeles County General), is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located at 2051 Marengo Street in ...
, located over 10 miles (16 km) away—a problem heightened by the amount of gang violence in the area. In 1966, DHS established a task force to develop a full-service community and teaching hospital operated by the County in conjunction with the USC and
UCLA Medical School The University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine—known as the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA (DGSOM)—is an accredited medical school located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The school was renamed in 2001 in h ...
as well as the newly formed Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, a private nonprofit medical school formed to train doctors to work in areas of urban poverty. Ground was broken on the hospital in April 1968. It was originally named the Los Angeles County Southeast General Hospital but was soon renamed
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
General Hospital, days after the namesake's assassination. After a dedication in February, it opened on March 27, 1972, as a full-service medical center. The facility changed its name again, to Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, when it became the teaching hospital of the adjacent Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. In 1981, the hospital expanded into psychiatric care by opening the
Augustus F. Hawkins Augustus Freeman Hawkins (August 31, 1907 – November 10, 2007) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served in the California State Assembly from 1935 to 1963 and the U.S. House Of Representatives from 1963 to 1991. Over the ...
Mental Health Center. In 1998, it expanded its trauma center. By the 1980s, King/Drew was part of the Drew/UCLA Undergraduate Medical Education Program, training physicians through a partnership of UCLA and Drew medical schools, and was a source of pride and jobs in the community.


The fall of King/Drew

King/Drew entered the 21st century with an array of problems related to incompetence and mismanagement. A perceived lack of quality at the hospital had earned it the nickname of "Killer King."Charles Ornstein and Rich Connell
State moves to revoke King–Harbor's license
''Los Angeles Times'', June 22, 2007.
The facility employed travel nurses from across the country in an attempt to improve conditions.


Troubles come to light

On August 22, 2003, the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' reported that two women connected to cardiac monitors at King/Drew died after their deteriorating
vital signs Vital signs (also known as vitals) are a group of the four to six most crucial medical signs that indicate the status of the body's vital (life-sustaining) functions. These measurements are taken to help assess the general physical health of a ...
went undetected. In December 2003, DHS closed the cardiac monitoring ward at the hospital after a third patient died under questionable circumstances. A consulting group was hired to help fix issues with the nursing staff; DHS spent nearly $1 million on this effort. In a January 13, 2004, report, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determined that King/Drew was out of compliance with minimum requirements for receiving federal funding, citing the work of government inspectors who identified three patients who died at King/Drew after what were determined to have been grave errors by staff members. By March, CMS declared King/Drew patients were in "immediate jeopardy" of harm or death because of medication errors at the hospital, citing numerous mistakes and threatening to pull federal government funding from the public hospital. In June, 2004 CMS again stated that patients were in jeopardy, citing the use of
Taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended t ...
stun guns to subdue psychiatric patients. Yet again, it threatened to pull federal funding but backed away; federal funding made up over half of King/Drew's $400 million operating budget.


Closure of the trauma center

On September 13, 2004, DHS recommended the closure of King/Drew's busy trauma unit, saying the hospital needed to put its full energy into fixing problems in other areas. Soon after, the ''Los Angeles Times'' revealed that the American College of Surgeons had revoked its approval of the quality of King/Drew's trauma unit in 1999 and 2003 because it failed to properly investigate questionable patient deaths, and that doctors routinely skipped meetings held to discuss treatment problems. Also in September, the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...
agreed with CMS to hire a new consulting firm to take over operations at the hospital. By November 2004, neighborhood resistance to the proposed closures (particularly the trauma center) formed, led by
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
Maxine Waters Maxine Moore Waters (née Carr; born August 15, 1938) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, inc ...
and joined by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, actress Angela Bassett, and children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In December 2004, CMS declared King/Drew patients were in "immediate jeopardy" for a third time. This time it cited the staff's heavy reliance on Los Angeles County Police personnel to deploy Tasers to subdue combative and violent psychiatric patients. Federal funds were again threatened, but as in previous times, action was not taken. Despite protests, negative media and the near-unanimous opposition of city political leaders, the five-member Board of Supervisors voted four to zero, with one abstention, to move forward with closure of the trauma center. A
temporary restraining order An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
was filed by a group of doctors and residents, but was denied. The trauma unit was closed in early 2005. Patients were diverted to three other hospitals, both public and private (with county subsidy). A few days later, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (now simply the
Joint Commission The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) organization that accredits more than 22,000 US health care organizations and programs. The international branch accredits medical services from around the world. A majori ...
), citing the medical center for failing to correct severe lapses in patient care, threatened to pull its seal of approval, jeopardizing over $14 million in physician training funds. King/Drew's seal of approval was revoked in February 2005.Charles Ornstein
How King–Harbor has stayed alive
''Los Angeles Times'', June 12, 2007
This move gained national attention after the ''Los Angeles Times'' ran a Pulitzer Prize–winning five-part series reporting on "The Troubles at King/Drew." The series found that the problems at the hospital were far deeper than the public already knew and faulted the Board of Supervisors for shying away from making needed changes, often because of racial politics. Among the other findings was that King/Drew spent more per patient than any of the three other general hospitals run by Los Angeles County, the opposite of what many hospital supporters had assumed. Problems for King/Drew became even worse over a period of four days in March 2005, when three patients died as a result of mistakes and lapses in medical care. The Board of Supervisors considered severing the hospital's relationship with Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science and partnering with another medical school such as UCLA, USC, or Loma Linda University. In April, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported a seventh death attributed to lapses in care by the hospital. This time, nurses and staff virtually ignored the audio and visual cues of vital-sign monitors over a period of hours.


"Make-or-break" inspection

After the three previous warning holding King/Drew out of compliance with federal guidelines since January 2004, CMS and federal authorities held an unannounced last-chance inspection of the hospital that began on July 31, 2006, and was finished on August 10. On September 22, CMS informed King/Drew that the hospital still did not meet minimum patient-care standards, failing nine of the government's 23 conditions for federal funding, and thus failing the final "make-or-break" inspection. Federal regulators identified problems in nursing, pharmacy, infection control, surgical services, rehabilitation services, quality control, patients' rights, and the hospital's governing body and physical plant. Inspectors found more problems during the final inspection than they had at any time in the previous three years.


King/Drew becomes King–Harbor


Radical restructuring

DHS elected to move forward with a radical restructuring plan that eliminated the hospital's specialty services, severed its relationship with the Drew medical school, and proposed to place it under the management of
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, is a 570-bed public teaching hospital located at 1000 West Carson Street in West Carson, an unincorporated area within Los Angeles County, California. As implied by the name, the hospital is owned by the Los Angel ...
(Harbor–UCLA). The plan downsized and refocused the hospital on community medical care, including emergency department and outpatient services; the two central pillars of the plan were identifying and removing under-performing staff and integrating the two hospitals "under one medical management and administrative leadership team at Harbor–UCLA."Rich Connell, Robert J. Lopez and Susannah Rosenblatt
King–Harbor efforts faltering
''Los Angeles Times'', June 19, 2007.
King/Drew became King–Harbor to reflect the change. All employees of the hospital were interviewed, with half permitted to stay and the rest transferred to other hospitals. Approximately 1,400 employees remained. As a result of these measures, Medicare agreed to continue funding the hospital until March 31, 2007. After further negotiations, federal inspectors agreed to delay inspection until August 2007. King/Harbor had to pass this inspection. Otherwise federal funding would end on November 30, 2007. As a part of the March deal with the federal government, Los Angeles County agreed not to bill Medicare for hospital services until August 2007, giving it time to fix problems at the hospital.Charles Ornstein and Robert J. Lopez
King–Harbor ordered to fix problems or else
''Los Angeles Times'', June 8, 2007.
If federal funding ended, among other problems, MLK–Harbor would permanently lose 250
medical resident Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...
slots, 15% of the 1,700 in Los Angeles County.Susannah Rosenblatt
Hospital could lose 250 resident positions
''Los Angeles Times'', March 1, 2007.
On March 6, 2007, officials from Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science announced they were suing Los Angeles County for $125 million for breach of contract, claiming that the restructuring of the hospital terminated support to 248 medical residents and gutted the adjacent university.Susannah Rosenblatt
Medical school to sue L.A. County
''Los Angeles Times'', March 7, 2007.
The two entities had collaborated since 1972. In response, Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Mike Antonovich stated "Drew University will fail in court as they failed as a medical school."


Problems surface again

Despite initially upbeat official reports from hospital officials,Rich Connell and Susannah Rosenblatt
King status reports were upbeat
''Los Angeles Times'', June 9, 2007.
King–Harbor found itself under public criticism once again after different stories ran in both the ''Los Angeles Times''Charles Ornstein
Tale of last 90 minutes of woman's life
''Los Angeles Times'', May 20, 2007.
Charles Ornstein and Francisco Vara-Orta
Tragic Catch-911 for dying woman
''Los Angeles Times'', June 13, 2007.
and '' LA Weekly''Celeste Fremon
Escaping With His Life
, ''LA Weekly'', May 23, 2007.
in late May 2007 citing serious lapses in care, one of which was fatal, at the renamed hospital. In particular, the case of patient Edith Isabel Rodriguez, who bled to death on the emergency room floor after being ignored for 45 minutes, became a ''
cause célèbre A cause célèbre (,''Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged'', 12th Edition, 2014. S.v. "cause célèbre". Retrieved November 30, 2018 from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/cause+c%c3%a9l%c3%a8bre ,''Random House Kernerman Webs ...
'' of the failures and bureaucratic indifference of King–Harbor as well as political and health leaders in Los Angeles, creating or reinforcing fears that the healthcare system could not take care of people in a time of dire need. In response to public outcry, the chairman of the
U.S. Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The Committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures general ...
, Senator
Max Baucus Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the long ...
(D-Mont.) asked federal regulators to address how they will protect patients at King–Harbor in light of "horrific" and "appalling" lapses in patient care. The news reports prompted a multi-day inspection by state and federal officials, and on June 7, 2007, federal health officials declared that King–Harbor had put emergency department patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm or death, that it remained in violation of the
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is an act of the United States Congress, passed in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA). It requires hospital emergency departments that accept pay ...
, and gave it 23 days to fix the problems or lose federal funding once and for all. During the inspection, CMS found that 17 patients, among 60 whose cases were reviewed, received substandard care at the hospital.Charles Ornstein
Report details risks to patients' lives
''Los Angeles Times'', June 19, 2007.
If the problems were resolved in that timeline, the hospital still could have lost its federal certification because it had failed to meet the terms of a March agreement with the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Despite multiple threats from the government, experts in hospital accreditation cite the federal government's relatively tempered response due to the hospital's unique history and special standing in the community, as well as its support from African American politicians. On June 12, 2007, the ''Los Angeles Times'' reported that King–Harbor had replaced its chief medical officer, Dr. Roger Peeks, who had been brought in to fix problems three years earlier.Susannah Rosenblatt and Rich Connell
King–Harbor medical chief is ousted; nursing woes are disclosed
''Los Angeles Times'', June 12, 2007.
During a June 18, 2007, meeting with the County Board of Supervisors, county health officials disclosed that they were still unable to meet the cornerstone pledges they had made to CMS: only about one-third of the 1,200 employees they initially projected would be shifted to other institutions had actually been reassigned, and significant control had not been effectively handed off to Harbor–UCLA. In April, 60% of 285 registered and licensed vocational nurses failed one or more parts of basic clinical competency assessments; while more than 10% failed three or more sections of the assessment. The staff of Harbor–UCLA was surprised by the amount of training King–Harbor employees needed. On June 21, 2007, the state California Department of Health Services moved to revoke the license of King–Harbor. The process, supported by state politicians, including Gov. Schwarzenegger, could take six months to a year and would force the hospital's closure. CDHS could rescind the action if the hospital was able to show that it met state and federal standards. There remained serious concerns over how King–Harbor's 47,000 annual emergency department visits might be spread across the system with minimum disruption if the hospital were to close. In response to the state's decision, Los Angeles County supervisors considered having the county close the hospital ahead of the state,Charles Ornstein and Jack Leonard
Vote on closing King–Harbor anticipated
''Los Angeles Times'', June 23, 2007.
hoping to thereby formulate and implement an orderly plan for diverting patients and, by suspending King–Harbor instead of allowing it to lose its state license, making an easier task reopening it.Jack Leonard
Burke silent as panel debates hospital's fate
''Los Angeles Times'', June 26, 2007.
The County ultimately decided to not move for closure. The hospital received a brief reprieve when a June 25, 2007, inspection showed critical problems with its emergency department identified earlier in the month had been corrected, preserving federal certification and funding for the hospital until August 2007, when it must pass a broader federal review. The weeklong federal inspection began on July 23, 2007. The next day, inspectors from CMS once again cited King–Harbor for placing patients in "immediate jeopardy" of harm, hours after a psychiatric patient cut herself with a
scalpel A scalpel, lancet, or bistoury is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, podiatry and various arts and crafts (either called a hobby knife or an X-acto knife.). Scalpels may be single-use dispos ...
in an emergency department bathroom.Susannah Rosenblatt and Charles Ornstein
U.S. cites King–Harbor for poor care
''Los Angeles Times'', 26 July 2007.


Closure

On August 10, 2007, after the hospital failed a comprehensive review by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, federal officials decided to revoke $200 million in funding.Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Jack Leonard
King–Harbor fails final check, will close soon
''Los Angeles Times'', August 11, 2007.
Inspectors concluded that there was no functioning quality improvement plan at the hospital.Jack Leonard
King–Harbor inspection report released
''Los Angeles Times'', August 14, 2007.
Los Angeles County health director Dr. Bruce Chernof moved quickly to notify the county Board of Supervisors of his decision to begin shutting down the facility. The emergency department was closed by 7 p.m. that day, and ambulances were diverted to other area hospitals. The rest of the hospital was closed by August 27, 2007. Some of King–Harbor's 1 600 employees would likely be reassigned to jobs at other county facilities. On August 13, at a specially convened board meeting, county supervisors voted unanimously to shut inpatient services and promised to pay up to $16.3 million to nearby private hospitals and doctors bracing for a deluge of patients from the closed facility. They also released the 124-page report by federal inspectors that detailed dozens of errors and failures by the hospital during their final make-or-break review. The citations included improperly sterilized medical equipment, nurses who could not rapidly find medication, a nurse who did not know how to mix medication in an emergency, and a patient who complained of severe chest pain but was not given pain medication for four and a half hours. With the hospital closed, the facility continued to operate as the Martin Luther King Jr. Multi-Service Ambulatory Care Center, an urgent care facility and outpatient clinic.


Ramifications of closure

The closure of King–Harbor had an immediate effect on health care services in the region. Nine nearby hospitals were declared "impacted" by the distribution of former King–Harbor patients. The greatest burden fell on St. Francis Medical Center in nearby Lynwood, which expanded its emergency department by 14 beds and saw an increase in patients from 155 per day to 180 per day, with the
intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensi ...
seeing an average rise from 26 patients to 33. Nearby clinics were also impacted. The nine clinics that were part of the St. John's Well Child and Family Centers saw a 157 per cent increase in visits after King–Harbor closed. Meanwhile, the remaining outpatient clinic at King–Harbor saw patient totals fall well below the target of 190,000 visits a year, due to the poor reputation of the facility. As King–Harbor was long a major hospital for the city's sickest and poorest residents, the increase in uninsured and under-insured patients put major stress on the financial health of relieving institutions.Jennifer Steinhauser
A City Where Hospitals Are as Ill as the Patients
''The New York Times'', June 5, 2008, Accessed June 6, 2008.
With the closure of the hospital, South Los Angeles had one hospital bed per 1,000 residents, compared with a national average of three beds per 1,000 residents.


New replacement hospital

As soon as MLK–Harbor was closed, efforts were begun to find a way to reopen the facility as soon as possible. Los Angeles County officials originally planned a 2009 reopening, but that proved unfeasible. The County found a partnership with the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...
system to reopen the hospital as a nonprofit organization governed by a seven-member board of directors; the hospital would no longer be run by the county. The board of directors would consist of two appointees chosen by the university system, two chosen by county officials, and three chosen jointly. The county was to contribute $50 million annually to cover expenses and operating costs and $13.3 million a year toward the care of uninsured patients. The county would continue to staff and operate the hospital's outpatient services center, which has remained open. The hospital, now named Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital opened on 7 July 2015. The new nonprofit entity handles all hiring for the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital. This had been a major point of negotiation because the hospital staff had gained a reputation for being packed with people politically connected to various elected officials, leading to criticism that problems with hospital staff tended to be ignored. At the time of its closure it had about 11.5 workers per bed, compared with the statewide average of four workers per bed. Civil service rules and labor contracts would have required former MLK–Harbor employees to be given first chance at a replacement hospital if it were directly owned and operated by Los Angeles County. Chartering the replacement hospital under a
Section 501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...
nonprofit organization made it a distinct entity from the county, unencumbered by legacy hiring rules. The hospital reopened as a smaller facility, with 131 beds instead of 233 (compared to 537 at its height). It has an emergency department and four operating rooms. The UC system provides fourteen to twenty physicians and medical oversight for the inpatient hospital, with a goal of eventually providing medical residents to again train there. Other improvements are an upgraded central plant, new emergency generators, and two new buildings, one with six out-patient surgeries and a dental clinic, with an estimated total cost of more than $350 million.


Affiliated high school

King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science is a magnet high school of the Los Angeles Unified School District, located in Willowbrook, unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is affiliated with both the Martin ...
, is located adjacent to the hospital in Willowbrook. It is a Los Angeles Unified School District
magnet school In the U.S. education system, magnet schools are public schools with specialized courses or curricula. "Magnet" refers to how the schools draw students from across the normal boundaries defined by authorities (usually school boards) as school ...
affiliated with the MLK Jr. hospital LAUSD: King Drew Medical Magnet Course Offerings
.


See also

* Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital – ''opened on site in 2015''. * Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science – ''adjacent''. *
King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science King/Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science is a magnet high school of the Los Angeles Unified School District, located in Willowbrook, unincorporated Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is affiliated with both the Martin ...
– ''adjacent''. * History of the African-Americans in Los Angeles *


Notes


References

* Charles Ornstein ''et al.''
King/Drew Fallout Is Keenly Felt
''Los Angeles Times'', September 26, 2006, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Tracy Weber and Deborah Schoch
Hospital Backers Concede Choices Tough
''Los Angeles Times'', September 24, 2006, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber
King/Drew Fails Final U.S. Test
''Los Angeles Times'', September 23, 2006, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Kevin Roderick
Killer King on KCRW
LA Observed, August 17, 2005, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein
Another Fatal Failure at King/Drew
''Los Angeles Times'', April 12, 2005, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber
3 King/Drew Deaths Blamed on Lapses
''Los Angeles Times'', April 6, 2005, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Tracy Weber ''et al.''
The Troubles at King/Drew (5-part series)
''Los Angeles Times'', December 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Jia-Rui Chong
Judge Denies Bid to Halt Trauma Unit's Closure
''Los Angeles Times'', December 3, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Kevin Roderick
Blame for Killer King
LA Observed, December 9, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Bill Boyarsky
USC, practical politics and King hospital
LA Observed, May 4, 2008, ''Accessed July 9, 2008''. * Mitchell Landsberg and Jack Leonard
King/Drew's Trauma Unit Ordered Shut
''Los Angeles Times'', November 24, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Jack Leonard
Closure of King/Drew Unit Likely
''Los Angeles Times'', November 22, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Jia-Rui Chong ''et al.''
Waters at Center Stage in King/Drew Drama
''Los Angeles Times'', November 17, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Mitchell Landsberg ''et al.''
Reaction to King/Drew Plan Loud and Clear
''Los Angeles Times'', November 16, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Charles Ornstein ''et al.''
A Reeling King/Drew Receives Huge Blow
''Los Angeles Times'', September 16, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein
King/Drew to Shut Down Trauma Unit
''Los Angeles Times'', September 13, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber
Report Assails Hospital Lapses
''Los Angeles Times'', January 30, 2004, ''Accessed Sept. 26, 2006''. * Garrett Therolf
More King–Harbor hospital workers have criminal backgrounds
''Los Angeles Times'', September 9, 2008. * Araceli Gonzalez Deputy Director, Community Liaison, Los Angeles Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzeneggerbr>


External links


Official website

C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein about "The Troubles at King/Drew", July 17, 2005
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Martin Luther Jr. Outpatient Center County hospitals in California, King
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Teaching hospitals in California Willowbrook, California Hospital buildings completed in 1972 Buildings and structures completed in 1972 Hospitals established in 1972 1972 establishments in California Hospitals disestablished in 2007 2007 disestablishments in California Historically black hospitals in the United States Public hospitals in the United States