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Author Topic: Coming to an ER near you?  (Read 2368 times)
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IBE
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« on: June 15, 2007, 11:39:57 PM »

The Country hospital in South Central Los Angeles (I think the only one there) is Martin Luther King (MLK) County hospital. It is the one on the news now about leaving the lady on the floor to die, even when a 911 call was make from a good person inside the ER was trying to help and ignored..

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, currently a Los Angeles County Supervisor was "my"  City Councilman years ago in West LA. I was trying to get a 4 way stop sign on our street and got to know his assistant pretty well over the phone and with letters.

In 2003 a girlfriend of mine was rushed 3 times to the ER, once in the Marina and two times to Harbor County General for she had no insurance so had to go there, so they said.... for gallbladder problems and was told if she didn't have an operation she would die. On one ER trip was close to death. I have known her to be there 18 hrs in the ER.

Since she didn't have any insurance she had to go to Los Angeles County Harbor-UCLA Medical Center for follow up, like Martin Luther King-County Hospital, but supported by an University. Still tremendous overcrowding.

Her operation was postponed 2 or 3  times.... I an not sure but my gut says she would have gotten faster, better care is she was a minority here even without insurance.

I got fed up with her getting "shined on" and getting sicker, so I put a call into Supervisor Yaroslavsky. A letter or call was done by his office and she had her operation scheduled and completed the next week.

It's sad that you have to go this far to get basic humane care.

Mom and I had a caregiver who is now the father of my "adopted children". Once he had a friend with a broken compound ankle and had to go to MLK hospital. The man was "renting" one of my sofa beds for he had no place to live and was saving money for an apartment. He came back over 19 hrs. later and they still had left the IV thingie in his arm. I had to remove it!

It is said what goes on in LA takes about 5 yrs.. to get to the Mid-west. Well, if you go into an ER in LA it will take about 10 hrs. if you don't die before they get to you. It is overflowing with illegals. It is damn maddening when our own residents can't get care.

And who are there???  Those who are here illegally, many and many of them!. Those who are poor. Those who have no doctors and use the ER for a doctor's visit. Those with no insurance too.

I was in UCLA's ER Wed. night; luckily I went in about 5 pm before the rush and gangs so there weren't many in the ER. (PS don't go to an ER on a Friday night or weekend) I had an eye problem so was shifted to the Jules Stein Institute. It took, total 5 hrs. I have good insurance that I have earned every penny of and, I have learned to mention that when coming in and when registering!  And to each nurse, Dr. I see.. just like I was making conversation.

I pray I never have to go to a hospital if it's not Cedars Sinai or UCLA although I have been sent to ER in the Marina and Brotman in Culver City as that's where the ambulance was going.

Local station said 49,000 ++++  go into the ER Martin Luther King (MLK) County Hospital a year. Notice the amount difference in the article 3 years ago. Remember most of these are illegals. I don't know if the trauma center is the same as the ER...

Here's a background article I found from 2004 about MLK

Wednesday, November 24, 2004, 12:00 a.m. Pacific

Permission to reprint or copy this article or photo, other than personal use, must be obtained from The Seattle Times. Call 206-464-3113 or e-mail resale@seattletimes.com with your request.

Board in Los Angeles votes to close troubled trauma unit

By Paul Chavez
The Associated Press
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LOS ANGELES — The county Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to close a hospital trauma center in one of the city's poorest, most gang-ridden neighborhoods, despite pleas from politicians, residents and civil-rights leaders.

Four of the five supervisors voted to close the unit at Los Angeles County's Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center; the supervisor who represents the area abstained.

The crowd in the meeting hall erupted in chants of "Save King-Drew!" and "No justice, no peace!" after the vote.

"It's not a good day, it's a very somber day," Supervisor Yvonne Burke said afterward. "We can't change the fact that we have to do something. Accreditation must be saved for that hospital."

The county's health director, Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, estimated the county might be able to reconsider restoration of trauma services in a year.

King/Drew is the only public hospital in South Los Angeles, serving a gang-plagued, 94-square-mile area with about 1.5 million people. Its trauma center treats 1,800 patients annually. Over the years, U.S. military doctors have trained at the trauma center because so many gunshot wounds are treated there.

County supervisors and health officials had recommended closing the trauma center, saying it is draining money and staff from the rest of the troubled hospital.

The hospital overall has been hit with a litany of problems, including patient deaths blamed on poor nursing and lawsuits by patients in whom medical instruments were left. The problems jeopardize $200 million in federal funding.

The hospital's emergency room will remain open. Paramedics and others have warned that closing the trauma center will force them to take some of the most seriously wounded to other hospitals, costing precious time — and lives.

Services at the trauma center will begin decreasing Dec. 1, and it should be closed by Feb. 1, Garthwaite said.

The board's meeting was repeatedly interrupted by jeers from 200 people in the audience. Many shouted at board members and waved signs reading "Save trauma, save King."

The public hospital and medical school were built after the 1965 Watts race riots, which ended in the deaths of 34 people and caused $100 million in damage. A state commission found that among the factors contributing to the community's anger was a lack of public medical facilities.

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
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IBE
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« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2007, 11:42:02 PM »

I meant to say "better treatment if she was an illegal"
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BTgirl
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« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2007, 11:55:08 PM »

IBE - I know how you feel. We have a large illegal immigrant population here as well, and some of the same problems.

By the way, I hope your eye is better. Please keep us updated on how you're doing.
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IBE
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« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2007, 08:36:14 PM »

Thanks BTgirl. Your post means a lot! Laughing  Laughing Going to reg. eye Dr. on Monday for check up and he has a letter for a specialists at Jules Stein at UCLA.. he also volunteers there on Wed.!

He is more worried about my eye wanting to close.. thinks it might be connected to the Fibromyalgia altho I told him a blood related cousin has Graves. I'd much rather loose my hearing vs. sight if God gave me a choice. Eye is tearing.

I think if I were in that ER I would have taken her out of there and called 911.

A spokeslady just now on Geraldo said they just can't take anymore uninsured..... What I have seen first hand.. most of these are citizens of the US and many, many illegals!
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