US: Local and federal agencies threaten to shut down Los Angeles hospital

On Friday, the California Department of Health Services released a report detailing the results of nine inspections between 2004 and 2007, which found repeated failures. The state agency is arguing that that the hospital’s license should be revoked because its nursing staff is allegedly incompetent and the lives of patients have been endangered. The hospital will be forced to close if the agency’s findings stand.

Actions at a federal and county level are taking place in parallel. On June 8, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees hospitals across the country, threatened to deny funds to the hospital. The hospital made changes, and received the approval of the government, however another review is due in July. On June 22 the County Board of Supervisors set up a contingency plan for the hospital’s closure, but it has voted to delay the closure until the completion of the new federal review.

Up until 2005, King-Harbor hospital, formerly known as King-Drew, was a full-service 233-bed teaching facility that included a trauma center, obstetrics and other departments. In response to earlier threats by the federal government to cut off funding, many of its services were shut down. It was formally merged with Harbor UCLA, though the two hospitals still operate on a largely independent basis. A severely scaled-down King-Harbor now has only 48 beds.

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