Finally.

[kyburg]

The federal action means the hospital is no longer eligible for reimbursement for the costs of caring for Medicare patients. The county has warned that loss of the funding - about half the hospital's budget - would force King-Harbor to close.

The inspections? Carried out by these guys.

Nice to know they have at least one or two teeth left.

This facility is near me. It's a disgrace, to be blunt. I won't send my worst enemy there, and I wouldn't leave a dead cat in its waiting rooms. It's that bad.

Wiki has some more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Commission_on_Accreditation_of_Healthcare_Organizations

Not much, but it's a start.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Somebody was in the ER for four *days*??? pocketnaomi was in the ER for... looks back... less than four *hours* before they admitted her just recently. She woke me at 4am, I got my head together, drove her to the ER, by 5:31 the doc had seen her and prescribed meds and x-rays, and at 7:54 I was sending email around saying she'd been admitted and what she want brought to her.

Had I been anyone of authority and heard about someone staying in an ER for four days, I would have had my staff researching just exactly how fast that excuse for a hospital could be shut down, demolished, and a memorial erected on the spot with pikes for the heads of the guilty.

Yeah, it is nice to see that the JC has some teeth.

(I consider myself lucky that Evergreen is the hospital most convenient to us... it's "only" a public hospital, but I've had three family members, including myself, be on the business end of their people now, and aside from the inevitably thin hospital mattresses, none of us has had anything resembling an unpleasant experience. Even the food is pretty good.)

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

"Horrendous" and "medieval" are the words I use to describe every case I've ever had related to me about care there. Because there are no Real Words to use. Profanity is completely incapable of doing the job as well.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Profanity is completely incapable of doing the job as well.

My late SO always said biology was far more shocking than mere profanity.

It pains me to admit that she's right when the biology in question is that of people one is supposed to be caring for.

[betnoir.livejournal.com]

That's the exception, not the rule.

If you really want to get first-hand precisely why this country needs some form of universal health care, go do standby for one of dedoc's shifts -- and his is just a small rural hospital, mind.

County USC here in LA, Cook County in Chicago, Grady in Atlanta -- those and many more are in worse shape.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Grady, that far downhill? jeez. That used to be *the* place to go for trauma.

Frankly, from my POV, the sad state of Grady and Cook County are exactly the case why we do NOT want "universal healthcare".. both of those facilities are public hospitals. What makes us think that throwing *more* money after it is going to make the problem better?

Frankly? I think a healthcare organization ought to be run as an NPO. Healthcare should be its first and only mission. Not profit. Not graft or corruption, as will inevitably set in if run by a government. It should be done as a cooperative, similar to the way REI or various farmers' co-ops are run (or, the best example, credit unions). Folks within their service area would buy a membership for a nominal fee, and would then have a say in the operation of the facility. I could expound on that, but it's something I'm just formulating...

Government has an obligation to promote the General Welfare, not provide for it. We need to get back to that idea.

Killer King — No Thanks

[bitpig.livejournal.com]

Idea: instead of government-owned/run/managed hospitals, counties and cities create funding pools for indigent health care, then issue every resident a swipe card. These cards would be linked to the fund pool and would be valid only at designated medical facilities (i.e. t would be impossible to by crack, malt liquor, or fireworks with them). Residents could then pay for services and medication at any participating healthcare facility in the designated area using the swipe card, which would instantly debit the indigent fund pool for the cost of treatment. This would prevent insurance hassles, waste and inefficiency, restore consumer choice, eliminate the need for expensive billing and collections staffing at hospitals and clinics; it would also force heath care facilities to compete with one another on cost and quality. The horror hospitals would quickly shape up or go under.

Just an idea.

Re: Killer King — No Thanks

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Dude, in California we have something already in place much like that. We take the Medicaid dollars the federal government hands back to us, adds a bit and calls it Medi-Cal.

It used to be a card and a set of stickers every month - I think they finally went to a swipe card recently.

Medicare, however, remains the best payer in the business - and the most common, being one of the few single-payer plans (and think about it, after you qualify for it? It's single payer) around. That's why this is such a huge stick to wave at a facility for STOOPID around.

That said - my favorite facility, Cedars-Sinai, has the same admissions criteria as King-Drew and somehow manages to perform spectacularly under the same conditions. Yeah, they even serve the same area - Drew to the South, Cedars to the North, USC to the east. (Cedars is also a foundation hospital - they take whatever you can toss them. Disney does their children's wing, and there's a Spielberg center for Childhood Diseases. The hospital sits at George Burns and Gracie Allen Ways - )

This took too damn long - in my opinion, they shouldn't have gotten more than one warning before having the funding yanked. Matter of fact, I wouldn't hire a single body coming out of that debacle without significant retraining and recertification either. The bad goes that deep.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

The stories coming out about it were pretty scary. On the other hand, they're also worried that many of the people in the area (Watts more or less) who don't have cars will simply not get /any/ medical care now because they simply can't or can't afford to get to it. And then we get into the question of whether no medical care or /that/ medical care is really worst.

Still I'm not surprised that it closed down when even /knowing that people were watching their every move and inspecting constantly/ they /still/ couldn't come up to even minimal standards.

This has been building for a while and has been extensively covered.

Hopefully something else will be going in there, something better.

It is certainly true that the people after whom the hospital was named would be rolling over in their graves at what actually went on there.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Creative temporary measure: Express bus service from the location of the former hospital to another county-run hospital. Run it all night, and the only two stops are the two hospitals. Instruct drivers to allow free passage if passengers cannot afford it (but don't publicize this, at least not outside of the neighborhood).

Sometimes I surprise myself these days at the ways I think...

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Except that the other county hospitals in the area are already functioning at capacity and sometimes having to turn people away. The medical care situation in L.A. is actually really scary. Particularly for trauma/emergency care. And for low-income/uninsured care.

Otherwise, I'd say it's a good idea, though getting it set up in L.A. might be more annoying than you'd think.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

They can't send ambulances there any more. That's a start.

Jim tells me Kaiser is going to start taking some of the patients - this is a first for a HMO, I think.

Watch this one - it's going to get interesting.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Kinda sad to see, since that hospital has been there for quite a while, and all of that other stuff.

I'm wondering how much of the problems there have to do with the whole location of the place and the neighbourhoods.

No, I'm not suggesting racism or anything... but I just... wonder.

Maybe I'm talking out the back of my pants, though.

C.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

The bad went to the bone - I wouldn't hire a single body out of that facility. The color of the faces doesn't matter a whit.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

I wasn't suggesting racism, per se, in regards to how the place was run, but more in regards to funding.

As for how the place was run, I'm not understanding how it managed to get THAT BAD.

Y'know?

C.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Ya got me. Corruption, well-funded, well-taught and without any accountability.

That, will ruin saints.

[cecerose.livejournal.com]

Damn. It took them long enough.

I once saw King Harbor on a site visit in the early 1990's. It was damn scary then and I'm sure it's worst now.

[lolleeroberts.livejournal.com]

I noticed one telling turn of phrase there - they "disciplined" workers but "reorganized" management. Things that make me go hmmmmm.

I remember reading about the woman who died and thinking it sounded like something from a Stephen King novel.

[riverheart.livejournal.com]

Is this the "King-Drew" of Sicko infamy?

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was King-Drew. (The Drew portion was the teaching hospital/medical school half, so when that lost accredidation, they changed it to King-Harbor.)

[mycroftca.livejournal.com]

Took 'em long enough. The facility had something like three prior warnings...

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

More. More than that.

Ridiculous.

[redqueenofevil.livejournal.com]

I just KNEW it was King you were talking about before I clicked the link. I'm actually surprised it's still open. I guess there's a reason they call it "Killer King" hospital.

Lot of bastards

[moropus.livejournal.com]

Makes me wonder where people will go now. 4 days in the waiting room? A woman died on the floor? They named it after Stephen King, right? this sounds like something out of his books. Maybe they can shut down, fire everyone and bring in all new people.

Re: Lot of bastards

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

There are so many other places to go, it's sad people ever walked through those doors. Seriously.

We are so deep in emergency services here - we're the home of Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto after all - the fact this facility stayed open is a shame in the first degree.

You'd have had a better chance of survival being treated by EMTs at your local fire station.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

I wonder who I can report Glens Falls Hospital to, since writing the state government did no good. (I was sexually harrassed and molested by an ORDERLY with the rest of the staff's COMPLIANCE AND ABETTING, given the wrong medication, purposefully sleep deprived, refused food, did not see a doctor during an entire week stay, and despite all the posters stating I was entitled to contact a lawyer, I was told the patient advocate was on vacation (legally they are to NEVER NOT have a patient advocate available) was denied to speak to a doctor, the floor director, or make any phone calls to my regular psych therapist. I reported it in letters and phone calls to the hospital board of directors, the American Medical Association, the Board of Education (who issues all doctors licensing here) and contacted my state representatives.

Since it was an mental inpatient deal, no one gives a shit. It was an illegal inpatient deal, because I was not evaluated by an independant social worker, they simply took my asshole (hopefully soon to be ex alive) husbands word that I was suicidal. I was not, I was suffering from stomach flu and running a fever of 104 and so badly deyhydrated after having been abandoned for a four days that they couldn't get blood pressure or pulse for several hours, or get a good stick anywhere my viens were so dried up. When he came home from fucking his girlfriend in a hotel for the weekend and realized he was butt fucked for abandoning a disabled person who was THAT sick, he laid knives in teh room and called the police and told them I was suicidal.

My own therapist will NOT send her patients there, and the local free/reduced feel clinic STAFF MEMBERS donate money each month to rent a very small apartment to put thier patients in crisis with a volunteer in rather than inpatient them. Does that give you any idea how bad this place is?????

If fucking HATE the medical community with a passion.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

In California, the reasonable authority in these cases is the Department of Health. And I'd cc the Commission as well.

*checks profile* New York. Oh, your poor thing. Novels upon novels have been written about abuses in mental institutions over the decades...and most of the most dire I've ever read were from people hospitalized in New England hospitals. You're not the first, last, only or most recent.

I don't think it's because they don't give a whit - you're just lost in the shouting of hundreds of angry voices. People ask how King-Drew got so bad, and all I can say is "it was acceptable behavior in the culture of the hospital they worked in." In essence, they did what was considered acceptable by everyone else - and sinking to the lowest of the low in the process.

And ghad save me from anything surrounding divorce. This kind of stuff wants one to hit the fast forward button - because when it's this complicated and awful? The only way out is through - and that's where you are.

Don't hesitate to contact the Hospital Administrator - and you might simply consider making an appointment with that worthy, get a copy of your medical records and go in and have a come to Jesus with your records in front of you. It may not make much difference, but if you could at least get an inkle that somebody heard the complaint, it might do you good.

Good luck - I say this again. If you're a patient, hope you have a healthy person to advocate for you. Without one, you can be completely and truly screwed.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

that was the problem, I am alone. I don't have any friends here, or family. My only family is 80 something years old and 900 miles away. My nearest friend (who, since they were denying me phone calls I couldn't get in touch with anyway) is 70 miles away with a busy family and illness of her own, so she could not have helped either.

Actually there is an option to divorce, I could become widowed. I actually prefer that option.