Your Comments (p.3)
RE: Recent Coverage of the King-Drew Medical Center
We the undersigned strongly feel that there needs to be a fair and balanced response to an obviously biased series of “supermarket tabloid” type articles recently published by the Los Angeles Times. We are convinced that this letter will not be published as we have observed that only letters to the editor that are primarily agreeing with the exposés have been published.
This letter is not intended to question the motives of the lengthy exposés by the Times on the King-Drew Medical Center. We likewise will not accuse the Times of trumping the RACE CARD as we know that no reputable newspaper like the Los Angeles Times would do that. Pitting one race against another may make fodder for newspaper articles but is certainly morally wrong. We are also concerned that there may have been HIPAA violations, with so much private health information being released and published by the Times.
Our goal in penning this letter is to allow readers to know another version of the recent articles published by the LA Times. Many of the cases published attempting to depict King-Drew Medical Center doctors and nurses as incompetent, were full of inaccuracies and half-truths. A perfect example was the Yamamoto case that your newspaper has published on numerous occasions. Tales of others cases have been repeated over and over again. King-Drew Medical Center doctors did not kill Mr.Yamamoto, the assailant who shot him several times in the abdomen at near point-blank range did. Several excellent surgeons worked long hours attempting to save his life. He did not die from a combination of heart drugs. He died from gunshot wounds by the bad guys, not at the hands of doctors.
Unlike the Times, we want to stay clear of publishing private and sensitive information concerning patients that have been treated at the KDMC, but we wish to point out that the research techniques employed by the Times could not be used by the scientific community, where pursuit of the truth is the goal. Beginning with conclusions and finding doctors to support those conclusions is not science. It is anecdotal gossip, hearsay, and racial politics bordering on hysteria much like what we saw during the McCarthy Era, where everyone was suspected of being a communist. Once suspected, you were deemed guilty. There were countless good and patriotic Americans who lost their jobs and reputations because of the hysteria created during that Era.
We would be the first to admit that there have been problems at this facility by certain individuals, but we are still waiting for the Times to mention the excellent work done by the more than 2400 employees, who strive extremely hard every day to care for very sick and traumatized patients. This facility has treated more than 3 million patients to date, and any public hospital having treated so many patients would have some errors. The Institute of Medicine reported in 1999 that up to 98,000 deaths occur every year in U.S. hospitals as a result of medical errors. However, not many hospitals in the country have ever had this degree of scrutiny by the press.
We wish to challenge your pronouncement that KDMC has been a problem for the County of Los Angeles for many years. As recent as 1998, our facility received a score of 92 on a JCAHO site-visit accreditation review. This represented hard work and dedication by the leadership and employees who work here. What has changed since 1998? Well one thing is well-known, there have been major funding cuts at this facility over the past few years since that JCAHO site visit. Bailout funds received from the well-known 1115 Waiver is about to run out. The County has let it be known that we can expect a sizable budget shortfall over the next few years. Some have estimated it to be at least $600,000,000. We do not subscribe to the conspiracy theory. We are simply asking to be heard and for the LA Times to consider fair and balanced reporting, and not ignore the numerous excellent dedicated employees at the KDMC that continue to be damaged by the slanted reporting of the facts.
There are many excellent residency programs that exist within this hospital and our parent-teaching facility, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. It becomes extremely difficult to continue to recruit excellent residents in the midst of the unfair onslaught by the Los Angeles Times. We are not naïve enough to believe that anything that we write would change the mindset of some of the editors at the Times who have made it their mission to destroy the reputation of this facility. You have the ink and the circulation, we only have our commitment, compassion, and integrity.
This is also a message to all of the citizens who live in the surrounding area of the KDMC. This facility has numerous, dedicated, highly qualified employees who work here, including department chairs, managers, doctors, nurses, technicians, clerks, and others. This facility is very clean and neat, there are no holes in the walls as was recently reported, and we are dedicated to providing excellent service to our clients. In recent days, some of our patients have come into our emergency department waving the LA Times. We understand their concerns, and we will continue to provide everyone who comes into our hospital, the very best service that we can. Our promise to all of you is that we are human and we work under difficult circumstances but we will go the extra mile to make sure that all of our patients receive the very best care when they come into our facility.
Sincerely,
Eugene Hardin, M.D., FACEP, FAAEM, Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine
Chat V. Dang, M.D., Vice-Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine
John Udeani, M.D., Chair, Community Services, Department of Emergency Medicine
Amy Chiou, M.D., Emergency Department Intern
cc: Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles County
The Honorable Herb Wesson, Jr.
The Honorable Juanita Millender McDonald
The Honorable Dianne Watson, Ph.D.
The Honorable Maxine Waters
The Honorable Mervin Dymally
The Honorable Mayor James Hahn
Janice Hahn
Dr. Mark Ridley Thomas
Bernard Parks
