Hospital’s Neonatal Cutbacks Delayed

Los Angeles County health officials are delaying plans to downgrade the neonatal intensive care unit at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, saying that they need more time to study the issue.

Officials attributed the delay in large part to unresolved logistical questions, but one health department leader acknowledged that political pressure played at least some role.

In January, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) vowed to lead community protests if the unit was downsized or closed.

County officials and a task force have spent nearly three years exploring ways to save money by consolidating care for the sickest babies at county-owned facilities.

Twice this year -- in January and April -- top health officials have recommended downsizing the units at King/Drew and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, leaving the most challenging cases to County-USC and Harbor-UCLA medical centers.

The delay in downsizing would also apply to Olive View, where the proposal has not generated as much opposition as at King/Drew. The decision was to have taken effect July 1.

King/Drew supporters have accused the health department of racism in decisions about the Willowbrook hospital, which serves an overwhelmingly black and Latino clientele.

Dr. Jeffrey Guterman, the county’s medical director for clinical resource management, compared hospital supporters’ anger to the reaction when the U.S. government announces plans to close military bases.

“Clearly there is a lot of political pressure,” he said.

But Guterman predicted that even after the additional study, the department would stick with its original recommendation. A decision could be made this fall.

Health department officials said they want to develop better plans for transferring babies by ambulance between hospitals and handling high-risk pregnancies.

Dr. Xylina Bean, chief of neonatology at King/Drew, said she was relieved by the delay. She said the proposal did not make sense in light of the high rates of prematurity, infant mortality and low birth weight babies in King/Drew’s service area.

“It seems that they have finally reached the conclusions that, yes, these are legitimate things to be discussed,” Bean said.

King/Drew’s neonatal unit has been criticized by regulators and accreditors. In a rare rebuke, a national accrediting group ordered the hospital to stop training aspiring neonatologists next year because of problems in the fellowship program.

County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, whose district includes King/Drew, said that a recent report called into question whether the consolidation would save money and that she is not convinced that King/Drew should be downsized.