A TROUBLED HISTORY: The Times' timeline of problems at King hospital.

March 2004: The Medicare agency finds patients are in immediate jeopardy after the hospital failed to administer medication accurately and investigate medication errors. It also lacked "general oversight" over pharmacy services.

June 2004: The Medicare agency finds patients are in immediate jeopardy because the hospital relied too heavily on county police to use Taser stun guns to subdue aggressive mental patients.

October 2004: Under pressure from the Medicare agency, Los Angeles County hires outside consultants to run King/Drew and votes to close the hospital's trauma center.

December 2004: The Medicare agency again finds patients in immediate jeopardy because of continued use of Tasers on mental patients.

September 2006: King/Drew is informed that it had failed what was billed as a "make-or- break" inspection and would lose annual funding of about $200 million, more than half the hospital's budget.

October 2006: Federal officials agree to delay pulling King/Drew's funding. In turn, county officials agree to reduce the hospital to 42 beds from more than 200 and place it under the oversight of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The hospital's name changes to King-Harbor Hospital.

March 2007: Federal officials agree to another extension, this time until August. The county says it will not bill Medicare or Medicaid for hospital services until then. Both sides agree that any patient-quality problems could lead to immediate decertification.

May 2007: A 43-year-old woman dies after writhing in pain for 45 minutes on the floor of the hospital's emergency room lobby. Hospital staff ignore her; a janitor mops around her. The events are captured on videotape and receive national attention.

June 2007: The Medicare agency finds emergency room patients are in immediate jeopardy and gives King-Harbor 23 days to respond. The agency later finds that the hospital has resolved the problem. The California Department of Health Services takes the first step to revoke King-Harbor's license, which would force it to shut down.

July 2007: Federal inspectors conduct a make-or-break inspection of King-Harbor to determine whether it retains federal funding. During that visit, inspectors again declare that patients are in immediate jeopardy after an unattended psychiatric patient cuts herself with a scalpel found in the emergency room.

Aug. 10, 2007: The Medicare agency delivers its final verdict to King-Harbor: It still does not meet minimum patient-care standards and will lose all federal funding.

Source: Times research