A Veto That Hurts

Last week’s earthquake was a humbling reminder that often a few minutes can mean the difference between life and death. Since 1983 Los Angeles has had a countywide trauma network of highly trained medical personnel and specially equipped ambulances and emergency rooms that have provided immediate treatment for victims of serious accidents, crimes and disasters. But now the county’s trauma system, which has saved thousands of lives, is in jeopardy.

Gov. George Deukmejian has for the second time this year vetoed legislation that would have provided money that is necessary to the survival of the trauma network. The measure, sponsored by Assemblyman Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), would have provided the emergency treatment system with $20 million--$10 million from Medi-Cal, matched by $10 million from federal programs.

So far this year, five private hospitals have withdrawn from the emergency network, leaving vast areas of the county without a trauma center within the desired 20-minute ambulance ride. The hospitals have said that they can no longer afford to subsidize hospital care for the county’s indigent patients. And without additional funding this trend will no doubt continue.

Normally, private trauma centers treat and stabilize indigent patients and then transfer them to public hospitals for further care. But county budget constrictions have caused a scarcity of available beds in the public system, leaving these patients, who are unable to afford private care, in the private hospital system.

The governor says that this is a local problem, not a state responsibility. But this local problem, in part, has been caused by the state’s reneging on its 1982 commitment to help finance indigent health care. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors estimates that the state owes the county about $77 million.

Nonetheless, any funding for the trauma centers must now come from a $30-million state bail-out to the county. Of that money, only $4.7 million has been earmarked for all of the county’s health-care programs.

Yes, the governor is right about the problem. The problem is a local concern. It concerns everyone in Los Angeles who drives a car or who might be assaulted. It concerns anyone who might be caught in a collapsing building during an earthquake. It is a problem of life-threatening proportion to everyone in Los Angeles County. But the governor is wrong about where the financial responsibility lies. His veto is scarcely believable.