Local News in Brief : Hospital Ruling Delayed
A Superior Court judge Friday postponed action on a request by public-interest attorneys for an order temporarily preventing three downtown hospitals from making imminent cutbacks in their emergency rooms.
Judge Barnet M. Cooperman delayed a hearing on the request until Wednesday. Dr. Kenneth Kizer, the state’s health chief, is scheduled to meet with hospital representatives Tuesday to discuss ways of heading off the cutbacks.
“Perhaps we’ll have a solution at that time,” stated J. Robert Liset, an attorney for the nonprofit California Medical Center, which has announced plans beginning Wednesday to downgrade its emergency room to “standby” status--meaning rescue ambulances will be diverted elsewhere and physicians need to be on call rather than on the premises. The Hospital of the Good Samaritan and French Hospital of Los Angeles also are planning imminent emergency service reductions.
Attorney Standley Dorn argued that a court order was necessary because “this case is about the potential collapse of Los Angeles County’s emergency care system.”
Meanwhile, a legislative aide said that an Assembly Ways and Means subcommittee has voted to boost the governor’s recent budget proposal by $54 million in state and federal funds earmarked for emergency care services statewide.
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