Ailing Hospitals : Donations Are Sought to Cover Cost of Caring for Riot Victims Who Had No Insurance

An unprecedented public appeal was launched Monday on behalf of 87 hospitals in Los Angeles County, which are facing millions of dollars in losses incurred treating victims of the recent riots. About 75% of the 1,850 injured who flooded the hospitals’ emergency rooms lacked health insurance or other means to pay their medical bills, health officials estimate.

Spearheading the effort is the National Health Foundation, a nonprofit affiliate of the Hospital Council of Southern California, which has raised private money to fund preventive health education and services in low-income communities.

Citing the financial strains felt by the hospitals, Rita Moya, the foundation’s president, said public contributions would help ensure continuation of these hospitals’ medical services.

“These hospitals have been taking it on the chin for a long time,” said Moya, in making the announcement at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, whose emergency room was one of the busiest during the riots.

Hospitals routinely write off millions of dollars in charity care each year and try to cover those losses with private fund raising. But the costs of treating riot-related injuries are a fiscal shock that the hospitals did not anticipate in their budgets.

The foundation has set up the Victim’s Hospital Fund to collect tax-deductible donations, Moya said. The 87 hospitals that treated riot victims will be instructed to submit claims to the fund for those patients who have no insurance coverage and are unable to pay their bills. The money will be allocated to hospitals proportionate to their expenses during the riots, Moya said.

St. Francis was one of the hardest hit, especially on the night of April 30, when all 30 beds in its emergency rooms were filled and patients were lined up on gurneys in the hallways, said Dr. Randolph Seybold, an emergency room physician. Over four days, the emergency room treated 467 people for riot-related injuries.

People cut by broken glass needed stitches. Gunshot victims required surgery. A man and a woman arrived with multiple severe injuries after having been beaten in separate incidents with tire irons.

Hospital officials said most of the riot victims are unlikely to be able to pay. Robert Issai, St. Francis’ vice president for finance, said the hospital will lose about $1 million on the care of patients injured in the century’s worst urban disturbances. This is on top of about $7 million in charity care the hospital has given this year to people without insurance.

Countywide, Los Angeles has an estimated 2.7 million uninsured residents, making it the metropolitan area with the highest proportion of uninsured in the nation.

Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood is estimating losses directly related to treating injuries from the riots at $1 million to $1.5 million, a spokeswoman said. Also hard hit by the riots were County-USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in Watts, Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and California Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles.

“A million dollars for four days’ worth of care is very significant,” said David Langness, spokesman for the hospital council. “I wouldn’t rule out some curtailment of medical services as a result of riot losses. This was a very expensive experience for Los Angeles.”

Those wishing to contribute to the hospitals may send checks to: Victim’s Hospital Fund, c/o National Health Foundation, 201 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles 90012.