Gross Mismanagement Ails King/Drew Center

Re “They’re Shocked! Shocked!” editorial, Dec. 15: That the Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center faces serious challenges is clear. What is not clear is whether the Board of Supervisors and Drew University are up to the task of truly changing the institutional culture of finger-pointing and dodging blame that has disabled the hospital for far too long. As a resident physician at King/Drew, I know that the hospital provides desperately needed care: trauma care for hundreds of gunshot and road-accident victims every year and disease management for low-income patients.

As a family physician at King, I see patients who would become seriously ill if they did not have access to the preventive care we provide. Why is it, then, that when problems emerge, the county fires resident physicians who have little control over how the hospital operates? This will not solve King’s problems. I hope that the county and the university focus on the real problem at King: too much energy spent pointing fingers and not enough spent trying to save the hospital from a rapid decline.

Jelena Nikolic MD

King/Drew Medical Center

Los Angeles

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Re “County Suspends Nursing Director,” Dec. 16: The wholesale sacking of administrative staff at King/Drew is a good first step in the reformation of a vital institution in South Los Angeles. For years, the “care” at that institution has been knowingly egregious (and well documented by The Times over the last decade). Ultimately, we must ask: How many people have unnecessarily died as a result of this mismanagement, and who’s to blame?

Sadly, the answer is painfully clear: the voters of L.A. They’ve permitted useless politicians to oversee their critical institutions, spending hard-earned taxes on petty personal projects rather than properly managing such critical resources of the city. This must change! When elected leaders are held personally and financially liable for their misdeeds and neglect, just as the physicians-in-training at MLK are -- then we’ll see real change in government oversight and performance.

Daniel Levy MD

Santa Barbara