Stop Pointing Fingers and Fix King/Drew

I am writing in response to county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s assertion that the reason for the current state of Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center is “because of the kind of political reaction we’ve seen in the last month from political leaders” (Oct. 12).

The problems at King/Drew have been ongoing for years, and the supervisor is clearly trying to shift the blame for the hospital’s state away from himself and his fellow supervisors, who have failed repeatedly to provide much-needed oversight and reforms at the hospital.

My father, the late Supervisor Kenny Hahn, always wanted King/Drew to be a model of excellence, and to guarantee excellence he walked the halls of the facility weekly, visiting with doctors and employees and ensuring that they always had the resources they needed.

King/Drew once was a pillar of excellence, and I have never been against accountability and reforms at the now-disheveled hospital. We must fix the problems. But closing the trauma center is not the solution. There must be a better way to fix the hospital, beginning with a first-rate administrator who can implement real reforms and accountability.

Finally, I cannot believe that Joe Hicks and David Lehrer would continue to perpetuate the problems at King/Drew by invoking the infamous label of “Killer King” in their Oct. 12 commentary. The community surrounding that hospital has worked for years to prove that label wrong, and invoking this term is hurtful and unfair.

Let’s stop pointing fingers, propagating fear and perpetuating a tarnished image of a historically excellent facility. Let’s make King/Drew great again.

Janice Hahn

Los Angeles City Council