King/Drew’s Mounting Costs Are No Surprise

Did I read the March 21 article, “A Mounting Tab to Fix King/Drew” correctly, or was I dreaming? Nurse managers hired by the consulting firm to address the problems of the hospital will be paid $36,000 per month? A physician advisor will be paid over $52,000 a month? Other people will be paid similar outrageous salaries to advise how to correct the deficiencies in the hospitals systems. These people will be able to retire in a few months. They are making more in one month than a teacher in L.A. makes in a year.

Where are the county supervisors, hiding under a table? Of course, they don’t have to pay the bills; the taxpayers do.

Don Wagner

Santa Monica

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So Navigant Consulting Inc. has requested a change-order for the sum of $3.4 million, and Kae Robertson, a director of the firm, states that the increase reflects additional costs that had been anticipated when the contract was signed last fall.

Then why was the bid $3.4 million shy? Why not state that the job would take $16.6 million instead of $13.2 million? Why did Navigant submit an underbid for the contract?

Of course, these are questions that the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors will never ask. Why? Because it had been warned and chose to ignore the warnings of individuals, including myself.

I also find it rather amazing that Robertson is now saying “even simple, basic operational systems were broken.”

None of this should be a surprise to supposed experts in the field. All one had to do was read the numerous reports and documents provided to the board to understand the depth of the problem, especially in nursing. And let’s not forget that for almost one year, the Department of Health Services had its own handpicked team of experts managing King/Drew Medical Center, so it should have been able to provide Navigant with the unvarnished truth.

Genevieve Clavreul RN

Pasadena