MARTIN LUTHER KING JR./DREW MEDICAL CENTER: L.A. Times Editorial Urges County Action
A Los Angeles Times editorial today blasts Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center for its handling of a wrongful death settlement (see related story). Calling the 1995 death of Charles Hamilton "everyone's worst medical nightmare," the Times points out that the medical intern involved "had been turned down by dozens of teaching hospitals in the United States and Canada." Furthermore, the editors reprimand the hospital for "quickly and perfunctorily" dealing with the death. The hospital "closed its books on the incident before the body was sent to the morgue. Required forms on cause of death were either left blank or made no mention of the unnecessary procedure" contributing to the death. The editorial concludes: "The county needs to see that Hamilton's survivors quickly obtain the $625,000 settlement. That's the easy part. What will take much longer is a clear accounting of procedures and practices at this and the county's other public hospitals to prevent such cases in the future" (6/24).
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