Posted on 08/28/2006 12:22:58 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
A hospital that has faced a series of financial setbacks is considering closing its emergency room, potentially forcing thousands of additional patients onto another emergency unit about 1 1/2 miles away.
Centinela Freeman HealthSystem said it will decide within 30 days whether to shut the emergency room at its Memorial campus, leaving only its Centinela unit operating in the working-class city.
It would be the ninth emergency room to close in Los Angeles County in recent years and the prospect could be "devastating," said Carol Meyer, director of the county's emergency medical services agency.
"This is going to be the biggest one yet," she said of the closures.
"These are tough decisions," said Michael A. Rembis, president and chief executive of the health system. "We are losing a lot of sleep over this. We're going to do what we believe is best for the community."
Memorial, formerly known as Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, has a long record of financial losses. It has had three owners in the past five years.
Its emergency room treated about 38,000 patients in its emergency room last year. Centinela treated about the same number, but it has room to handle more, officials said.
If the plan goes forward, the hospital system said it would add two new urgent care centers at Memorial and Centinela, with extended hours to increase access to urgent and primary care services.
The health system said a consulting firm found that nearly two-thirds of the emergency room patients at Memorial and Centinela were treated for non-life-threatening conditions.
There they go....cutting off the healthcare to the illegal immigrants. (sarc)
Wow - not one word on why...
expect the Hezbocrats to start complaining about the problems with insufficent healthcare facilities in CA and its all the republicans fault.
I heard Michael Moore's next movie, thats going to be released during the next presidential elections, is all about how the evil republicans and HMO's are taking away everyones healthcare.
AP article.
I hope not, but have you been in an actual emergency room in a city lately? People with fevers and cuts, bumps on the head etc... few real emergencies... it is the "doctor's office of choice" for so many.
Since a hospital cannot turn them away under the anti-dumping laws, the next and most logical solution is to close the doors. I am sure the government at some level will try to make them reopen.
And you can just bet hellsapoppin' right now over at the other ER about 1 1/2 miles away.
They lose money, they are a liability headache, they are a huge security problem. There's no law saying a hospital HAS to have an ER. I don't know why they all don't close.
Whats wrong with you racists?
Fire the copy editor.
Actually, there are many laws concerning that exact situation, right down to how many free beds must be available, especially if you accept any government money, eg, Medicare or Medicaid.
Exactly, and they won't tell you either, because it's not popular within the healthcare establishment to talk about the fact that you can't keep hospitals and emergency rooms in business if there aren't very many doctors in your community to provide healthcare services or to staff emergency rooms.
My guess is that most illegals don't have family doctors, so when someone gets an upset stomach, they go to the emergency room. It' expensive for the hospital, but free for them.
The ER is a convenience for admitting patients--one advantage of having an ER.
The real reason there are as many ERs still operating is one you'd likely disbelieve. It is tradition, part of the mission of a hospital to provide emergency care to a community. But when the community will not compensate the hospital, when that community is quick to blame the ER for all the problems that come from the nature of such a service, when the community will not secure the facility from marauding thugs...it can be shut down. And they will continue to be shut down. Once enough hospitals lead the way, and break with tradition--other hospitals will follow suit.
Well, that didn't help.
"...have you been in an actual emergency room in a city lately?"
In my case, yup. The really bad ones came in Air Life and we didn't see them - just heard the choppers. The lady who was vomiting uncontrollably and me with my massively dislocated shoulder went to 1 & 2 in line when we arrived.
Everyone else was ambulatory and looked fine to me.
The fact that America's medical care is overwhelmed by illegals is a disgrace
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