Re: “Why supervisors let deadly problems slide”
September 20, 2004
Editor
Los Angeles Times
Times Mirror Square
Los Angeles, CA
Dear Editor,
Management is and has always been at the heart of the problems at King/Drew Medical Center. It is weak, poor, and bad management that allowed for many of the lapses and failings identified in your series. The people who failed the hospital, and more importantly the community, were nursing and hospital management, Dr. Garthwaite and Mr. Leaf in their position as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively, and all five Supervisors.
Though the problems identified are long-term, the Supervisors gave Dr. Garthwaite and Mr. Leaf full day-to-day authority over KDMC for a year; with the help of 3 teams of so-called experts, a DHS management team, The Camden Group and LinBar & Associates at the cost of close to two million dollars. That year saw an escalation of errors, lies, mistakes and finally an institutional collapse.
The Board should and must take all necessary steps to correct this matter, and one of those steps is to terminate Dr. Garthwaite and Mr. Leaf for their failures. And the final steps rest with us, the citizens of LA County. It’s time to break the Board’s monopoly and back an expansion of the Board of Supervisors, now!
