L.A. County hospital refuses to disclose quality of care problems, criminal histories of employees

Los Angeles County's board of supervisors may appoint an independent investigator to oversee hospital and clinic employment practices on reports that several recent hires have undisclosed criminal records. Supervisors learned that 152 employees, or roughly 11 percent of those reviewed at Martin Luther King-Harbor Hospital in Los Angeles County, had criminal records. Supervisor Gloria Molina has proposed the new permanent investigator position to improve hiring practices and overall quality of care in the county hospitals. Reportedly, officials from the county Department of Health Services have been secretive about problems they have had in the county clinics and hospitals. If appointed, the investigator would work with the board of supervisors and other county officials to improve transparency and openness among various departments and facilities.

King-Harbor's CEO, William Fujioka and interim director of the Department of Health Services, has refused to work with supervisors and other officials to reveal the full extent of the quality of care problems and criminal histories of the hospital's employees.

For more:
- read the story in the Los Angeles Times