My property taxes are paying for THIS?????

I paid my property taxes Monday night and part of the total was a special assessment to keep the County trauma centers in the South Bay part of Los Angeles open. We were told if the assessment didn't pass a few years ago, the main County trauma center (Harbor UCLA) would likely be closed due to budget cuts. So most folks I know, including homeowners, voted for the assessment. I did not vote for the assessment because I figured the County Board of Supervisors would still close the trauma center once the tax increase was passed by the voters. I'm glad that I've been proven incorrect so far, I hope I will continued to be proven incorrect in the future.

Another large County hospital not too far away from Harbor UCLA is King/Drew Medical Center. The hospital has had a large number of medical and financial problems which has led to the hospital's accreditation as a teaching hospital and as a place that qualifies to treat Medicare and Medical patients has been in jeopardy. I don't know if King/Drew has actually lost their accreditation as of this time, but if they have a large part of their funding has been lost.

The LA Times (yes, I'm quoting the LA Times, a rarity) has a long story on an investigation into King/Drew and some of the problems the hospital has had. It appears that a number of the people who work at King/Drew are treating the hospital as their own private piggy bank and expect the government to keep spending money without question. Now that the trauma Center at King/Drew is scheduled to be closed, and if things don't improve the entire hospital could be closed, some of the mismanagement is coming to light. Its sad that a number of people working at the hospital and/or on the governing body of the hospital have chosen to work towards their own enrichment instead of the good of the community, as was one of the purposes of the hospital being built in the first place.

I hope the County, State and Federal governments will look into the practices of not only King/Drew, but also all County hospitals so the waste and fraud will be minimized so the money the county allocates for public health will be available to treat patients and not pay for workers who don't show up, file false worker's comp claims or are paid for work they are not doing. Since the County workers are paid by our taxes, we the taxpayers need to remind them and us, they work for us and we can and should demand accountability for our money.