Supervisors Vote to Reopen Martin Luther King Hospital
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to approve a pact with the University of California Board of Regents to reopen Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center.
MLK Jr. Hospital was closed in 2007 after a failing a series of federal inspections. The hospital and staff was severely criticized after a series of patient deaths due to negligence.
The hospital will be staffed with UC doctors and will be run by an independent nonprofit organization and a board of directors.
A new 120-bed facility will be built on the site of the old hospital, which is predicted to re-open in late 2012. An emergency department would be opened in 2013, followed by an ambulatory care center to be opened in 2014.
Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Center mainly serves the low-income communities of South Los Angeles.
