By Ari Noonan
Sounding
a warning with nearly the same urgency that Paul Revere used at the outset of
the Revolutionary War, activist Scott Malsin figuratively is galloping across
the community this week, warning City Hall and his neighbors that it is a
matter of life and death for them to fight to keep smallish, money-losing
Some
5,000 residents of western
If
the sprawling Tenet Healthcare Corp. follows through on its threat to close
166-bed Daniel Freeman on Aug. 26, residents could die before arriving at the
nearest hospital, 10 to 15 minutes distant.
Virtually all of the county’s remaining 80 emergency rooms are said to
be overburdened.
“Obviously,
Tenet has a right to run its business as it sees fit,” Malsin said. “Bust there
is an inherent problem with the structure of our health care delivery system,
which is leading to what I consider a dangerous lack of facilities in that part
of town, my part of town.”
Assuming
a philosophical stance, Malsin said the problem is not the mushrooming
of more business-minded HMOs. It is “reliance on a deregulated, free market to
deliver necessities, whether they are goods or services. I respect Tenet for trying to maximize its
profits. But in my mind, there is a real difference between the interests of
shareholders in a company and the interests of people whose needs have to be
served.”
After
addressing the community at last week’s City Council meeting, Malsin told the
News that residents should e-mail and telephone their elected officials,
voicing concern over the pending closure.
He also invited residents to visit the website Save Our Marina Hospital
(www.somh.org) for more creative
suggestions.
“Our
community facers few issues that are life-and-death, but this is one,” says
Malsin, a stocks and bonds investor who also is a Planning Commissioner. “Under normal circumstances, closure of the
emergency room at
“In
the event of a major earthquake, its absence would be tragic.”
A
mere eight months ago, Tenet acquired both Daniel Freeman hospital
for an announced $55 million at a time that together they were reported to be
losing $23 million a year.
Decades
ago, hospital administrators were warned that hospitals need to be operated as
commercial enterprises, and now HMOs – Tenet prominent among them – are doing
that. Santa Barbara-based Tenet, which runs 116 hospitals in 17 states, has 33
hospitals in
Tenet
reported profits exceeded expectations in the most recent quarter when earnings
grew 43 percent to $321 million, 64 cents a share, up from $225 million and 45
cents a share a year ago.
In
case of an earthquake, residents west of the 405 Freeway would be tragically
cut off from effective emergency help, Malsin says.
Worse,
he asks, what about persons living in his neighborhood who have their own
emergency health needs?
With
disgusted irony, Malsin noted that Tenet denied it was going to shut down
Daniel Freeman until the very day two months ago, on May 19, the decision to
close was announced.
Plenty
of important people agree with Malsin, but whether they form a critical mass
that can reverse Tenet’s call won’t be known until later this month.
Since
LAX is an ongoing terrorist target, says U.S. Rep. Jane Harman, closure of the
Close to 200 worried
residents turned out for a meeting of the
Capt.
Bowden’s
For
the next three years, Tenet is required to provide free local transportation to
residents in six are codes – 90292, 90292, 90292, 90230, 90045, and 90066 – to
medical appointments in Culver City Santa Monica, the Marina, Mar Vista, Playa
Vista, Venice and Westchester.
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Editorial
The closing of
Additionally we are very
concerned that
The bean counters at Tenet obviously have not studied the
market very well. This area is exploding with new residents. To move emergency
healthcare further away from them is unconscionable.
If Tenet is not interested in continuing a community
hospital in this rapidly growing area then the hospital should be turned over
to a group which will keep it open for the local community.
To do any less will condemn the local residents to
inferior health care and in critical situations to death.
Coastal Community Newspapers
A Division
of Hadland Communications, Inc.