County suspends clinic workers

Sixteen employees at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital’s outpatient clinic have been suspended after it was discovered that they had serious crimes in their past -- including at least one rape -- or had lied about their criminal history, Los Angeles County officials revealed Tuesday.

One other employee with a criminal history was kept on the payroll for reasons officials did not explain.

The officials refused to say what crimes were committed by the staffers or whether the offenders worked in positions that placed patients in jeopardy, but Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke disclosed the rape.

“I’m very concerned,” said Burke, whose district includes the Willowbrook medical facility. “I’ve been a patient at that hospital myself.”

County Chief Executive Officer William T Fujioka had said a day earlier that he hoped to release a full account of the crimes swiftly, but neither he nor county supervisors provided the information Tuesday, saying county attorneys had not yet determined whether it was appropriate to do so.

Most of the hospital closed nearly a year ago after federal regulators determined that it did not meet minimum standards for patient care, but some outpatient services continue, and more than 700 employees remain at the site.

County supervisors had blamed their own employees for many of the failures that led to the shutdown of emergency room and inpatient services and pledged to discipline or remove problem employees. The Times recently reported major lapses in the tracking of disciplined employees.

In a review conducted in response to the Times report, the Department of Health Services found that it had received information about employee criminal histories over the last year that should have initiated discipline.

John Schunhoff, the department’s interim director, refused to identify who had failed to initiate the discipline. He said none of the employees who were transferred to other hospitals when King closed had criminal histories that had gone ignored.

Burke said she remained concerned “that yet again the problems are concentrated at King.”

In light of the discoveries among King workers, Burke said, the county should reevaluate its criminal background checks for all of its 100,000 employees to make sure that they occur with sufficient regularity and that they are acted upon.

“I thought we were already doing it, but I certainly think all Department of Health Services and all employees in sensitive positions should have criminal background checks done, and we should properly follow up with any needed discipline. The question is how often you do it,” Burke said. “Not everyone needs it every year.”

Kathy Ochoa, a lobbyist for Service Employees International Union Local 721, addressed Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting and criticized the board’s focus on problem employees.

“While individual accountability is essential, this focus, the exclusion of questions about the system and the leadership failures that contributed to the hospital’s closure blinds us to the answers that can help inform the deeply complicated process of how best to provide healthcare services to underserved communities of South Los Angeles,” she said.

--

garrett.therolf@latimes.com

--

Times staff writer Jack Leonard contributed to this report.