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But the opposition was more muted than in past meetings, and leaders of the movement to save the trauma center seemed resigned. U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who helped organize much of the opposition, was unusually conciliatory in remarks to the board. She said afterward that she considered the outcome a victory, because the supervisors said they would try to reopen the trauma unit as soon as possible. "It will not be shut down; it will just be suspended," Waters told reporters after the meeting. "I think we've had something of a win." Although both Waters and Burke referred to the action as a suspension, not a closure, the head of the county's Emergency Medical Services Agency said hospital regulations make no such distinction. Carol Meyer, whose agency oversees the county's trauma network, said the unit will be closed, and the county will have to reapply to restore its trauma designation if and when it reopens.

King/Drew's Trauma Unit Ordered Shut Supervisors say the closure will help them save the troubled hospital, and they adopt the goal of eventually reopening the unit. By Mitchell Landsberg and Jack Leonard Times Staff Writers November 24, 2004 Despite impassioned protests, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to close the trauma center at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, saying the unit had to be sacrificed as part of a larger strategy to save the troubled hospital. The decision marks the strongest action yet by county officials to reform King/Drew, where medical lapses have been tied to the deaths of several patients and now threaten the hospital's accreditation and federal funding. The King/Drew trauma center in Willowbrook, just south of Watts, serves the most violence-prone neighborhoods in the county, and is credited with saving the lives of countless victims of gunshots, stabbings and serious traffic accidents. County health officials said, however, that because trauma victims required such intense care, the unit was putting too much of a strain on the rest of the hospital. "These actions truly are the first step in a long road to restore medical standards and excellence to the hospital," said Supervisor Mike Antonovich. "Right now, anyone being treated there is being treated at a danger to their health and their life." The five-member Board of Supervisors voted 4 to 0 for the closure, with Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke abstaining. The board cushioned the blow by approving an amendment by Burke — who represents the South Los Angeles area where the county-run hospital is located — committing the county to a goal of eventually reopening the trauma center. "It's not a good day," Burke said after the vote, "but the reality is that we can't ignore that we have problems at the hospital. We have to do something. And we're doing something."