( release this week of two 911 calls in w...)Government Mulls Closure of Hospital Where a Woman Died Unattended in ER,Health

release this week of two 911 calls in which Rodriguez's boyfriend and another onlooker unsuccessfully beg sheriff's dispatchers to send help.

In an interview Friday, county health services Director Dr. Bruce Chernof placed the majority of blame on the nightshift triage nurse, who turned away direct requests for help from police officers who had brought in the woman from benches in front of the hospital, where she was crying for help. That nurse, Linda Ruttlen, resigned days later and has since been referred to the state nursing board for investigation.

The federal government cited the hospital for violating the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which requires hospitals to screen and stabilize all patients seeking emergency care.

In a written response, hospital officials said they had made changes, such as adding training for emergency room staff, improving methods for logging patients seeking treatment and posting additional signs advising patients of their right to a medical exam. From now on, county health officials said, a supervising nurse will check the emergency room waiting area at least once every eight-hour shift to ensure that no patient is left unattended.

King-Harbor must still respond to a separate federal report, not yet released, that found emergency room patients in immediate jeopardy of harm or death. That survey was based, in part, on the experience earlier this year of a brain tumor patient who waited fruitlessly in an emergency room bed for four days before giving up and seeking emergency surgery at another hospital.

Responding to the uproar caused by Rodriguez's death, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on Friday asked federal regulators to explain how they plan to protect patients at King-Harbor in light of ``horrific'' and ``appalling'' lapses in patient care.

In a letter to the Medicare agency, Senator Max Baucus, said h
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