county hospital

Whenever I hear about or talk to someone who had a medical emergency, one of the first sentiments expressed is "All I was hoping is that I didn't get sent to county".  I have also retained this fear from time to time due to my preconceived notion that LA county hospital has subpar facilities and is overwrought with patients therefore rendering them little resources to adequately treat me if I ever got shot or some other terrible outcome within their jurisdiction.  Needless to say our county hospital is not my first choice of first aid, however it isn't due to lack of effort on all fronts.  If I remember correctly, MLK was closed down due to inadequate facilities and a slew of scandals stemming from poor treatment and improper protocols.  It's possible that one of the reasons for this was underfunding, however I don't think the answer should be to pump more money into a faulty system.  In recent class discussions we talked about a need for crisis before reform can happen and I think this is one of the times this mantra rings true.  The more obvious the failures of our health care system become, the sooner we will all see the necessity for drastic changes.  In accord with our current president, I think change needs to happen now and from his speech tonight, I think those changes are actually going to take form soon.