Los Angeles might be one of the U.S. cities that best typifies disparities in healthcare. While on one side of town, you have King-Harbor Hospital being shut down, on the other side of town you have Cedars-Sinai serving the rich and famous. So it's heartening to find out that the federal government is taking steps -- or at least trying to give the appearance of taking steps -- to find out more about these......

Last year in May, Edith Isabel Rodriguez died at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital. Her death became national headlines because Rodriguez was dying (literally throwing up blood on the floor) in the waiting room as nurses and other hospital staff continued to ignore her as they walked by. Rodriguez's husband, Jose Prado, and another person in the waiting room called 911 explaining that she was in need of help. But dispatchers refused saying she......