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A new beginning for MLK hospital and the community

For several decades, King/Drew hospital in South Los Angeles served one of the neediest parts of Los Angeles, treating patients who didn't have insurance or anywhere else to turn for care.

Its opening in 1972 was viewed as a victory of the civil rights era and a source of pride for black Los Angeles. But plagued in later years by poor medical care, staff errors and a series of controversial patient deaths, it came to be viewed by many as a place of peril, nicknamed Killer King.

On Tuesday, delivering on a long-delayed promise to replace the facility, officials will open the doors on the new, state-of-the-art Martin Luther King, Jr.