The 63-year-old died last November in the e.r. waiting room of Aria Health Frankford.
He had reportedly been told to wait, and sat for more than an hour before passing away.
Minutes later, surveillance cameras captured several people stealing his watch.
The committee on Public Health and Human Services heard from a lawyer for the Rivera family, and hospital representatives.
Linda Wilson, a top executive appeared to concede what a state health department probe concluded: their system completely broke down that night.
"We have taken Mr. Rivera's death very seriously and implemented a number of proactive steps to ensure continuous improvement of our emergency room processes and to guarantee the safety of the community we serve," said Wilson.
Aria Health says it has instituted major reforms including staff retraining to try to prevent any repeats of the Rivera fiasco.
The Rivera family lawyer, Thomas Kline, who's been fine tuning a lawsuit against Aria, demanded reform of a broken system as well as compensation.
"Joaquin Rivera, who's very public death could, and should, have been avoided, had the health care providers and the facilities at Aria-Frankford provided him the proper diagnoses and treatment," said Kline.
"I'm bitter, I'm sad. He shouldn't have died that way," said Rivera's widow, Maria.
Kline says the lawsuit against Aria Health is ready to go and will be filed in common pleas court within the next several days.
Joaquin Rivera was an educator and musician, and a leader in Philadelphia's Puerto Rican community.
