Los Angeles hospitals investigated for “dumping” homeless patients

Kaiser Permanente, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center and Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center have all been accused of the practice. In one incident—an unforgettable sight recounted by witnesses—a paraplegic man wearing a hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was left to pull himself through the streets holding a plastic bag containing his belongings in his teeth. On February 8, 2007, the man had been driven in a van from Hollywood Presbyterian to a site near the Midnight Mission. According to the Los Angeles Times the driver of the van “allegedly ignored the cries of onlookers to help” him, and “proceeded to apply makeup and perfume before driving off, leaving the man in the gutter.” The man was later taken to County USC-Medical Center.

In 2005, Hollywood Presbyterian was also accused of dumping a man who was unable to walk and strapped to a gurney.

In March 2006, an elderly homeless woman, who had been dumped on the street wearing only a hospital gown and hospital-issue slippers, was caught on security cameras wandering confusedly on the street by the Union Rescue Mission, the city’s largest homeless shelter.

In announcing the charges against Kaiser, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said that Kaiser’s Bellflower Hospital had put the 63-year-old woman in a taxi and sent her to the neighborhood, even though she had serious and untreated health problems. The woman, Carol Ann Reyes, was eventually taken in by the Union Rescue Mission, where she is receiving care.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/la-m06.shtml