Patient dumping is “inconceivable and unconscionable,” according to Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, who said Wednesday he hoped to discourage the practice by suing a Hawaiian Gardens hospital accused taking a homeless patient to Skid Row and leaving her there.
The 38-year-old woman, diagnosed with schizophrenia, was allegedly dropped off in front of Union Rescue Mission on Sept. 4, 2014, by the driver of a van owned by Gardens Regional Hospital & Medical Center, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday.
The woman was left on Skid Row even though she was “confused and uncertain, with no identification, money, phone or medication, wearing only” paper hospital clothing, according to Feuer’s lawsuit.
Gardens Regional do not immediately provide a response to the allegations.
Feuer wants an injunction requiring the hospital to create a discharge policy. He also wants the hospital to pay $2,500 in penalties per violation.
Feuer alleges the hospital improperly discharged the woman at least five separate times between December 2013 and September 2014. He called patient dumping “inconceivable and unconscionable behavior that needs to stop,” and said “the filing of this lawsuit today is not a happy moment.”
Feuer said this is the first lawsuit he has had filed against a hospital for patient dumping. He was able to come up with informal resolutions with three other hospitals he targeted that resulted in the facilities denying wrongdoing but agreeing to create policies for discharging homeless patients.
“It is not my goal to engage in punishment. My goal is to change the practice,” Feuer said during a news conference this morning. “And I will say in this case we reached out … to the health care provider to have an informal discussion seeking to resolve this.”
“Obviously those were not successful discussions or we wouldn’t be here today,” he said.
Delia Farmiento, an investigator in the case who works for Feuer, called the alleged treatment of the woman “just cruel,” and said the woman was found “unable to communicate, covered in her own waste, flies, ants.”
Feuer last year secured a settlement from another hospital alleged to have dumped a patient. Glendale Adventist Medical Center denied wrongdoing and agreed to pay $700,000 and adopt protocols for properly releasing patients who do not have a fixed home.
Beverly Community Hospital in Montebello also agreed last year to pay $250,000, while Pacifica Hospital of the Valley, based in Sun Valley, paid a $600,000 settlement, following investigations by Feuer’s office.
—City News Service