Hospitals Accused of Dumping Patients on Skid Row

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating two more alleged cases of hospital patients being dumped on L.A.'s Skid Row. In one incident, police are checking surveillance video. That investigation is centered at LAPD's Central Division Headquarters.

The investigation has just begun. LAPD is in the preliminary stages of gather information. In fact, even the hospitals allegedly involved have not been officially notified of the complaints.

In the last several days two patients came to Skid Row, one in serious need of medical care, and the other in serious need of psychiatric care.

Security guards at the Union Rescue Mission saw video just after midnight on Sunday: A man, barefoot, face bandaged, who had just been dropped off -- not by an ambulance or a health care provider, but by a United Independent taxicab. He told the guards that he was in severe pain and could barely walk, and had come from the Veterans Administration Hospital. According to the Union Rescue Mission, it appears to be a violation of L.A.'s anti-dumping law.

The shelter says there was no notification from any hospital that a patient was coming.

"The man said he never wanted to come to Skid Row. He never asked to come to Union Rescue Mission, and as soon as he got a chance, he went back to the hospital," said Andy Bales of the Union Rescue Mission.

Two days earlier, a similar incident. A man named Brian, who carried discharge papers from Western Medical Center in Anaheim, more than 24 miles from Skid Row. A staff member notes that "Patient has no realistic plans for self-care. Patient is agitated, delusional, and threatened staff with physical harm."

LAPD is investigating both cases. "We have to determine if there was prior notification to the Mission, the shelters, on whether there's availability for beds," said LAPD Captain Jodi Wakefield.

The Los Angeles City Attorney's Office has been cracking down on hospitals that have dumped indigent patients.

In one case, a paraplegic man was left without a wheelchair or a walker. In the latest incidents there's concern that bringing patients to Skid Row could cause further injury.

The Union Rescue Mission has this message: "Find appropriate follow-up services nearby for your homeless patients. Don't send them to the mean streets of Skid Row," said Andy Bales.

"They [the hospitals] need to know that they're responsible for these patients and there's a protocol that they have to follow, and they're going to be held accountable for it," said Capt. Wakefield.

An update on the two patients: The one from the VA Hospital was returned to that hospital, but in the care of paramedics. The second man was cared for at the Union Rescue Mission for two days, then he walked off. He had no medication.

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