Los Angeles city attorney to sue hospitals that dump patients on skid row

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from healthleadersmedia.com:

los angeles city attorney to sue hospitals that dump patients on skid row

after a year of investigation, the los angeles city attorney's office has identified 10 hospitals it suspects of dumping discharged patients on skid row and is now preparing to take legal action to stop the practice, according to two sources familiar with the planned litigation.

los angeles times, nov. 8, 2006

Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.

One person with oozing anasarka and shortness of breath was brought by ambulance and assisted to sit on the curb, feet in the street. The personnel at the mission could not get him up so he sat on the curb. Three days later he died sitting on that curb in his bodily fluids and a jacket over the hospital gown. Paramedics were called but he never got help.

We jurors and the mission staff saw and reported this.

This is a tough one, Spacenurse. I worked as a case manager in Baltimore and I spent countless hours working with hospital discharge planners trying to find placement for my homeless patients. I was often successful in finding a shelter or group home who would take them, only to have them leave the next day to return to the streets. Many street people are there by choice, they don't like the rules invoked by shelters or group homes. I couldn't even keep them in Skilled Nursing Facilities for an extra week.

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