Lawsuit says hospital 'dumped' homeless man
Lawsuit says hospital 'dumped' homeless man
Civil rights attorneys are suing Hollywood (CA) Presbyterian Medical Center in connection with the "dumping" of a paraplegic man on Skid Row in 2006 that sparked nationwide outrage after media reports of the man falling out of a van and then crawling in the gutter.
The hospital acknowledged early on that the man was not properly discharged and promised to improve how homeless patients are treated. The case caused some risk managers to reassess their own procedures for discharging the homeless. Now the lawsuit is reigniting fears that callous discharge, or what others may perceive as insensitive treatment, could result in litigation.
The suit was filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of the paraplegic man, 42-year-old Gabino Olvera of Los Angeles. It also seeks unspecified punitive and compensatory damages against the hospital for elder abuse, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit asks the court for an injunction that would bar the hospital and the van company, Empire Transportation of Hollywood, from engaging in future cases of "homeless dumping."
"When you tell the average person this, they are completely shocked that a hospital would treat a human being in this way," says Hernan D. Vera, JD, an attorney at Public Counsel, a nonprofit group in Los Angeles that helps plaintiffs find pro bono attorneys to take their cases. Vera is one of the plaintiff's lawyers. Olvera was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian after an automobile accident, according to the complaint. The lawsuit also claims that hospital officials failed to diagnose and treat him for a urinary tract infection or take into account apparent signs of mental illness.
Shelter initially refused man
After several hours at the hospital, Olvera was taken by ambulance about 12:30 a.m. to the Midnight Mission in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, according to court papers. The mission staff noted that Olvera did not have a wheelchair, and they did not have the facilities to deal with someone in his condition, so they refused to accept him, the suit alleges. Olvera was brought back to Hollywood Presbyterian and placed in a wheelchair in a corner of the waiting room, where he sat unattended for eight hours with no food or water, according to the suit.
Vera says Olvera continued to show signs of mental illness but that the hospital staff did not respond. The next morning, Olvera was driven to Skid Row. Once there, the driver of the van allegedly told Olvera to get out, and he had to drag himself toward the curb with his possessions clenched in his teeth, the suit alleges. When a crowd began to gather demanding help for the man, the driver cursed him, saying he had soiled her van, according to police and witness accounts of the incident cited in court documents. According to the witnesses, the van driver applied makeup and perfume before speeding off.
After the lawsuit was filed, Hollywood Presbyterian issued a statement saying that it remained optimistic that a settlement could be reached and that the hospital had taken steps to ensure that such incidents did not happen again.
Kaiser Permanente already settled
Los Angeles health care providers are especially sensitive to the issue because providers there have been the subject of several media reports about how the homeless are discharged. These reports include one in April 2006 that showed footage of a homeless woman who had been treated at a Kaiser Permanente facility and then dropped off at a shelter on Skid Row. Once she was dropped off, she wandered aimlessly on the sidewalk in a hospital gown and socks. Kaiser Permanente confirmed at that time that staff put a 63-year-old woman into a taxi and had her dropped off.
After the local city attorney filed charges of misdemeanor imprisonment and threatened to pursue the case further, Kaiser Permanente, based in Oakland, CA, vowed to create new protocols for discharging homeless patients. As part of the settlement, Kaiser paid $5,000 in civil penalties, $50,000 in investigative costs to the city attorney's office, and contributed $500,000 to a charitable foundation benefitting local homeless programs.
Linda Stimmel, JD, partner and co-founder of Stewart & Stimmel in Dallas, says the current lawsuit may be more complicated than the charge against Kaiser Permanente, and more difficult to settle. "I would imagine this case will take some time to resolve because the issues will not simply be the inflammatory nature of the alleged dumping of a patient curbside," she says. "The lawsuit will most likely need to address his medical condition to see if he was stable enough for discharge."
Those issues require medical expert testimony, she notes, so there probably will be a lengthy discovery process to attempt to learn if this incident was part of a pattern or a singular incident. The outcome of the case is difficult to predict, Stimmel says, but it almost certainly will involve more than a monetary award.
"I would suspect that possibly some type of resolution may involve a commitment to a different style of discharge," similar to the pledge by Kaiser Permanente, she says.
Civil rights attorneys are suing Hollywood (CA) Presbyterian Medical Center in connection with the "dumping" of a paraplegic man on Skid Row in 2006 that sparked nationwide outrage after media reports of the man falling out of a van and then crawling in the gutter.Subscribe Now for Access
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