Dumping Patients on the Street
The city of Los Angeles has filed charges against Kaiser Permanente for how its Bellflower hospital turned a 63-year-old homeless woman out of the hospital. The hospital put her in a cab that drove her to Skid Row and simply dropped her off there. She was wearing a hospital gown and slippers. A security camera caught the drop-off on videotape.
The woman is Carol Anne Reyes. After getting out of the cab, Ms. Reyes wanders down the street a little ways and then steps onto the sidewalk and wanders back. She appears confused.
City officials claim this is not an isolated or unusual incident. Ten other hospitals are under investigation for dumping patients onto the streets.
At the Open Door and Next Door Shelters we get calls from hospitals and treatment centers that are very anxious to discharge patients who have no place to live. We are often full. Some of these patients need care that we are not trained to give.
Why are hospitals having such a hard time finding a place for patients like Carol Anne Reyes? Because these patients have nowhere to go. The hospitals are facing the grim reality that Ms. Reyes was facing before she went into the hospital. There is no place for her to live.
Instead of dropping patients off on the street in a poor part of town, hospitals need to find adequate housing for their patients. When the lack of affordable and appropriate housing for poor patients generates enough pressure inside the hospitals, maybe the hospitals will join with homeless people and others who are demanding that our communities do better when it comes to housing for the poor.
I think the people at Bellflower hospital who are now charged with the crime of dependent-care abuse, could turn to city officials, "affordable" housing non-profits, and other community leaders and say "You ought to be tried for this crime with us. We have all abandoned Carol Anne Reyes to the streets."
The woman is Carol Anne Reyes. After getting out of the cab, Ms. Reyes wanders down the street a little ways and then steps onto the sidewalk and wanders back. She appears confused.
City officials claim this is not an isolated or unusual incident. Ten other hospitals are under investigation for dumping patients onto the streets.
At the Open Door and Next Door Shelters we get calls from hospitals and treatment centers that are very anxious to discharge patients who have no place to live. We are often full. Some of these patients need care that we are not trained to give.
Why are hospitals having such a hard time finding a place for patients like Carol Anne Reyes? Because these patients have nowhere to go. The hospitals are facing the grim reality that Ms. Reyes was facing before she went into the hospital. There is no place for her to live.
Instead of dropping patients off on the street in a poor part of town, hospitals need to find adequate housing for their patients. When the lack of affordable and appropriate housing for poor patients generates enough pressure inside the hospitals, maybe the hospitals will join with homeless people and others who are demanding that our communities do better when it comes to housing for the poor.
I think the people at Bellflower hospital who are now charged with the crime of dependent-care abuse, could turn to city officials, "affordable" housing non-profits, and other community leaders and say "You ought to be tried for this crime with us. We have all abandoned Carol Anne Reyes to the streets."
posted by Rick Stravers at 6:47 PM
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