"Homeless Dumping": A New Trend in Health Care?

Location: Skid Row

Los Angeles -- On the streets of Los Angeles, a van from one of the local hospitals pulls to the side of the curb, the side door opens, and out tumbles a man in soiled hospital greens, a broken colostomy bag, with his pants around his ankles, unable to walk, with no wheelchair, no walker, and most importantly, nowhere to go even if he could move.

Sounds like a scene from a movie, doesn't it? But it's not. This is the true accusation being made against Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center Hospital, less than a week ago. Additionally Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was also accused of "homeless dumping" in 2005, but top executives at the hospital denied the claim.

Various news sources, including ABC, AM New York, and the Los Angeles Times have all interviewed Police Detective Russ Long, a detective for the Skid Row area, who has been quoted to say, "If there is an explanation it just eludes me at this point," Long said.

The incident might not have received much publicity, except that there were at least two dozen witnesses, and several had taken information about the van, which allowed investigators to trace the van back, through phone numbers, license plate numbers, and description, to the van used by Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center. Additionally, a bicycle police officer was in the area just moments after the van allegedly dumped the 41 year old unidentified Hispanic man, who has been said to have lost the use of his legs in 1990 due to a car crash.

As horrific as these accusations and eye witness accounts seem, this is not necessarily a new experience for the homeless inhabitants of Skid Row.

Just three months prior to this incident, the Los Angeles City Attorney's office indicted Kaiser Permanente, the parent company of Kaiser Permanente's Bellflower, a medical care facility in Los Angeles, for dumping a 63 year old homeless women on Skid Row. Evidence included in securing the indictment was a video tape of this woman stepping out of a taxi wearing a gown and socks.