Another LA hospital sued for patient dumping

A Los Angeles-area hospital has been sued by civil rights attorneys over the alleged dumping of a paraplegic man on LA's Skid Row last year [1]. According to published reports, a driver working for Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center left the man to crawl in a gutter while dragging a catheter bag.

The man, Gabino Olvera, had been taken to the hospital after an automobile accident. The suit claims that hospital officials failed to diagnose or treat his for a urinary tract infection or detect signs of mental illness. After his treatment, the man was taken by ambulance to the Midnight mission in the Skid Row area of Los Angeles, and left without a wheelchair. He was later brought back to the hospital, where he was alleged ignored for eight hours, then driven back to Skid Row, where witnesses watched the man crawl away without help.

The suit not only asks for punitive and compensatory damages against the hospital for alleged elder abuse, negligence and infliction of emotional distress, it also asks for an injunction barring the hospital and van company from dumping homeless patients in the future.

To find out more about the suit:
- read this Los Angeles Times article [2]

Related Articles:
Kaiser faces patient dumping charges. Report [3]
Kaiser settles patient-dumping charges. Report [4]
Calif. law would ban patient dumping. Report [5]
Hospitals accused of dumping homeless. Report [6]
Kaiser faces patient dumping charges. Report [3]
LA hospital investigated for patient dumping. Report [1]