Hospital dumps paraplegic homeless man on street

flywallyflyflywallyfly Posts: 1,453
edited February 2007 in A Moving Train
What a bunch of bastards.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/09/homeless.dumping.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A hospital van dropped off a paraplegic man on Skid Row, allegedly leaving him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said.

Witnesses who said they saw the incident Thursday wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number, which helped detectives connect the vehicle to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

Police said the incident was a case of "homeless dumping" and were questioning officials from the hospital.

"I can't think of anything colder than that," said Detective Russ Long. "There was no mission around, no services. It's the worst area of Skid Row."

The case comes three months after the L.A. city attorney's office filed its first indictment for homeless dumping against Kaiser Permanente for an incident earlier last year.

In that case, a 63-year-old patient from the hospital's Bellflower medical center was videotaped wandering the streets of Skid Row in a hospital gown and socks.

An after-hours call Thursday to Hollywood Presbyterian seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Kaylor Shemberger, the hospital's executive vice president, told the Times the incident was under investigation.

"Obviously we are very concerned about the information that has been presented to us," Shemberger said. "If some of the facts are correct, it is clearly not in line with our policy of handling these types of patients."

City officials have accused more than a dozen hospitals of dumping patients and criminals on Skid Row. Hospital officials have denied the allegations, but some said they had taken homeless patients to Skid Row service providers.

In 2005, Hollywood Presbyterian was accused of homeless dumping.

At the time, a top executive denied the charge, but said Skid Row service providers offered treatment and care for some patients who had nowhere else to go.
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • How Christian of them to do this. I bet a Muslim hospital wouldnt have done this.
    War is Peace
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    Rushlimbo wrote:
    How Christian of them to do this. I bet a Muslim hospital wouldnt have done this.

    yeah, but at least the hospital's taking such moral actions as denying rape victims the evil morning after pill.
  • surferdudesurferdude Posts: 2,057
    yeah, but at least the hospital's taking such moral actions as denying rape victims the evil morning after pill.
    Then I take it that you are for allowing religiously run hospitals to hire only people with a like religious background. Because if you are going to hold the organization up to Christian ideaology then you should be willing to allow them to hire only Christians.

    The driver may have been an atheist, and was only acting in ways supported by his atheism.
    “One good thing about music,
    when it hits you, you feel to pain.
    So brutalize me with music.”
    ~ Bob Marley
  • Fairly obvious that money is the true God to organized Christianity.
    War is Peace
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  • The persons who are responsiple are they gonna pay for this or they'll get away?
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    surferdude wrote:
    Then I take it that you are for allowing religiously run hospitals to hire only people with a like religious background. Because if you are going to hold the organization up to Christian ideaology then you should be willing to allow them to hire only Christians.

    The driver may have been an atheist, and was only acting in ways supported by his atheism.

    i doubt a driver would grab a patient and toss them out without orders to do so. dont be ridiculous. this was an admin decision. im not arguing for a christian ideology, im pointing out the totally arbitrary and hypocritical version of christian ideology they practice... poor homeless people? toss em out. morning after pill... we're taking a stand on this one!
  • You guys are opposing the system, not the hospital.

    The hospital simply couldn't afford the poor guy. I think soulsinging should take care of the poor guy now! He should be your burden! Show your own non-christian ideals by proving that you can be a good person and show compassion.

    Or, just don't complain about the system. Sure, shit like this happens but that's why we have poor houses. As Christ said, "The poor you will always have with you," and indeed we are called to help them. The government is not called to help the poor. WE ARE.

    Go out and serve them and stop blaming other people for not helping them.
    All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.
    -Enoch Powell
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    You guys are opposing the system, not the hospital.

    The hospital simply couldn't afford the poor guy. I think soulsinging should take care of the poor guy now! He should be your burden! Show your own non-christian ideals by proving that you can be a good person and show compassion.

    Or, just don't complain about the system. Sure, shit like this happens but that's why we have poor houses. As Christ said, "The poor you will always have with you," and indeed we are called to help them. The government is not called to help the poor. WE ARE.

    Go out and serve them and stop blaming other people for not helping them.

    by we you mean christians? as in christian hospitals? yeah, they did a bang up job here. the point of this story is apparently that we DO need a system to keep these private christian places from indulging their selfish, greedy agenda. it was the hospital, not the system. if it was the system, this would happen far more than it has. but it was this particular hospital that decided its christian ideology only extends to positions it deems profitable and politically expedient...

    im not taking care of him becos im not christian and never claimed to give a flying fuck about the poor. but i do practice what i preach.
  • If this guy would have tithed his panhandling money they wouldnt have dumped him. It's not like they kicked him out of the door. They dumped him like a garbage bag. You Christians dont give a rat's ass about anyone but yourselves but you preach like you're Jesus himself. It would be laughable if it wasnt so destructive to the entire planet.
    War is Peace
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    Go out and serve them and stop blaming other people for not helping them.

    I always help man. I donated so much to the food bank this year. I donate to charities all the time. Yo, I take it to the next level, I chill out with the homeless and the impoverished. That's the Ahnimus doctrine and that's what the great late, umm, ok, no one taught that, I just did it myself.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • PaperPlatesPaperPlates Posts: 1,745
    Ahnimus wrote:
    I always help man. I donated so much to the food bank this year. I donate to charities all the time. Yo, I take it to the next level, I chill out with the homeless and the impoverished. That's the Ahnimus doctrine and that's what the great late, umm, ok, no one taught that, I just did it myself.


    If I didnt know better, I might think you were modelling yourself after Christ.
    Why go home

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  • If I didnt know better, I might think you were modelling yourself after Christ.

    Good thing you dont know any better.
    War is Peace
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength
  • AhnimusAhnimus Posts: 10,560
    If I didnt know better, I might think you were modelling yourself after Christ.

    Just sort of happened that way.
    I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
  • soulsingingsoulsinging Posts: 13,202
    If I didnt know better, I might think you were modelling yourself after Christ.

    if only more christians (eg. the ones working at this hospital) did the same eh?
  • EbizzieEbizzie Posts: 240
    You guys are opposing the system, not the hospital.

    The hospital simply couldn't afford the poor guy. I think soulsinging should take care of the poor guy now! He should be your burden! Show your own non-christian ideals by proving that you can be a good person and show compassion.

    Or, just don't complain about the system. Sure, shit like this happens but that's why we have poor houses. As Christ said, "The poor you will always have with you," and indeed we are called to help them. The government is not called to help the poor. WE ARE.

    Go out and serve them and stop blaming other people for not helping them.

    While I agree that they aren't obligated to continue to care for the guy if he didn't have insurance, couldn't they have done better than to dump him off in the middle of a road. At the minimum, they could have dropped him off at a shelter or contacted a local church/charity organization for assistance. Perhaps they did and the story doesn't mention it, but from the sounds of their compassion I doubt they did.

    This is simply an inhumane reaction to a guy without insurance. What if this were your mother? Would you still be taking the hospital's side in this matter?
    "Worse than traitors in arms are the men who pretend loyalty to the flag, feast and fatten on the misfortunes of the nation while patriotic blood is crimsoning the plains." -- Abraham Lincoln
  • What a bunch of bastards.


    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/09/homeless.dumping.ap/index.html

    LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A hospital van dropped off a paraplegic man on Skid Row, allegedly leaving him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said.

    Witnesses who said they saw the incident Thursday wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number, which helped detectives connect the vehicle to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

    Police said the incident was a case of "homeless dumping" and were questioning officials from the hospital.

    "I can't think of anything colder than that," said Detective Russ Long. "There was no mission around, no services. It's the worst area of Skid Row."

    The case comes three months after the L.A. city attorney's office filed its first indictment for homeless dumping against Kaiser Permanente for an incident earlier last year.

    In that case, a 63-year-old patient from the hospital's Bellflower medical center was videotaped wandering the streets of Skid Row in a hospital gown and socks.

    An after-hours call Thursday to Hollywood Presbyterian seeking comment was not immediately returned.

    Kaylor Shemberger, the hospital's executive vice president, told the Times the incident was under investigation.

    "Obviously we are very concerned about the information that has been presented to us," Shemberger said. "If some of the facts are correct, it is clearly not in line with our policy of handling these types of patients."

    City officials have accused more than a dozen hospitals of dumping patients and criminals on Skid Row. Hospital officials have denied the allegations, but some said they had taken homeless patients to Skid Row service providers.

    In 2005, Hollywood Presbyterian was accused of homeless dumping.

    At the time, a top executive denied the charge, but said Skid Row service providers offered treatment and care for some patients who had nowhere else to go.

    yay humanity! always taking huge strides forward!
  • Rushlimbo wrote:
    If this guy would have tithed his panhandling money they wouldnt have dumped him. It's not like they kicked him out of the door. They dumped him like a garbage bag. You Christians dont give a rat's ass about anyone but yourselves but you preach like you're Jesus himself. It would be laughable if it wasnt so destructive to the entire planet.


    I started a non-profit called Operation Yum-Yums. In fact in about two hours I'll be walking around downtown with some volunteers distributing sandwiches and cokes to my citys homeless. I don't spread the gospel or influence people to believe in Jesus or provide hope to them in any way. I just simply feed hungry people.

    And I'm a christian.
    www.myspace.com/olafvonmastadon
  • dharma69dharma69 Posts: 1,275
    What a bunch of bastards.


    http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/09/homeless.dumping.ap/index.html

    LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A hospital van dropped off a paraplegic man on Skid Row, allegedly leaving him crawling in the street with nothing more than a soiled gown and a broken colostomy bag, police said.

    Witnesses who said they saw the incident Thursday wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number, which helped detectives connect the vehicle to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

    Police said the incident was a case of "homeless dumping" and were questioning officials from the hospital.

    "I can't think of anything colder than that," said Detective Russ Long. "There was no mission around, no services. It's the worst area of Skid Row."

    The case comes three months after the L.A. city attorney's office filed its first indictment for homeless dumping against Kaiser Permanente for an incident earlier last year.

    In that case, a 63-year-old patient from the hospital's Bellflower medical center was videotaped wandering the streets of Skid Row in a hospital gown and socks.

    An after-hours call Thursday to Hollywood Presbyterian seeking comment was not immediately returned.

    Kaylor Shemberger, the hospital's executive vice president, told the Times the incident was under investigation.

    "Obviously we are very concerned about the information that has been presented to us," Shemberger said. "If some of the facts are correct, it is clearly not in line with our policy of handling these types of patients."

    City officials have accused more than a dozen hospitals of dumping patients and criminals on Skid Row. Hospital officials have denied the allegations, but some said they had taken homeless patients to Skid Row service providers.

    In 2005, Hollywood Presbyterian was accused of homeless dumping.

    At the time, a top executive denied the charge, but said Skid Row service providers offered treatment and care for some patients who had nowhere else to go.
    Forgive my annoyance with those of you who keep touting "Christian" this that and the other, but this story doesn't have a damn thing to do with religion, in general, or Christianity specifically. "Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center" is just a name....

    This story has to do with decency and humanity; two things that are hardly Christian exclusive. Let's leave the religion at the door and deal with these people as the mere human assholes that they are. God loving/not loving/fearing/not fearing assholes.
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  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    You wanna hear something funny - if the driver had gone about another mile or so he could have left this person at County USC, a public hospital.
  • hippiemomhippiemom Posts: 3,326
    dharma69 wrote:
    Forgive my annoyance with those of you who keep touting "Christian" this that and the other, but this story doesn't have a damn thing to do with religion, in general, or Christianity specifically. "Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center" is just a name....
    I agree. The hospital is owned by Kaiser, a notoriously shitty health care provider. It was probably "Hollywood Presbyterian" before Kaiser bought it, and they decided to keep the name. I doubt the Presbyterians have much, if anything, to say about how the place is run.

    This is about what I'd expect from Kaiser though.
    "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ MLK, 1963
  • dharma69 wrote:
    Forgive my annoyance with those of you who keep touting "Christian" this that and the other, but this story doesn't have a damn thing to do with religion, in general, or Christianity specifically. "Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center" is just a name....

    This story has to do with decency and humanity; two things that are hardly Christian exclusive. Let's leave the religion at the door and deal with these people as the mere human assholes that they are. God loving/not loving/fearing/not fearing assholes.

    indeed.
  • bush wants to cut medicaire and medicaid

    america bombed serb hospitals in 1999
    america has been taken over by souless zombies
  • did the cop actually refer to it as "skid row"? thats a term i hadnt used for a poor area since like 1988.
  • Police probe alleged homeless dumping By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
    Fri Feb 9, 6:30 PM ET



    Even on Skid Row, it was shocking: a paraplegic man in a soiled gown sliding along the sidewalk with his hands, clutching a plastic bag with his belongings between his teeth.

    Police said the man, who was dragging a broken colostomy bag behind him, was dumped on the sidewalk Thursday in one of the worst parts of the city by the driver of a hospital van. The area is the same location where city officials say hospitals have dumped the homeless before.

    Witnesses, all homeless people, began shouting, "Where is his wheelchair? Where is his walker?" Detective Russ Long said Friday. They told officers the driver responded that the man defecated in the van and had to be removed.

    "If there is an explanation it just eludes me at this point," Long said.

    "He was sliding along on his bottom using his hands. He had a hospital property bag in his mouth, in his teeth, and he was trailing a colostomy bag, which was malfunctioning."

    Witnesses told police a van from Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center pulled up to a tiny park in the grimy area near downtown at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, a side door opened and a man, dressed in a green hospital gown and pants, began struggling to get out. The driver looked on.

    "His pants fell around his ankles. He fell onto the curb with his legs dangling onto the street," Long said. "He reached down and grabbed his pants, pulled his legs onto the sidewalk. Witnesses said the van would have run over his legs if he hadn't have done that."

    Homeless people in the area helped the disoriented man into the park. A police bicycle patrol arrived by chance within a minute and called an ambulance.

    The 41-year-old man's name was not released, but he was wearing a bracelet from the hospital, Long said.
    War is Peace
    Freedom is Slavery
    Ignorance is Strength
  • Rushlimbo wrote:
    Police probe alleged homeless dumping By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
    Fri Feb 9, 6:30 PM ET



    Even on Skid Row, it was shocking: a paraplegic man in a soiled gown sliding along the sidewalk with his hands, clutching a plastic bag with his belongings between his teeth.

    Police said the man, who was dragging a broken colostomy bag behind him, was dumped on the sidewalk Thursday in one of the worst parts of the city by the driver of a hospital van. The area is the same location where city officials say hospitals have dumped the homeless before.

    Witnesses, all homeless people, began shouting, "Where is his wheelchair? Where is his walker?" Detective Russ Long said Friday. They told officers the driver responded that the man defecated in the van and had to be removed.

    "If there is an explanation it just eludes me at this point," Long said.

    "He was sliding along on his bottom using his hands. He had a hospital property bag in his mouth, in his teeth, and he was trailing a colostomy bag, which was malfunctioning."

    Witnesses told police a van from Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center pulled up to a tiny park in the grimy area near downtown at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, a side door opened and a man, dressed in a green hospital gown and pants, began struggling to get out. The driver looked on.

    "His pants fell around his ankles. He fell onto the curb with his legs dangling onto the street," Long said. "He reached down and grabbed his pants, pulled his legs onto the sidewalk. Witnesses said the van would have run over his legs if he hadn't have done that."

    Homeless people in the area helped the disoriented man into the park. A police bicycle patrol arrived by chance within a minute and called an ambulance.

    The 41-year-old man's name was not released, but he was wearing a bracelet from the hospital, Long said.

    Disgusting state of affairs. There should be an inquiry into this, to find who is responsible and fine them or something.
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