Kaiser Permanente Criminally Charged with Patient Dumping

Patrick DeBlase

Attorney

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City files charges against Kaiser for dumping patients on skid row.

As previously discussed in here, Los Angeles health care providers have been having a hard time caring for the poor and have even taken to dumping patients on skid row while they are dazed and confused. These patients require treatment, not transportation to a strange and dangerous place. Kaiser along with about ten other area hospitals have been under investigation by prosecutors for patient dumping.

City attorney, Rocky Delgadillo stated: "We seek to end the inhumane and illegal practice." As reported by the Los Angeles Times:

Prosecutors said they decided to file the Kaiser case first in part because they had strong evidence and a compelling victim. Reyes, who was homeless an lived mostly in a public park in Gardena, had never lived on skid row and was unfamiliar with the area, they said.

Carol Reyes is 63 years old. She was admitted at Kaiser for facial injuries. Hospital staffers, on the day Ms. Reyes was discharged, wrote on her chart that she was "non-talkative," "forgetful," and "disoriented." Ms. Reyes wasn't treated for these symptoms. Instead, she was rushed into a taxi whose driver was told to take Reyes to "skid row." Indeed so quickly was Ms. Reyes given the bum's rush out, that she wasn't provided her clothes and was found wandering the downtown streets in her white hospital gown and no pants.

A criminal finding could affect Kaiser's bonding and its ratings by medical organizations.