Patient-dumping on Skid Row investigated

[Ayesha]

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Authorities have launched a criminal investigation into suspected dumping of homeless people on Skid Row after police witnessed ambulances leaving five people on a street there during the weekend.

The city attorney's office is reviewing police videotapes and photographs of the five suspected dumping cases to determine whether the patients were falsely imprisoned during their transfer and whether the hospital, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, violated any laws regarding the treatment of patients.

Two patients told officers Sunday they did not want to be taken downtown, said police Capt. Andrew Smith. One was not even homeless, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/10/25/homeless.dumping.ap/index.html


ETA: This has been going on for a while, and disgusts me; I'm glad it's finally getting the national attention it deserves.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. If this is true...

Some people deserve some serious time, making new friends in San Quentin, Chico or Vacaville.

[EFerrari]

13. It is true. It's been happening for years. n/t

[MattP]

2. LAPD

I'm glad the LAPD saw them doing this and caught them, it's good to see them do something right for a change.

[piedmont]

3. war on the poor

I don't know why exactly, but this reminds me of that mean-spirited, sneery Capitol One credit card commercial-- the one in which the middle-class family travels by train box-car because they can't get plane tickets or something. The whole commercial turns into making fun of bums, I guess implying that without the C.O. credit card, you might be a "filthy bum" too. And I've NEVER seen any outrage over that commercial.
I guess my point is that our society is all for protecting everyone BUT the poor.

[maxsolomon]

4. sure, they can handle a couple homeless guys

but they don't have endless resources - royalties aren't what they used to be.

[nashville_brook]

5. nyuk nyuk

:evilgrin:

[ninkasi]

6. Life has gotten ugly and brutal

under "compassionate" conservatism, hasn't it? They don't care about anybody but the far-right fundamentalists whose votes they need, and the ultra wealthy, which usually includes the very Congressmen who write the laws. The rest of us are disposable. Culture of life? Give me a break. They are all about death, and brutality, greed and vengeance. They are the least compassionate people I've ever seen.

The republic party has become a national disgrace, and is hated by the rest of the world. By the way, I call them the republic party, because they insist on calling us the "democrat" party, as a sign of disrespect. I am returning the disrespect, and doing it with the contempt they deserve.

[Megahurtz]

10. Isn't amazing that it's come to this?

I was shocked when I heard this on the News.:wow:

But hey! That's California for ya!
People are getting so cold and brutal here that if you don't have money they practically spit on you.

The ReThuglicans are responsible for setting the stage for this horrible behaviour!:mad:

[ninkasi]

12. I agree

You say, "The ReThuglicans are responsible for setting the stage for this horrible behavior!" Yes, they are. The party that claims to value life, and want to have a christian nation, regardless of the Constitution have a very warped way of showing it. The gap between the wealthy and the shrinking, soon to disappear middle class, and the poor, has gotten dangerously large.

They want us to fight their wars, produce the things that make them wealthy, and to not expect anything in return. It's time to take America back, and get rid of the policies that have done our country so much damage. I wouldn't dump a dog or a cat, just released from a hospital, on the street. How can they do it to the citizens they claim to care about?
Bush and this bunch of conservatives are nothing but a parasites, draining the rest of us of our blood, and our souls. The first thing to do when we take back the Congress, is to roll back as many of his destructive policies as we can. We need to heal our country, and that will never happen with the right-wing in control.

[nashville_brook]

7. reading the whole article... wow. this is some fucked up shit.

discharging a patient before they are stable is evil. i've been the recipient of this treatment and i even had full insurance. but to DRIVE them AWAY to SKID ROW? sheesh! they f'in PAID... er, retained, the ambulance service to provide this "service." holy crap. they are so busted. now lets see what happens to the worthless slimeballs.

[mom cat]

8. Rec #5 This is ghastly and deserves exposure!

[stepnw1f]

9. Sounds Like the Days of Oliver Twist (nt)

[pnorman]

11. this very same thing had come up at least a year ago, and also in LA.

Listen to the "outraged" denials from those officials:

Medical center officials denied improperly handling the patients. "With all of the issues, why would we send someone there who did not ask to go there? It is illogical," John V. Fenton, president and chief executive of Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, told the Los Angeles Times.

pnorman

[susanna]

14. WTF?

If this is found to be true: Wow. Just Wow.

on edit: on reading earlier posts, everyone says this is normal. I guess I am sheltered, not living in CA. I will certainly try to become more aware of what is happening in the world. :-(