Man captures video of "patient dumping" outside Baltimore hospital

Man captures video of "patient dumping" outside Baltimore hospital

BALTIMORE -- Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he'll never forget.

The hospital's security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.

"It's about 30 degrees out here right now," Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. "Are you OK, ma'am? Do you need me to call the police?" he asks.

This is known as "patient dumping"and apparently is more common than discussed about. The show Sixty Minutes aired in 2007 about ow homeless people are are being dumped by L.A. hospitals. Her story is unclear and this is under investigation.

That's inexcusable especially in that weather to leave someone on the street in a hospital gown. Even if he clothes were soiled or other, really? At least there's still hope in humanity that citizens came to her rescue where healthcare is failing and exercises abuse.

I read "patient dumping" wrong.

That's horrible! Did they attempt to call a family member or homeless charity?

There should be laws against this shameful practice. Hospital staff doing this no less.

a reply to: Kalixi

I read "patient dumping" wrong.

So did I !!

LOL!

edit...I was about to ask if they worked for Amazon delivering packages!

a reply to: Kalixi


Me too. Glad I was wrong, though. Would have been a bit gross.

do they have a reason?

hospitals are businesses, for profit.

they're not hotels, low income housing, or homeless shelters.

what do you do, if after treating your patients failed heroin OD suicide, if they refuse to leave?

I mean, they can't refuse service... but they very well can refuse free room and board.

Jeezus Christ...idk what to say even

a reply to: oldcarpy

Actually I wish it was someone taking a dump...the reality is really sad

a reply to: lordcomac

Social services. The hospital should have staff educated and trained to handle this. In the US we call them social workers

Of all the the stuff we waste money on, we can't come up with a humane way to help people like this?
How hard is it to get a van and a phone number for the hospital to call?
And all this fine behavior from the most profitable buisness in the country....

This is disgusting...

a reply to: dreamingawake

It seems many of us were fooled into thinking the patient was taking a dump outside.

Ha ha.

Why did we click on the thread? To actually watch a patient dumping outside??

Ha. Ha.

nasty.

In Los Angeles they have a problem with the homeless. Constantly calling the hospitals with "chest pains" . The hospital has to send an ambulance to pick them up , take them to the hospital , give them a free place to stay and free food for days.

I am not upholding this type of behavior on the part of the hospital yet what if that is where the person lived ?

a reply to: dreamingawake

So she was supposed to die that night. That was the plan. They got tired of her. I am sure they knew her already.

EMTs have admitted to doing this to me. My mother was a RN. She fought against this and told me about it.

It happens in every major hospital nationwide. EVERY ONE. Maybe not this dramatic and murderous, but it happens. Usually a cab is called....10 bucks gets them further away than a bus ride they may end prematurely.

It also looks better. There is an added bonus of setting up pickups with a few regular, discrete cabbies so hospital shuttles and car services arent seen unloading dying and sick poor people into the street like garbage.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: lordcomac

Social services. The hospital should have staff educated and trained to handle this. In the US we call them social workers

There is no way that we, as a nation, can afford to provide free health care for Americans. We're spending too much money providing health care for other countries.

Yeah, this is terrible. But at least the hospital admits that it was wrong and there is an internal investigation happening. If it comes out that this is somehow a hospital policy (which I cannot imagine it is, to dump people outside in freezing weather without their personal clothes on), then heads better roll.

If it turns out to be just a couple of employees, then their heads should roll.

If there is more to the story that this absolutely incomplete report didn't share, then I would love to hear that information.

originally posted by: Kalixi


I read "patient dumping" wrong.

So glad that I wasn't the only one.

a reply to: Gothmog

Agreed--I'm willing to bet that there is more to this story than meets the eye. Like you, I don't condone the behavior, but then again, hospitals cannot be used as free room and board by the homeless.

Like I noted in my previous comment, I need more information on this one. Regardless, they should not have put her out on the street in front of the hospital in a hospital gown in freezing weather--that's unacceptable at a human level.

originally posted by: MikeA

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: lordcomac

Social services. The hospital should have staff educated and trained to handle this. In the US we call them social workers

There is no way that we, as a nation, can afford to provide free health care for Americans. We're spending too much money providing health care for other countries.

That has nothing whatsoever to do with my comment.

Let me lay it out for you: a patient who is released onto the streets will end up back in your ER that night. There is absolutely a revolving door, especially among a population that tends to not have the resources to be compliant with their treatements (someone with COPD living in the cold night air will be a regular at the ER).

Realizing this, the industry generally acknowledges that part of treating patient illness is identifying social barriers to treatment. This is known as "the holistic approach" (a terrible misuse of the word holistic...but i digress).

So to address this knowledge, social services are employed. Every patient admitted to a hospital is screened by a social worker. For most of us this is a 5 minute conversation where its realized that we don't have barriers to treatment. Those who do have such barriers are worked through social services. To ignore the social worker, or for the social worker to ignore their obligation, resulting in a patient being discharged to the street will result in a readmission at a higher cost, on top of the appalling lack of medical professionalism.

originally posted by: MikeA

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: lordcomac

Social services. The hospital should have staff educated and trained to handle this. In the US we call them social workers

There is no way that we, as a nation, can afford to provide free health care for Americans. We're spending too much money providing health care for other countries.

I would also add that there absolutely is a way to provide free healthcare to our nation. We just lack the will to do so.

originally posted by: lordcomac
do they have a reason?

hospitals are businesses, for profit.

they're not hotels, low income housing, or homeless shelters.

what do you do, if after treating your patients failed heroin OD suicide, if they refuse to leave?

I mean, they can't refuse service... but they very well can refuse free room and board.

Supposedly the rotten churches who fill their pockets tax-free are supposed to spend that money to help the needy. ALL of that money! Jesus said not to store any!

There can certainly be zero excuses for sticking anyone out in the cold with no clothes and shoes, I would have given them my own rather than that!

originally posted by: lordcomac
do they have a reason?

hospitals are businesses, for profit.

they're not hotels, low income housing, or homeless shelters.

what do you do, if after treating your patients failed heroin OD suicide, if they refuse to leave?

I mean, they can't refuse service... but they very well can refuse free room and board.

Some are nonprofit, our town has one.
Did you know counties used to have Hospitals for these people and they closed them all down? Money is being spent on things we don't need and wasted in many many cases but who needs county hospitals for the poor or Libraries.