Hospital charged in homeless dumping

[Monkeyman]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/139712,CST-NEWS-homeless17.article

L.A.-- In an unprecedented crackdown on a practice experts say is shamefully common around the country, a major hospital chain was accused by prosecutors Thursday of ridding itself of a homeless patient by dumping her on crime-plagued Skid Row.

A surveillance camera at a rescue mission recorded the demented 63-year-old woman, Carol Reyes, wandering around the streets in a hospital gown and slippers last March.

In announcing the criminal and civil charges, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Kaiser Permanente hospital put the woman in a taxi and sent her to the neighborhood even though she had serious, untreated health problems.

[azurnoir]

1. This does not surprise me

This is what happens in a society where homelessness has become the norm. The sad fact is that for anyone born after 1974, unless they were taught otherwise, this absolute truth and these types of abuse will o9only get worse.

[Jed Dilligan]

5. Funny--you picked the year of my birth.

I think homeless people have always been "dumped" in American cities, there were just a lot more of them after 1980.

[azurnoir]

20. Late reply

Really and truly I seriously doubt it, if only because back then there was money to be made. Medicaid payed the whole bill then rather then the 1/3 to 1/2 it does now and all kinds of restrictions were also put on Medicaid especially in the area of prescriptions back then it would pay for things that could be purchased OTC and some equipment. This was during the "war on poverty", which Reagan changed into "war on the impoverished". For the poor in this country there is BR and AR and the differences are immense and tragic. BTW 1974 was the year I graduated HS.

[Jed Dilligan]

21. I meant more generalized dumping

Every major city had a skid row, and police in particular made sure "undesirables" were confined there.

[don954]

2. health-care and profit are incompatible, and that is the cause of this

yet another reason for national health care.

[Horse with no Name]

3. To be fair

Kaiser does the same shit to it's insured.
It is just a BAD BAD BAD example of how healthcare is done and how they stay in business is a mystery to me.
We have had people that had Kaiser insurance in the hospital being resuscitated and Kaiser on the phone wanting them transferred to their facility or they won't pay. They don't think being dead is a medical emergency.

[porphyrian]

4. That's just fucking unacceptable.

In the formerly-wealthiest and most-powerful country on earth, there is absolutely no defendable excuse for anyone to go hungry, be homeless or not receive decent health care. This sort of behavior is reprehensible.

[Jed Dilligan]

6. The way welfare and shelters are,

I personally would choose the streets. Again.

It's the anti-poor propaganda, formerly GOP and now GOP/DLC, that makes it so.

Their mantra: "We cannot give a handout without punishment and degradation."

[porphyrian]

7. Tallahassee is only thirty or so miles from a state mental hospital.

Most of our homeless are "cured" mental patients who were released because they were sane enough while taking their meds under supervision and no one wants to fund health care, especially not for mental health.

Is compassion really that hard?

[Monkeyman]

8. It took us 6 years

To get the Midwest Homeless Shelter for Veterans off the ground. Replugs refused to fund it.

[porphyrian]

12. Yeah, they support the troops... - n/t

[BlackVelvet04]

9. It's not that compassion is so hard....

it's the money part that is hard. Nobody seems to want to spend the money...and righties would definitely prefer spending it to kill Iraqi's to save them than on saving the homeless in their own back yard.

[porphyrian]

13. It's reprehensible for this to exist in America. - n/t

[Jed Dilligan]

10. I question the "most" in your statement...

Having been on the streets I think the rates of mental illness are exaggerated to support coercive action against us. I've also worked on a number of studies, and we usually get about a third of any homeless population diagnosed with anything from depression to psychosis. The really psychotic homeless people tend to be the ones that get noticed.

I agree that we need better mental health care but I am VERY leery of a return to involuntary mass confinement. What seems to work well are small, supervised housing units (say 6-12 patients) blended into a neighborhood. The totally disabled should be on farms. I don't want the 50s asylum back any more than I like the status quo.

Let me put it this way... If you found yourself on the streets of Tallahassee, and most of us are one check away, would you want to be profiled as a mentally ill person who needs "help" whether you say you want it or not?

Once again, not arguing with your statement, just pointing out that it is a complex situation.

[porphyrian]

11. I'm not writing for a scientific journal, I'm stating my perception of the situation.

It's interesting that you took it as profiling and a call for institutional warehousing. That wasn't my intent, and, until your response, I wouldn't have guessed it could be taken that way.

My statement was a call for adequately-funded health care (especially mental health, which is the redheaded stepchild of health care) and for helping the homeless. I didn't mean to suggest we should force anything unpleasant on any of them.

I think we both want the same thing. Thanks for enlightening me to yet another perspective.

[Jed Dilligan]

15. It's a pitfall that well-meaning people have fallen into.

I didn't think your intention was to coerce or force people off the streets, but I'm willing to bet that the mayor and police department of Tallahassee would love to misinterpret it that way.

[porphyrian]

18. Surprisingly, we have a fairly people-friendly police force and a decent mayor.

Most people think Florida and JEB! and assume republican hell. However, we have a surprisingly-large progressive community and presence in local government. They may not treat the homeless like kings, but they certainly aren't as bad as some places. However, there are areas that the homeless aren't allowed to congregate, and the police do move them along.

For years, I worked at convenience stores, and I spent a lot of time talking to people who were on the street. Most of them had mental problems, and I'm not saying that to create a stigma - I see mental illness just like any other illness, and I wish other people would do the same so that we can get adequate treatment to those who need it.

[Jed Dilligan]

19. Good points...

I don't want to come across sounding like I'm dissing Florida as a GOP hell. Actually, the homeless receive the worst treatment in NY, SF, and LA. I don't think it's really a matter of political leanings; it depends more on how much money the land they squat on is potentially worth.

[slackmaster]

14. Hospital spokesman: "We see it as more of a tag-and-release program."

:argh:

[Jed Dilligan]

16. Ah, sounds like he's talking HMIS

The Great White Hope of the "care" industry...

[Jed Dilligan]

17. Just realized I'm all over this thread,

but haven't yet responded to the OP.

This is something I've witnessed firsthand quite a lot. Usually the dumpers are LEO's, not ambulance drivers.

I applaud the fact that this lawsuit is bringing attention to the forces that push homeless people into clusters in marginal neighborhoods. But it's also a case of pot, meet kettle... The City of Los Angeles has been dumping homeless people on Skid Row for a long time now.