Throwing hospital patients onto the street to die

This is an item I've run into several times, but failed to blog about. I apologize.

Even on Skid Row, where life and dignity are cheap, it was a shocking scene: a paraplegic man "sliding along his bottom using his hands," carrying his meager belongings in a plastic hospital bag he clutched in his teeth.

Police said the man, who was dragging a colostomy bag behind him, had been dumped out on the sidewalk by the driver of a hospital van.

The witnesses to the dumping, all homeless people, began shouting, "Where is his wheelchair, where is his walker," police detective Russ Long told the Associated Press on Friday. They told officers the driver responded that the man defecated in the van and had to be removed.

"It looks like a shocking case of neglect at this point," Long said. "If there is an explanation it just eludes me at this point. "He was sliding along on his bottom using his hands, "Long said. "He had a hospital property bag in his mouth, in his teeth, and he was trailing a colostomy bag, which was malfunctioning."

The 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."

Other 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 man, whose name was not released, was described as a 41-year-old Hispanic. He was wearing a bracelet from the hospital, Long said.

Jesus H Christ running a marathon, this is appalling. Let's break it down. Someone authorized this, maybe also destroyed medical records to hide the fact the man had been at the hospital. Undoubtedly a nurse was aware of what was happening, A hospital van driver was involved. Perhaps a second hospital van employee participated.

So, at the very least 3 people and probably more were involved. Three bastards with no souls who would toss a human being out on the street to die.

Other articles I've read mention the police have investigations ongoing involving as many as 12 different hospitals. Which means the bastards-with-no-soul count is up to at least 36.

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