Dive Brief:
- Gardens Regional Hospital & Medical Center in Los Angeles County has agreed to pay $450,000 in civil penalties to settle a patient dumping lawsuit brought by Los Angeles city attorney Mike Feuer.
- The suit stemmed from an incident two years prior when the hospital was accused of leaving a "mentally ill homeless patient on Skid Row" with nothing but her paper pajamas.
- The lawsuit further accused the hospital of a pattern of patient dumping in which it failed to provide appropriate treatment or discharge plans.
Dive Insight:
Patient dumping has been a longtime, hot button issue in Los Angeles. During the past three years, a crackdown by Feuer has netted the city $3 million from settlements in six cases. One case earlier this year involved Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital, which agreed to pay $450,000.
Gardens maintained it was not admitting any wrongdoing and had provided care "consistent with the applicable standard of care required in these circumstances” as it called on the city to address its homelessness issues, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hospitals have argued they have nowhere to take homeless patients, particularly if they have mental conditions.
Meanwhile, Feuer has been working to get hospitals to agree to "proper discharge protocols" and called out Gardens for making the move it did even though it receives federal funding for treating the homeless. The patient also had medical insurance and a primary care provider, according to the LA Times. So Feuer argued it was indeed being paid to provide service, not strapped by a case of charity care.
The hospital filed for bankruptcy this year and the civil penalties will be paid after its sale is approved in court.