Dive Brief:
- Los Angeles’ Good Samaritan Hospital has agreed to pay $450,000 to settle charges that it dumped a homeless patient onto city streets, the Los Angeles Times reports.
- Good Samaritan will implement detailed protocols for discharging homeless patients.
- Los Angeles has been in the forefront of U.S. cities fighting to end patient dumping.
Dive Insight:
In 2014, the city of Los Angeles settled several different patient-dumping cases with hospitals systems like Beverly Hospital and Adventist Medical Center, Healthcare Dive previously reported.
Good Samaritan was accused of releasing a homeless man without a proper discharge plan and arrangements for post-discharge care, and without the patient’s written consent to be released to a location other than their residence, putting his health at risk.
The patient, who had been treated for a foot injury, was readmitted to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center after the city attorney’s office learned of his situation. His condition had worsened since he was discharged from Good Samaritan. The hospital denied the allegations.
Under the terms of the settlement, Good Samaritan will donate $100,000 to Integrated Recovery Network, a Los Angeles nonprofit, to develop new approaches for housing homeless patients when they are discharged. Another $50,000 will be set aside for recuperative care facilities. The hospital will also pay $200,000 in civil penalties and $100,000 in related costs.
“Patient dumping is inhumane and must be stopped," Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer said in a statement. “I am pleased Good Samaritan Hospital has agreed to take the necessary steps to ensure some of our most vulnerable residents are protected,” Feuer added.
Feuer has prioritized addressing patient dumping, settling cases with four hospitals for about $2 million. A case against Gardens Regional Hospital is set to go to trial in October.