Patient "Dumping" Case Illustrates Importance of Embracing Intrinsic Equal Moral Worth in Medicine
If this allegation is true, it is beyond the pale: A mentally ill paraplegic man is suing a hospital for discharging him and dumping him in his hospital gown on a grate in skid row. From the story: Gabino Olvera, 42, sued the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center for negligence after it discharged him in February 2007, took him across town in a van and left him in a soiled hospital gown without a wheelchair in the heart of the city's homeless area. Witnesses who came to Olvera's aid said they saw him dragging himself on the ground with hospital papers and documents clenched in his teeth while the driver sat in her van and applied makeup before driving off.
The hospital spokesperson stated they believed an out of court settlement could be reached. They better hope so. Hollywood Pres does not want this case going to a jury.
The incident was captured by security cameras at a nearby homeless shelter.Hernan Vera, a lawyer with Public Counsel, which helped bring the lawsuit on behalf on Olvera, called it "the most obscene and callous example of this practice that we have seen."
Labels: Patient Dumping
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 11:19 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
The last time I was unfortunate enough to require hospital care, I stayed for a few hours and the hospital ran some routine tests. The bill ran into the thousands although the tests conducted were simple $75 clinical sample tests.
Private hospitals thrive on massive revenue, city subsidies and tax advantages. How often after all do you see a hospital having a "going out of business" sale? What would a used bed pad be worth anyway?
Hospitals who thrive on it's monopoly of the sick while receiving perks and incentives from public sources should be banned from releasing a patient into a potentially harmful environment that's incompatible with his/her ailments.
The fact that the hospital should be sued in order to compel the hospital into civilized health practices is an outrage. Our government has seen fit to regulate everything else in hospital operations, yet the user of those operations is beholden to the hospitals option of securing their welfare?
Perhaps a private hospital can't be forced to provide treatment, but it should certainly be required to insure that it doesn't release patients into an environment that is likely to make the condition(s) worse.
If it's true that the hospital made a commitment to change their practice and still has not, then I would expect (and hope) that the hospital will be sued senseless to established a precedent in this case that equals the apathy it has shown towards it's customers (patients). We'll be watching this case to see what the legal outcome is.
Danny Vice
The Weekly Vice
http://weeklyviceblogspot.com
Amen, Danny. Maybe a private hospital can't be *forced* to provide treatment, as you said, but what about the Oaths that all the doctors are supposed to take, the ones that say, "First, do no harm?" If this incident is true, then it's a violation of all morals and ethics attached to physican care.
If all human life isn't precious to someone, why in the hell would anybody go into medicine, a career that requires you to save human lives or give humans the full benefit of their lives? That makes no sense.
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