Sun Valley Hospital To Pay $500K For Dumping Mentally-Disabled Homeless Person On Skid Row
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Sun Valley hospital accused of improperly discharging and transporting a homeless patient to Skid Row has agreed to pay $500,000 and adopt new patient discharge policies, city prosecutors announced Thursday.
The agreement stems from an incident in January where Pacifica Hospital of the Valley allegedly improperly discharged a homeless patient with what prosecutors say is a "grave" mental disability and transported the individual to Skid Row, according to City Attorney Mike Feuer.
Pacifica Hospital of the Valley did not concede any wrongdoing and fully cooperated with the City Attorney's Office, said Feuer.
As part of the agreement, Pacifica will pay $500,000 to homeless services providers including Integrated Recovery Network, Downtown Women's Center, Union Rescue Mission, Venice Family Clinic, Midnight Mission and L.A. Family Housing. Pacifica will also cover prosecutors' investigative costs, prosecutors said.
In January, Feuer announced a similar settlement in a case involving Montebello-based Beverly Community Hospital, which was also accused of patient dumping.
Feuer said he and his office are also in talks with the Hospital Association of Southern California over the establishment of uniform model patient discharge policies that could be employed by all hospitals in the region.
"Patient dumping has no place in our society, and my office will do everything possible to end this inhumane practice," he said in a statement.
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