Hospital security guards in Baltimore wheeled a patient to a bus stop and, in the subfreezing temperatures, left her there in nothing but a hospital gown@jeffpeguescbs reports on “patient dumping” pic.twitter.com/YHsZ5cNt4A— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 10, 2018
See the full story https://t.co/EHvUfNA0bh— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 11, 2018
CBS News
written by Jeff Pegues
Wednesday January 10, 2018
BALTIMORE -- Overnight, Imamu Baraka was walking past a Baltimore hospital when he noticed something he says he'll never forget.
The hospital's security guards had just wheeled a patient to a bus stop, and in the freezing temperatures they left her there. The only thing she had on was a hospital gown.
"It's about 30 degrees out here right now," Baraka says in a recording of the encounter. "Are you OK, ma'am? Do you need me to call the police?" he asks.
It's called "patient dumping" and it doesn't just happen in Baltimore. In 2007, "60 Minutes" investigated the practice of removing homeless patients from Los Angeles hospitals and leaving them downtown.
Often the patients are not insured or have other financial issues, but it's unclear if that was the case in Baltimore.
"Come on and sit down," Baraka repeatedly says to the patient in the recording. "I'm going to call and get you some help."
In a statement, the University of Maryland Medical Center said that they "share the shock and disappointment of many who have viewed the video. In the end we clearly failed to fulfill our mission with this patient."
The man who recorded the video called 911, and says medics ended up taking the patient back to the same hospital. Now a review is underway that could lead to personnel action against the hospital employees involved.
Last Wednesday morning, Baltimore County police say six teens viciously carjacked, assaulted, and drove over a man with his own car. 😦
Four teens arrested. Police still searching for two teens.https://t.co/58tNpq5Rvg
— GlobalAwareness101 (@Mononoke__Hime) January 12, 2018
Baltimore, Maryland doesn't sound like a nice place to live. 😦
The Washington Post
written by By Justin Wm. Moyer
Friday January 19, 2018
The family of an incapacitated woman put out of a Baltimore hospital on a cold night earlier this month identified her Thursday as a mentally ill 22-year-old who is receiving treatment at another hospital.
On Jan 9, Rebecca Chandler was filmed being removed from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus. In a widely viewed video, she was seen wearing only a hospital gown and socks on a night when temperatures were in the 30s, and was grunting and shouting, appearing at one point to say: “Please help me!”
On Thursday, Cheryl Chandler, Rebecca’s mother, said her daughter has suffered from mental illness since she was 16, the Associated Press reported.
“My daughter did not choose to be the face of mental illness,” Cheryl Chandler said. “She didn’t choose to be an example of the impact of a failed mental health care system. She was an individual in need of services.”
J. Wyndal Gordon, Rebecca Chandler’s attorney, said she was receiving treatment at another hospital he declined to name.
“Rebecca’s condition was going to require a considerable hospital stay to stabilize her,” he told the AP. “UMMC, believing that she did not have insurance, determined it was better to return her to the street untreated and face whatever consequences arose from that decision rather than to absorb the cost.”
Cheryl Chandler said her daughter does have health insurance, the AP reported.
Rebecca Chandler’s mother was joined at a news conference by Rosslyn Hall Taylor, Rebecca’s twin sister, and her younger sister, Rachelle Hall, according to the Baltimore Sun. Rachelle read a statement she said was from Rebecca.
“I am in the hospital and well and furthermore I am safe,” she read.
The University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus said in a statement Thursday that it has completed an investigation that “identified a breakdown in coordination of several touchpoints within the continuum of care.” As a result, the hospital conducted training, took “personnel action to hold individuals accountable” and hired independent auditors, the statement said.
The hospital declined to discuss its internal review further, saying it was “restricted by law from addressing the confidential details of patient care and personnel actions.”
“We take full responsibility for the failure that occurred in demonstrating compassion to this young woman in the post-discharge process after delivering medical care,” Mohan Suntha, chief executive of the University of Maryland Medical Center, said in the statement. “I’m confident the decisions and actions we have made in response to this incident are in keeping with the high standards of excellence to which we have always held ourselves, and that our actions address the root causes of last week’s breakdown.”
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