Disturbing footage has surfaced showing a hospital patient—who was abandoned on the side of a street at night by staff members—left to fend for herself.
Imamu Baraka was walking past a hospital at night when he came across a lady in a wheel chair left at a bus stop—in freezing temperatures wearing just a dressing gown.
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 10, 2018
The man then started recording the incident on his cell phone where he can be heard asking:
“It’s about 30 degrees out here right now. Are you OK, ma’am? Do you need me to call the police?
“Come on and sit down. I’m going to call and get you some help.”
This is the woman from #baltimorehospital she is bruised here #PatientDumping pic.twitter.com/G4OGFWYkSw
— MsChar (@MsChar7) January 11, 2018
Imamu continued filming, becoming an impromptu narrator for the heartbreaking discovery, “Hospital security guards have just wheeled a patient to a bus stop and in the freezing temperatures they left her their.”
At this point, reports say he called 911 and when the medics arrived they took her back inside the same hospital that had just thrown her to the streets.
Baltimore Hospital just performs a”Patient Dumping” at nearby bus stop. 30 degrees, in her hospital gown no jacket!
When I had my heart attack nobody knew I was even in the hospital. They sent me home in a taxi. I had/have no insurance either. https://t.co/GnyLcsgvi5
— The Page Turner? (@PaigeTurner62) January 11, 2018
As the video went viral, people took to social media to express their disgust with the situation:
Reality of US for-profit healthcare: PATIENT DUMPING ??
Hospital staff drop patient, wearing only a gown, at a bus stop in freezing temperatures. It’s happening everywhere.
Solution? Implement #SinglePayer, #MedicareForAll or Americans continue to suffer/die #ThursdayThoughts pic.twitter.com/6y94J5aqoT
— RoseAnn DeMoro (@RoseAnnDeMoro) January 11, 2018
The University of Maryland Medical Center released a statement on the matter, saying 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.”
CBS News reported:
“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.”
