Council File: 06-0705
Title
HOMELESS PATIENTS / DUMPED DOWNTOWN
Subject
Motion - The recent actions of a local hospital releasing a homeless patient onto the streets of downtown Los Angeles has raised serious concerns over the dumping of transients downtown by hospitals and other institutions.
The Police Department has called this practice unconscionable, and the City Attorney is investigating whether this incident and others violate laws prohibiting the discharge of sick patients or the movement of patients against their will. In addition, State Senator Gil Cedillo has introduced legislation that would prohibit leaving people in areas outside their home jurisdiction when they are homeless or need services for mental illness or drug treatment.
Pending the outcome of the above efforts, the City still needs to take immediate and active measures to prevent hospitals and other cities from dumping transients in downtown Los Angeles. This practice not only exacerbates the homeless problem in downtown but can also be very dangerous to the patients being dumped - especially given the security risks presented by one of the City's most dangerous areas, with a large number of parolees, drug addicts, drug dealers and sex offenders. At the very least we need to have a review of local hospitals' discharge policies.
One thing we can do without further delay is to immediately begin education and coordination efforts with all local hospitals and medical institutions to prevent the discharge of homeless or indigent patients into the Los Angeles downtown area.
THEREFORE MOVE that the CLA (Chief Legislative Analyst) be directed to report in thirty days with recommendations to begin the process of negotiating and entering into a Memorandum of Understanding, or other appropriate agreement, between the City, the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) and any other involved entity, including the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) for the coordination and safe and orderly release of indigent patients from acute care hospitals, and in such a manner that they are not automatically transported to, and released in, downtown Los Angeles.
Date Received / Introduced
03/28/2006
Last Changed Date
09/01/2009
Expiration Date
08/11/2010
Mover
JAN PERRY
Second
WENDY GREUEL
File Activities
| Date | Activity | |
|---|---|---|
| 09/01/2009 | File closed. | |
| 08/27/2009 |
Document(s) submitted by City Clerk, as follows: Communication from the City Clerk, dated August 14, 2009, relative to the expiration of Council File 06-0705, inasmuch as the file has not been placed on a Council or Committee agenda for consideration for a period of two years or more and, pursuant to Council policy, the file is deemed received and filed. |
|
File History
3-28-06 - This day's Council session
3-28-06 - Ref to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness
3-28-06 - File to Ad Hoc Committee Clerk
5-3-06 - Council Action - Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness report ADOPTED to DIRECT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA), with assistance from the City Attorney, to create a working group and report within 30 days with recommendations to begin the process of negotiating and entering into a Memorandum of Understanding, or other appropriate agreement, with hospitals, and any other involved entity, for the coordination and safe and orderly release of indigent patients from acute care hospitals, and in such a manner that they are not automatically transported to, and released in, downtown Los Angeles
5-15-06 - File to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness Clerk OK
6-6-06- File in files
2-9-07 - This day's Council session - Motion - Perry Mover 2007 / Rosendahl - Patient dumping continues unabated in Los Angeles.
Yesterday a paraplegic man wearing a soiled hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was found crawling in a gutter in skid row in Los Angeles after allegedly being dumped in the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van, according to the police.
The incident was witnessed by more than two dozen people. The witnesses wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number. This is the most recent example of patient or homeless dumping that has plagued our downtown area. What is more disturbing is that this action comes in the face of currently pending legal actions being pursued by the City Attorney with several Los Angeles hospitals.
The City needs to redouble its efforts to pursue to the full extent of the law, all legal remedies against hospitals and agencies that engage in this practice of patient / homeless dumping.
THEREFORE MOVE that the City Attorney be requested to pursue to the full extent of the law utilizing the full breadth of available legal actions against hospitals and agencies which engage in the practice of patient/homeless dumping.
2-9-07 - Ref to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness
2-9-07 - File to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness Clerk
3-28-06 - Ref to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness
3-28-06 - File to Ad Hoc Committee Clerk
5-3-06 - Council Action - Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness report ADOPTED to DIRECT the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA), with assistance from the City Attorney, to create a working group and report within 30 days with recommendations to begin the process of negotiating and entering into a Memorandum of Understanding, or other appropriate agreement, with hospitals, and any other involved entity, for the coordination and safe and orderly release of indigent patients from acute care hospitals, and in such a manner that they are not automatically transported to, and released in, downtown Los Angeles
5-15-06 - File to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness Clerk OK
6-6-06- File in files
2-9-07 - This day's Council session - Motion - Perry Mover 2007 / Rosendahl - Patient dumping continues unabated in Los Angeles.
Yesterday a paraplegic man wearing a soiled hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was found crawling in a gutter in skid row in Los Angeles after allegedly being dumped in the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van, according to the police.
The incident was witnessed by more than two dozen people. The witnesses wrote down a phone number on the van and took down its license-plate number. This is the most recent example of patient or homeless dumping that has plagued our downtown area. What is more disturbing is that this action comes in the face of currently pending legal actions being pursued by the City Attorney with several Los Angeles hospitals.
The City needs to redouble its efforts to pursue to the full extent of the law, all legal remedies against hospitals and agencies that engage in this practice of patient / homeless dumping.
THEREFORE MOVE that the City Attorney be requested to pursue to the full extent of the law utilizing the full breadth of available legal actions against hospitals and agencies which engage in the practice of patient/homeless dumping.
2-9-07 - Ref to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness
2-9-07 - File to Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness Clerk
Online Documents (Doc)
| Title | Doc Date |
|---|
| Council Action | 08/14/2009 |
| Motion | 02/09/2007 |
| Council Action | 05/03/2006 |
| Motion | 03/28/2006 |
Council Vote Information
| Council Vote Information |
| Meeting Date: | 05/03/2006 |
| Meeting Type: | Regular |
| Vote Action: | Adopted |
| Vote Given: | (14 - 0 - 1) |
| Member Name | CD | Vote |
|---|---|---|
| TONY CARDENAS | 6 | YES |
| ERIC GARCETTI | 13 | YES |
| WENDY GREUEL | 2 | YES |
| JANICE HAHN | 15 | YES |
| JOSE HUIZAR | 14 | YES |
| TOM LABONGE | 4 | YES |
| ALEX PADILLA | 7 | YES |
| BERNARD C PARKS | 8 | YES |
| JAN PERRY | 9 | YES |
| ED REYES | 1 | YES |
| BILL ROSENDAHL | 11 | YES |
| GREIG SMITH | 12 | YES |
| JACK WEISS | 5 | YES |
| HERB WESSON | 10 | YES |
| DENNIS ZINE | 3 | ABSENT |