Glendale Adventist settlement fee totals $700K
Glendale Adventist Medical Center has agreed to pay a $700,000 settlement in response to a complaint alleging the hospital was illegally dumping homeless and mentally ill patients in Los Angeles’ skid-row neighborhood.
Hospital officials also agreed to adopt a new protocol for evaluating and discharging patients following a complaint filed by Los Angeles Attorney Mike Feuer on Aug. 20.
The suit claims Glendale Adventist transported patients for an undisclosed number of times from the hospital to skid row, an area infamous for its “extreme poverty, homelessness, rampant sale and use of illegal drugs and violent crime.”
Glendale Adventist Medical Center has agreed to pay a $700,000 settlement in response to a complaint alleging the hospital was illegally dumping homeless and mentally ill patients in Los Angeles’ skid-row neighborhood.
Hospital officials also agreed to adopt new protocols for evaluating and discharging patients following a complaint filed by Los Angeles Attorney Mike Feuer on Aug. 20.
The suit claims Glendale Adventist transported patients an undisclosed number of times from the hospital to skid row, an area infamous for its “extreme poverty, homelessness, rampant sale and use of illegal drugs and violent crime.”
“Any time a patient is dumped into the gutters of skid row, it’s a disgrace, it’s disgusting,” Feuer said during a press conference on Wednesday. “Every patient who has a place to live or is homeless, every patient has a right to recuperate with dignity.”
Feuer said a patient-dumping incident in June initiated an investigation into Glendale Adventist. He said a homeless service agency in skid row tipped off the city attorney’s office, but would not comment on additional details of the investigation because a settlement was reached.
Despite settling, the head of the hospital disputes the accusations.
“Glendale Adventist Medical Center has always been deeply committed to providing appropriate discharge options to all patients and we have adjusted our policies to further align with the city of Los Angeles’ specific protocols for the discharge of homeless patients,” said Kevin Robert, the hospital’s chief executive, in a statement.
The hospital adopted protocols drafted by Feuer’s office that require cognitive assessments and evaluations of a homeless patient’s individual circumstances prior to their discharge.
The new policies also state it would be ideal and preferred to release a patient to the care of a family member or friend. A notch below that is the less-ideal option of arranging for a homeless patient to be handed off to a shelter following an arrangement between the hospital and the hand-off agency.
Feuer said Glendale Adventist staff would be trained on the new protocol and the hospital is required to reach out to the city attorney’s office in six months with a progress report.
Two other nearby medical centers — Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley and Beverly Community Hospital in Montebello — adopted the new discharge policies after they too settled lawsuits alleging patient dumping.
Both of those facilities also paid six-figure penalties.
Feuer said he hopes more hospitals will voluntarily adopt the protocols.
Feuer said $500,000 of Glendale Adventist’s settlement is for civil penalties, $100,000 will go toward reimbursing the city attorney’s office for legal fees and $100,000 will be donated to the nonprofit organization Los Angeles Family Housing.