AP News, February 16th, 2007
A hospital under investigation for leaving a paraplegic man in the downtown area known as Skid Row last week has released his medical records, the city attorney said Thursday, a day after accusing the medical center of "stonewalling" the probe.
Investigators are looking into whether Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center violated federal laws against releasing or transferring medically unstable patients.
"These records will serve as an essential tool in our efforts to investigate this recent and shocking instance of homeless dumping," City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said.
Witnesses reported a man, described by police as a 41-year-old who lost use of his legs in a 1990 car crash, crawling in the street Feb. 8 after being dropped off by a van contracted by Hollywood Presbyterian. The man is now being treated at another hospital.
Delgadillo on Wednesday said Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center attorneys refused to release the records even though the man signed a form authorizing investigators to review them.
The hospital said that the form had an illegible signature and that it withheld the records until it received more documentation certifying the signature.
Hollywood Presbyterian "takes patient privacy very seriously and would never release anyone's medical records unless we were assured of the authenticity of their consent form, and that we were in compliance with federal and state privacy laws," spokesman Dan Springer said.
In the past two years, several hospitals and law enforcement agencies have been accused of dumping patients and criminals on the streets of Skid Row without taking them to a mission or service provider.
