Gutter Throw-Away

Sick and homeless in L.A.? Expect to be dumped off on skid row without clothes and medications needed to treat your ailment. And if you’re using a wheelchair? Well, too bad for you. Some hospitals in L.A. want you to crawl your way out of the gutter.

The lawsuit alleges that employees of the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center drove
Gabino Olvera, 42, in a van to “Skid Row,” a section of Los Angeles known for its high concentration of homeless people, and dumped him in a gutter without a wheelchair, dressed only in a dirty hospital gown.

According to witnesses who came to the man’s assistance and video cameras from a nearby homeless shelter, Olvera placed his hospital papers and other documents between his teeth and began to drag himself forward by his arms, while the hospital driver sat in the van applying makeup and then drove off.

The story continues that more and more instances of this kind of patient abuse are coming to light about hospitals all over the country- and especially in L.A. These instances seem to be rising, but I’m of the mind they are probably about the same, or less, than they were before camera phones, small video cameras, and someone somewhere always ready to film something for YouTube. Now more people are catching these atrocious acts on camera and hospitals that enjoyed healthy reputations are now having their evil underbelly exposed. Horror stories that Michael Moore may have touched on, but nobody really believed. Well, guess what?

It’s a sad tribute to the state of the American Health system that hospitals would rather literally dump patients in the street than to spend the money to treat them. It’s even sadder when there are people that think people like Gabino Olvera deserve this kind of treatment.

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