US: Hospital settles over 'dumped' homeless paraplegic

Two lawsuits against a hospital for allegedly leaving a homeless paraplegic man on Skid Row without his wheelchair have been settled, attorneys said today.

Under a preliminary settlement agreement, Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre and Empire Transportation, Inc, a patient transportation company, will pay an undisclosed amount to Gabino Olvera, who was seen dragging himself across the pavement in a soiled gown in February 2007, said Olvera’s attorney, Steven Archer.

Mr Archer said settlement details were confidential but “it’s not an insignificant amount of money”.

Mr Olvera’s lawsuit alleged the hospital was negligent in its treatment, failed to diagnose and treat his urinary tract infection and mental illness, and discharged him in a helpless condition.

The incident also prompted the city attorney’s office to file a related suit.

In settling that lawsuit, the hospital agreed to adopt protocols for discharging homeless patients, train their staff, and keep statistics, Chief Assistant City Attorney Jeffrey Isaacs said.

The hospital will also allow a court-appointed referee to monitor implementation of the settlement for five years, Mr Isaacs said. The agreement requires the hospital to pay $1m (€640,000) to two Hollywood social service agencies that provide medical services and beds to homeless people recovering from hospital stays.

Empire Enterprises, whose driver was accused of leaving Olvera, agreed to a $10,000 (€6,400) civil penalty.

“We have now done everything we told the community last year we would do in response to this incident,” Hollywood Presbyterian CEO Jeff Nelson said in a statement.

“From the first day we promised to take action to review our policies, procedures and services for homeless patients and improve them where needed. Much of that we accomplished months ago.”

After the incident, the hospital did an investigation, expanded its social services staff to help place homeless patients and retrained emergency room personnel on the special needs of the homeless, Nelson said.

A city law takes effect in July that will make it a misdemeanour to take patients anywhere other than their home without written consent.