DELGADILLO: HOSPITAL STALLING PROBE.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo said Wednesday that officials at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital have refused to turn over records and cooperate in the city's investigation into recent allegations that a paraplegic patient was dumped on Skid Row.

Delgadillo said his office obtained medical-release forms from the patient, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, and that the hospital has refused to provide the records to the city.

"In what I can only conclude is an attempt to impede our investigation, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, through its lawyers, has refused to provide my prosecutors with the records," Delgadillo said.

"The hospital's excuse, as we understand it, has been to question the authenticity of the victim's signature. If the hospital is truly interested in getting to the bottom of what happened here, ... they will stop this stonewalling."

Hospital spokesman Dan Springer said he was surprised by Delgadillo's statement.

"We had been meeting with the City Attorney's Office and thought we had an agreement worked out, and then they issued this press release," Springer said.

The case came to light last week after witnesses said they saw a Hollywood Presbyterian van drop off a paraplegic in Skid Row, without a wheelchair and a broken colostomy bag.

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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