Hollywood hospital to adopt new guidelines for discharging homeless

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, whose discharge of a paraplegic man onto skid row earlier this year was widely publicized, says it will adopt new guidelines meant to end the dumping of homeless patients.

The hospital said Friday that it would create new protocols and provide more staff training for discharging homeless patients. The nation's largest HMO, Kaiser Permanente, announced similar reforms on Tuesday.

In February, a 54-year-old paraplegic homeless man discharged from the hospital was found crawling on a street wearing a soiled hospital gown with a colostomy bag still attached.

Chief executive Kaylor E. Shemberger said Hollywood Presbyterian wanted to become "one of the first hospitals in Los Angeles to respond to the city attorney's request to get on board with the protocols."

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is investigating the February dumping.

"This announcement by itself doesn't impact our investigation," Delgadillo said.

Delgadillo had filed criminal charges against Kaiser Permanente over a dumped patient in November, and said he wanted to send a message to hospitals nationwide engaged in patient dumping.

Los Angeles authorities are investigating allegations that a dozen area hospitals have dumped more than 50 homeless patients downtown.