ROCKY TAKES A BEATING HOMELESS HIS PAWNS, CRITICS SAY.

Byline: RICK ORLOV Staff Writer

Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo came under fire Thursday when hospital officials accused him of playing politics with the homeless by filing criminal charges rather than negotiating to end the practice of dumping patients on Skid Row.

The accusations erupted as Delgadillo announced filing misdemeanor criminal charges, as well as a civil lawsuit, against Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower for improperly discharging a 63-year-old homeless woman on Skid Row last March.

At a news conference in the heart of Skid Row, reporters grilled Delgadillo on whether city government provides adequate social services to aid the homeless and hospitals. A homeless man interrupted and said city officials neglect the needs of people such as himself.

Delgadillo defended his handling of the problem, saying: ``We want to send a message to hospitals that we will not stand for this.

``I intend to hold Kaiser accountable for violating state law, breaching its commitment to its patients, shirking its obligations under the Hippocratic oath and, perhaps more importantly, offending principles of common decency.''

But a top official with the Hospital Association of Southern California said the charges appear to be ``pernicious and politically motivated.''

``We tried to meet with the city attorney, and last April he just abruptly walked away from the table,'' said Jim Lott, executive vice president of the association. ``I don't think he understands the situation, and he is definitely not working with us.''

Lott said his association represents all hospitals in Southern California and sought to work with Delgadillo to develop a common policy for releasing homeless patients.

``He summarily dismissed us,'' Lott said. ``Either he doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand that we can broker an agreement and a policy for hospitals. He dismissed us and went on this path.''

Delgadillo said he stopped talking with the association in the belief it could not speak for all Southern California hospitals. He said there were meetings instead with individual hospital operators. But Lott said city officials' failure to work with his group has created a problem for hospitals treating the indigent.

``Hospitals in Southern California spend over $2 billion a year treating the uninsured,'' Lott said. ``We do all we can, but this is a problem the city of Los Angeles and the county need to address.

``It costs $1,276 a day to keep someone in a hospital bed. That's a lot more than it costs to provide a bed in a shelter. But if the services don't exist and the shelters aren't there, what is a hospital supposed to do? It doesn't make any sense, any way you look at it.''

Skid Row is the main center for the treatment of the homeless, and it has a permanent population estimated at 3,600. Officials estimate there are 40,000 people without homes in the city of L.A. and 80,000 throughout Los Angeles County.

Glendale helps

Lott said some cities, such as Glendale, have developed innovative programs giving hotel vouchers to indigents who are released from the hospital.

``That (Glendale) is a city that is trying to do something for people who no longer need medical attention,'' Lott said. ``We aren't saying it's the solution, but it's a step.''

Kaiser officials, while acknowledging the mistake, said they already have taken steps to correct their procedures.

``They're taking one isolated case and saying this is what hospitals do,'' said Diana Bonta, vice president of public affairs for Kaiser in Southern California.

``In reality, hospitals are trying our best to take care of all people, including and especially the most vulnerable.''

Kaiser will study steps to take regarding the city accusations. If convicted, the corporation could face fines of up to $1,000 for each violation and probation for three months.

Bonta also said Kaiser representatives had been meeting with Delgadillo to try to develop a common policy, but the city attorney broke off talks when Kaiser refused to have his agency assume oversight of hospital policies.

``We resisted that because we have state and federal regulations we must adhere to -- and do follow,'' Bonta said. ``We didn't feel the city attorney should be involved. We admit that our staff made a judgment error, but we have instituted training programs and new policies so this won't happen again.''

Lott said all hospitals have a standard policy to ensure that patients have a posthospitalization care plan in place.

``A hospital discharge planner will look at what the patient-care team says is needed and try to arrange services for (a patient) if needed,'' Lott said.

He said the planner and care team try to make sure patients ``understand their medication and treatment and what they are to do.''

Action recommended

Lott said the association also is recommending that hospitals develop a written consent form for all patients before they are transported anywhere.

Bonta said Kaiser has gone beyond that and now also calls service agencies to find space for any homeless patients who are discharged.

``We have told our people that if it is too late in the day to find a place for someone, to keep them in the hospital until arrangements can be made,'' Bonta said.

That's what Kaiser should have done in March before it released Carolyn Reyes along San Pedro Street in front of the Union Rescue Mission in a hospital gown and sweat shirt, Delgadillo said.

``They had to drive 16 miles to bring her here,'' Delgadillo said. ``They could have taken her to the Salvation Army in Bellflower, but they didn't.''

Delgadillo's news conference was interrupted by David Bush, who said he has been homeless for six years and on Skid Row for the past month. Clad in a threadbare, faded serape, he accused city officials of doing the same with the sick that Delgadillo is accusing hospitals of doing -- dumping them.

``Why don't you investigate why there are no day beds for the homeless who are sick with the cold or the flu?'' Bush asked. ``I went to a local fire department to ask if there were any day beds. I was coerced to taking a free ride to the county waiting room where they don't have beds for the people who are truly sick.

``You're making international headlines with this, and all you are doing is covering up for the lack of services and the way you are arresting hundreds of homeless people and sending them off to jail.''

The Los Angeles Police Department has aggressively tackled crime on Skid Row for the past two months with 50 specially trained officers. The effort has led to complaints from other parts of the city that the homeless have begun to set up encampments to escape the Skid Row crackdown.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Los Angeles chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that the ACLU plans to file a class-action suit against Kaiser to force a change in discharge policy.

But ACLU Legal Director Mark Rosenbaum also noted the broad and inherent problems in dealing with the homeless.

``No government agency has stepped up,'' Rosenbaum said. ``Skid Row itself is a civil-rights violation. There should not be one homeless person in 2006 on the streets of Los Angeles city or county. We shouldn't have to rely on criminal filings by the City Attorney's Office to deal with this.''

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Rocky Delgadillo