A Georgia hospital dumped a seriously ill Black man, with tubes and a catheter still attached to him, on a sidewalk after his Medicare ran out. The 68-year-old patient, who had "a fever, signs of sepsis, a urinary tract infection and an elevated heart rate," according to WSB-TV, was found collapsed and unresponsive.
From WSB:
[Channel 2's Mark] Winne talked to Conyers Police Deputy Chief Scott Freeman, the officer who rescued the man near Piedmont Rockdale Hospital.
"Common sense dictates that you do not treat human beings the way that we're seeing in this particular case," Freeman said. …
Freeman said the 68-year-old man was discharged from the hospital Thursday. A hospital employee told officers that the man had been at the hospital for 35 days and that Medicare would not continue to pay for his treatment.
The employee said that security dressed the man and walked him out.
Freeman said an officer was told the man was cleared as "fit to leave" by two doctors and the hospital wanted him gone.
"(He was) literally ejected out to the sidewalk with no help whatsoever," Freeman said. "I think it's inhumane. He was clearly incoherent. That's just not how we treat people here in this city or this country."
The unapologetic Piedmont Rockdale Hospital thought this to be an appropriate statement:
"At Piedmont, our purpose is to make a positive difference in every life we touch. We can only provide the best care with the cooperation and consent of the patient. We do our best to connect patients in need with community partners and social service organizations to provide appropriate after-hospital care, but ultimately accepting these services is at the discretion of the patient."
If that's their best, I'd hate to see what their worst is.
The patient, whose name wasn't released, was taken by ambulance right back to the hospital's emergency room.
