Published: Sat, January 13, 2018
Worldwide | By Gretchen Simon

Hospital security guards filmed 'dumping' patient in thin gown during freezing conditions


Imamu Baraka, a psychotherapist who has an office across the street from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, told The Associated Press he was so angry at the woman's treatment that he made a decision to record Tuesday night's events on cellphone video, fearing no one would believe him if he reported a patient being left at a bus stop like that on a cold January night.

In the Baltimore case that went viral this week, much remains unknown: Who the woman is, why she was hospitalized, what led staff to discharge her when she appeared to be incoherent, and where she is now. Suntha also said there were no excuses for what happened to the woman.

The Baltimore man who filmed a hospital patient being dumped in the street wearing just a gown and socks on Tuesday night after being discharged said he was driven to record it because he was "enraged" by how she was treated. One is pushing an empty wheelchair.

"Y'all are just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes?" he asks.

They said they shared the "shock and disappointment" that others who saw the video probably felt.

The University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus has since verified the video and responded they are "investigating". The woman was being discharged from the emergency department, they said. Baraka asks the group. He is heard in the video asking the hospital's security officers several times why they put the woman out of the hospital.

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To that, one of the men replied, "due to the circumstances of what happened... Do you need me to call the police?" he asks.

A spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center later confirmed with the Washington Post that what was in the video was true, admitting that the hospital "clearly failed to fulfill our mission" for quality care based around a patient's needs.

'The idea that they're discharging her, if she's unruly which appears to be what one of the gentleman suggested, that's reason to involuntarily commit her to the behavioral health, psych ward, until they're clear on what's happening. But she does scream, and her breath condenses in the cold air in front of her. The video alerted the woman to the whereabouts of her daughter, who had been missing for two weeks, he said.

The video showed security guards leaving the disoriented woman from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown on the street, dressed in just the hospital gown and socks in the 30 degree weather. You can do better.

They maintained that its doctors and nurses gave her adequate care but said they had "failed" to demonstrate "compassion". "You try to get them to the best place possible, and that's not the bench in front of the hospital".

CBS News reported the medical center is reviewing the woman's case and that personnel action could be taken against the hospital employees responsible for her dumping.

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