Los Angeles City Council gives preliminary approval to fines for patient dumping

Hospitals that discharge homeless patients on the streets of Los Angeles without their consent could be charged with misdemeanors and fined up to $25,000 under a proposed ordinance. The measure is intended to curb the practice of taking patients from a hospital by taxi or ambulance and leaving them on skid row downtown. Under the new law, a health facility would not be allowed to transport a patient to a location other than his or her residence without written consent. In the last few years, the city attorney's office has investigated more than 50 cases of patient dumping but has filed cases against only a few hospitals.