The University of Maryland Medical Center’s top executive apologized to a patient who was discharged and found on the street wearing only a thin hospital gown and socks outside its midtown facility, calling it an isolated incident.
“We take full responsibility for this failure,” Dr. Mohan Suntha said during a Thursday afternoon news conference. The hospital did not provide “basic humanity and compassion,” he added.
Suntha, the Baltimore hospital’s president and CEO, said the hospital system is investigating the incident and is talking to everyone who came into contact with the woman, including guards, nurses and doctors. It also is reviewing its discharge policies.
The hospital was thrust into the national spotlight and social media erupted with outrage after a viral video showed security guards leaving a disoriented woman from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown on the street, barely dressed, when the temperature was in the 30s. It’s the latest hospital across the country accused of a practice known as “patient dumping” or “hospital dumping” in which patients who are homeless, mentally ill or both are released to the streets.
The state Office of Health Care Quality said it is investigating the incident.
The widely shared video was posted to Facebook by Imamu Baraka, a psychotherapist who was leaving his office across the street from the hospital when he saw the woman.
