State Legislator Announces Bill That Would Criminalize Homeless Dumping

Legislation would hold hospitals and employees liable, but questions remain about the legal underpinning of the bill and the Los Angeles City Attorney's criminal and civil cases against one Los Angeles hospital

By David de Sola
Senior Investigative Correspondent
The Southern California Inquisitor

Surveillance footage shows 63-year-old Carol Reyes wandering the street after she was dropped off outside the Union Rescue Mission by a taxi. Video: Union Rescue Mission
There are an estimated 88,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County. Many of them live on the streets of Skid Row near downtown Los Angeles. Photo: The Southern California Inquisitor.

LOS ANGELES -- Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, announced he will introduce legislation that would outlaw the practice of hospitals dumping homeless patients.

The bill, which was drafted by the office of Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, would make patient dumping a misdemeanor.

The bill calls for a jail term of up to two years and a $1,000 fine for anyone who violates the law. Hospitals could face $10,000 fines and find themselves on probation.

"There currently is no law making dumping homeless hospital patients on Skid Row a crime," Delgadillo said at a news conference. "What we really need is legal clarity that specifically prohibits it."

An executive with the Hospital Association of Southern California blasted the proposed bill, telling the New York Times it was "in a word, stupid," and accused Delgadillo of "grandstanding." He also noted that federal laws already require hospitals to treat and stabilize their patients before discharging them, and to make plans for follow-up care if necessary

New legal questions and an uncertain legislative future

Prosecutors from Delgadillo's office have already filed criminal charages and a civil action against Kaiser Permanente for its role in the Carol Reyes incident in March of 2006.

The criminal case charges the hospital with one count of dependent adult endangerment and one count of false imprisonment. Jeffrey Isaacs, who is the chief prosecutor for the city of Los Angeles, explained the legal rationale behind the criminal case. "The theory behind the dependent adult endangerment charge is that in the case of Kaiser, Carol Ann Reyes was a dependent adult who because of her diminished mental capacity due to dementia, she was in the care and custody of Kaiser, and Kaiser by causing her to be transported and dumped on the sidewalks of Skid Row placed her in physical danger."

For the false imprisonment charge, Isaacs said that " if a person was taken against their will or without their permission, or if they were incapable of giving permission or what we say is informed consent because they suffer some type of mental disability, which is often the case with homeless people and homeless patients." Neither of the two charges has ever been tested in court, so the outcome of the Reyes case could set legal precedents.

In its civil action, the city attorney's office accuses Kaiser Permanente of violating California's unfair competition law. "It creates civil liability," Isaacs said of the statute, which he also described as "very broad."

"If in this case, Kaiser were to have engaged in any unlawful or unfair business act or practice, we can essentially borrow violations of other laws and charge it under the unfair competition law, so not only would it be false imprisonment and dependent adult endangerment, but also it could include or does include malpractice, negligence, and other allegations relating to shortcomings in their care, treatment, and evaluation of Miss Reyes." 

If Cedillo's bill passes in the state legislature and is signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., it could open a legal Pandora's box for court orders that would dictate how hospitals should or must treat homeless patients who are to be discharged.

Prospects for passing Cedillo's bill in Sacramento are up in the air. Assembly speaker Fabian Núñez supports the bill, but Schwarzenegger's office remains noncommittal. Cedillo unuccessfully attempted to introduce a similar measure a year earlier.

Legal action against hospitals for homeless dumping is not limited to the city and state government. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is representing Carol Reyes in a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente. The suit says that the hospital "has engaged in this conduct with full knowledge that the persons it transports to Skid Row will not continue to heal or recuperate in that setting and that no social service agency on or near Skid Row can provide for the rehabilitative and medical care these persons require."