Last week I wrote an article about the recent case of a hospital dumping a paraplegic man on skid row in LA for Gibbs Magazine, San Francisco Bay View and Poor Magazine. Now today I found that state and local officials are proposing a bill to make dumping people who are homeless from hospitals a crime.

What happen to common sense? Do we need Uncle Sam to tell us how to act 24\7? However the reaction tells us what I tried to stress in my article and that is this practice is nothing new. What happens when Uncle Sam is the one that's unleashing crimes?  Or did they react only because it’s been all over the news? If he was still alive, can we use the law to bring Ronald REAGAN to court for using his pen to dump people from mental hospitals? So I don't know how to feel! It seems to me we don't react until Big Brother tell us to react or could it be that all the work activists and organizations do don't get media until something like this happens but when it does the activists and organizations' proposals for change are once again overlooked by Government's pens. How about more funding to hospitals, mental health services, housing and homeless services?  I just found out that in 1986 the Federal Government passed an anti-dumping law.  The original title of this law is, Emergency Medical Treatment and Act of Labor Act ("EMTALA").  Also I found out that the California Hospitals Association produced a manual entitled, A Guide to Patient Anti-Dumping Laws.

From the California Hospital Association’s website, it reads, “This manual has been fully updated to reflect the new Interpretive Guidelines, which include new interpretations regarding what defines a dedicated emergency department, medical screening exams, on-call physician coverage, and stabilization and transfer.”  I’m not a lawyer but my theory is what will a new statewide law do, if hospitals can’t follow a 1986 federal law?
Like I and many activists and organizations been saying for some times that this is a hate crime issue.

 

By Leroy F. Moore Jr.  
www.leroymoore.com

Homes