Man's video of hospital's 'patient dumping' goes viral

Man witnesses security guards abandon woman in hospital gown

BALTIMORE – Imamu Baraka couldn't believe what he was seeing, so he started filming and rushed to confront the group of security guards from the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus. 

The guards had just abandoned a woman wearing only a hospital gown and socks on the cold street Tuesday night. 

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"So wait, y’all just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes on?" Baraka said as the guards ignored him and walked in. "That is not okay!"

Baraka published the video on Facebook and learned that he had witnessed an incident of "patient dumping," which, according to an expert who spoke to the Washington Post, probably violated a 1986 federal law that mandates hospitals release those in their care into a safe environment.

"I saw the unthinkable, another human in a wheelchair being wheeled out in the dead of cold," Baraka told The Associated Press adding that he dialed 911 and tried to help the woman when the ambulance arrived. "At first I was shocked. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And I move beyond that to the next level from being shocked. I became ... irritated and fearful for the young lady. And then I became angry."

A guard told Baraka the woman had been medically discharged. The video went viral and Dr. Mohan Suntha, the hospital’s president and chief executive, held a news conference Thursday announcing that there was going to be an investigation. 

"We are trying to understand the points of failure that led to what we witnessed on that video," Suntha said.

Is this what healthcare in Baltimore City has come to? *** PLEASE WATCH, SHARE and COMMENT *** I just witnessed this...

Posted by Imamu Baraka on Tuesday, January 9, 2018

About the Author:

The Emmy Award-winning journalist joined the Local 10 News team in 2013. She wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 9 years and won a Green Eyeshade Award.