Woman wearing only gown and socks filmed sobbing outside hospital in cold after being discharged
A man filmed her, helped her to sit down, and got her medical attention even though she had just been discharged
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Your support makes all the difference.A Baltimore hospital says that it is investigating an incident in which a woman, apparently recently discharged, was filmed outside its facility wearing only a hospital gown and socks.
The woman was filmed by a local psychotherapist, who eventually got her help after coaxing her to sit down, and who said that she was clearly not capable of being discharged form the facility.
In the video, which he posted online, the woman is seen shuffling in the cold, grunting, and sobbing in apparent confusion over her circumstance. She appears to have wounds on her forehead.
“They just left all of her stuff out here. This is disgusting that they would just leave here unattended on a bus stop, half naked,” Imamu Baraka says in the video, pointing his phone camera at clear plastic bags leaned up against the bus stop bench.
A screen shot posted with the video showed the temperature to be 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Her shoes were left near the clear plastic bags.
“I know it’s cold, and you don’t have any clothes on, but I’m going to call and get you some help,” Mr Baraka tells her as she sits down, crying.
A representative for the hospital verified the authenticity of the video.
“We share the shock and disappointment of many who have viewed the video showing the discharge of a patient from the Emergency Department of UMMC Midtown the night of January 9,” Kelly Swan, the media relations manager for the hospital, said in a statement provided to The Independent. “This unfortunate event is not representative of our patient-centered mission.”
Ms Swan continued that the hospital is reviewing the circumstances.
“While there are many circumstances of this patient’s case that we cannot address publicly, in the end we clearly failed to fulfill our mission with this patient, no matter the circumstances of her case or the quality of the clinical care we provided in the hospital (which is not depicted in the video),” she said. “We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting a thorough review, and are evaluating the appropriate response, including the possibility of personnel action.”
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