The San Diego City Attorney is preparing possible legal action against San Diego-based Scripps Mercy Hospital for allegedly discharging patients without a plan nearly a year after filing action against Scripps Health, CBS8 reported July 19.
The City Attorney's Office filed a civil enforcement action against Scripps Health Aug. 30, 2021, after hospital staff discharged a 68-year-old man with severe schizophrenia without any assistance. The office did not respond to CBS8's request for comment.
Amie Zamudio, a homeless advocate, told CBS8 she has recently spoken to discharged patients from the hospital with "nowhere to go, nothing to eat and unable to manage their medications."
"When we say they don't have anywhere to immediately go, it's true," Ms. Zamudio said. "We see a lot of seniors between 11 at night and six in the morning just waiting for buses to maybe go to a shelter to see if they have a bed available."
A Scripps spokesperson gave CBS8 the following statement:
"Scripps Health works with patients to develop a discharge plan, giving them discharge instructions, providing the patient with information and access to community resources for homeless individuals (including shelter referral information if the patient desires), and providing a transportation voucher to their chosen destination. While we create and provide a hospital discharge plan, the patient has the right to accept or decline the resources offered.
"We're proud of the tireless efforts by our dedicated staff in helping patients address what can be very challenging situations in the hospital discharge process. We have no reason to believe there has been any deviation in our adherence to our discharge process."