MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!
If you agree that no one should be discharged from the hospital late at night with nowhere to go, with only a bus pass, in their hospital gown and booties, with an empty stomach, into neighborhoods with no public restrooms open at night, then please add your voice to our request for legislative hearings to STOP PATIENT DUMPING!
SB 1152 was passed in 2019, mandating that specific measures be taken before discharging homeless patients from acute care hospitals. It is NOT being implemented as intended.
Add your voice by sending an email to your Assembly-member and State Senator requesting that the Health and Human Services Committees hold hearings about why patient dumping is still happening despite the passage of SB 1152.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
CLICK ON https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/
1) Click on your Assemblymember’s name.
2) Locate the CONTACT button.
3) Fill out the contact form.
4) Paste this text below or your own personal statement (2000 word max) into the comment section and send.
5) Then follow the same process for your Senator.
Dear Assembly-member/Senator:
We respectfully ask that you hold hearings to identify why SB 1152 (Hospital patient discharge process: homeless patients) is not being followed as intended and what must be done to provide the necessary support to hospitals to implement a referral process resulting in a warm hand off of these incredibly vulnerable members of our community.
Senate Bill 1152, passed in 2019, prevented patient dumping of homeless individuals onto the streets without following specific humane planning measures. Unfortunately, the practice of hospitals inappropriately releasing homeless or indigent patients to the streets is still all-to-common.
We watch in horror as unsheltered individuals are often times not offered even the most rudimentary requirements, such as food, weather appropriate clothing, or screening for infectious diseases and vaccinations. This is particularly alarming as we see a recurrence of Hep A cases in San Diego. People are sometimes discharged late at night with nowhere to go, with only a bus pass, in their hospital gown and booties, with an empty stomach, into neighborhoods with no public restrooms open and no busses running.
Existing law requires hospitals to comply with specific statutory provisions for standards of care and regulations promulgated by the department, and a violation of these provisions or regulations is a crime. Yet care of these individuals should not be solely the responsibility of hospital Emergency Departments. There are numerous gaps in our local service systems.
- There is no regular after-hours outreach.
- There are no shelters with 24/7 access.
- On any given day it very hard to find a shelter bed anywhere in San Diego County. People who need a bottom bunk due to age or infirmity can wait for weeks before a space is available.
Simply put there is no place for the hospitals to refer patients to and no system of referral.
We ask that you hold hearings to assess hospital implementation of SB 1152 and amend regulations to improve hospital discharge referral practices in order to STOP PATIENT DUMPING.
Sincerely,
Name and address