A hospital in Baltimore has come under scrutiny after a video posted online went viral. In the video, an apparently ill woman was put out in the cold wearing nothing but a hospital gown.
A man who said he was a psychotherapist and a student at the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus posted the video on Thursday, showing the woman being manhandled out onto the street by hospital staff and left at a bus stop with her belongings scattered on the ground. The woman seemed to have a wound on her forehead and was wearing a hospital gown that was falling off her body. She can be seen shouting, and apparently saying, “Please help me!” at one point, The Washington Post reports.
The person behind the video, identified as Imamu Baraka, said it was 30 degrees outside, and challenged the hospital staff involved, saying,
So y’all are just going to leave this lady out here with no clothes on? That is not okay.
The staff members’ replies are not clearly heard, but one of them appeared to say, “She was medically cleared.”
A spokesperson for the hospital verified that the video is authentic and was filmed on Tuesday. Lisa Clough, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said in a statement, “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.”
An investigation is being conducted, the hospital added. “This unfortunate event is not representative of our patient-centered mission,” Clough said. “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). We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting a thorough review, and are evaluating the appropriate response, including the possibility of personnel action.”
