Los Angeles Plans to Sue 10 Hospitals

The city of Los Angeles attorney’s office is preparing to sue 10 hospitals it suspects of discharging homeless patients with medical needs onto “skid row,” sources familiar with the city’s plans tell the Los Angeles Times.

The attorney’s office has been investigating such practices for the past year in an effort to establish legally binding practices for discharging the homeless. Talks among the parties broke down earlier this year, the Times reports.

“We are fully prepared to use whatever tools are at our disposal, be it litigation or a prosecution,” City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo told the paper. “This is an unconscionable practice.”

City officials have not named all of the hospitals they are investigating, but they include Kaiser Permanente’s Bellflower Medical Center, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, and Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center, the newspaper says. These hospitals denied any wrongdoing. The city says it has continued discussions with Kaiser Permanente.