Video Shows Baltimore Hospital Staff 'Dumping' Patient Outside in the Cold

A Baltimore man's viral video appears to show security guards at a hospital leaving a homeless [...]

A Baltimore man's viral video appears to show security guards at a hospital leaving a homeless patient out on the sidewalk Tuesday, even though the woman was only wearing socks and a hospital gown.

On Tuesday night, Imami Baraka posted a five-minute video showing security guards leaving the woman near a bus stop outside the University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus.

"So, y'all are just gonna leave this lady out here with no clothes on? That is not okay," Baraka told one of the guards.

"They just left all of her stuff out here," Baraka said to the camera. "This is disgusting that they would just leave her unattended on a bus stop half naked. It's gotta be at least 40 degrees or colder."

Baraka posted a follow-up video after calling 911, explaining that the woman really was not even wearing underwear under her gown. He said it appeared that the woman was discharged to the street before they wheeled her out and dropped her off. They put her clothes on the bus stop bench.

In the follow-up, an ambulance was seen driving past him, and Baraka assumed that it was there to take the woman back into the hospital.

"I'm assuming that they are going to take her back to the hospital that irresponsibly discharged her and left her here, on this bench, with nothing but a hospital gown on and her clothing sitting beside her," Baraka said.

Lisa Clough, a spokeswoman for the hospital, told The Washington Post they will investigate the video. She could not provide further information on the patient.

"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," Clough said. She called it an "unfortunate event is not representative of our patient-centered mission."

"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)," Clough continued. "We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting a thorough review, and are evaluating the appropriate response, including the possibility of personnel action."

The practice Baraka appears to have caught on camera is called "patient dumping." CBS News' 60 Minutes investigated the practice in Los Angeles, where homeless patients were left in Downtown Los Angeles after being discharged, in 2007.

Photo credit: Facebook/Imamu Baraka

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