Los Angeles sues hospital over alleged patient dumping

Los Angeles is suing a Hawaiian Gardens hospital it contends dumped a homeless woman with schizophrenia on Skid Row.

The lawsuit, announced Wednesday by City Attorney Mike Feuer, claims the 38-year-old woman was wearing paper hospital garb and had no phone, ID, money or medication when she was left at a downtown shelter last September.

The suit says Gardens Regional Hospital and Medical Center improperly discharged the same woman at least five times. It seeks penalties and a requirement that the hospital create a discharge policy.

In a statement, the nonprofit hospital says the woman demanded to be taken to the shelter, says it handles patients with dignity and calls the allegations "baseless, false and misleading."

Feuer's office settled three similar patient dumping cases against hospitals last year.