Discharging or “dumping” the homeless from hospitals right back on the streets has become an ongoing societal problem that needs to change.  With nowhere to go, no safe place to heal, and no one that seems to care, the homeless are often put into a washing machine cycle of going in and out of the hospital. A big contribution to this is having nowhere to fully recover after being discharged. Why do we as a society turn an inhumane blind eye to this issue? 

On Jan. 9, in Baltimore,  hospital staff discharged a homeless woman during a psychotic episode and left her at a city bus stop wearing only a hospital gown and socks in the middle of winter. She was found by a local psychotherapist who called 911. The hospital then sent her to a homeless shelter that same night. According to the Baltimore Sun, “The University of Maryland Medical Center’s top executive, Dr. Mohan Suntha, apologized last week for what happened to the patient, but called it an isolated incident.”

But this wasn’t an isolated incident, and is occuring more often now than ever. Just weeks after what happened in Baltimore, a similar story took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Aurora Sinai Medical Center discharged a homeless man, wheeled him out in his gown and left him across the street in the cold. This was the second time he had been discharged and left by the medical center. Eva Welch, director of Street Angels Milwaukee Outreach, told Journal Sentinel, “Basic humanity tells you it’s not OK to take a mentally ill person and leave him on a sidewalk like this.” She continued that just two weeks before at the same center, a very similar incident happened.

There have been countless statements made by people addressing this nationwide issue; however, it takes more than individual efforts to even come close to eliminating this problem – it takes all humanity to take on this responsibility to morally care for other humans. 

In Los Angeles, there is a street known as “Skid Row,” which inhabits over 11,000 homeless. According to CBS News, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is investigating more than 50 cases of “homeless dumping” on Skid Row. “These may be the perfect victims. Because a homeless individual dumped on Skid Row disappears into the chaos of Skid Row within minutes,” Delgadillo said, “It’s hard for us to find them and then get the evidence that we need.”

Because this has recently been such an issue all over the country, steps are being taken towards fixing this brutal treatment of the homeless. According to the Sacramento Bee, officals have introduced a new bill in the California State Senate. Under this bill, “Hospitals would be required to get written confirmation from homeless shelters before discharging patients to those facilities,” the Bee said. 

 This could aid homeless in ensuring they have a safe place to go after being discharged, and are able to get the help they need, without the worry of being ‘patient dumped.’

Homeless need to get the care that every human being gets and deserves. There is no reason to explain this lack of compassion for others. Dumping homeless on the streets does not help their medical issues; it only hinders them later on. They deserve the hospital to treat them as any other patient. People need to take steps similar to the new California bill nationwide to stop this barbaric treatment of the homeless.