The Reality of U.S. For-Profit Healthcare

Described as a horrifying depiction of “the reality of U.S. for-profit healthcare,” a Baltimore-based psychotherapist last week caught on video University of Maryland Medical Center staff “dumping” a clearly incapacitated young woman into the freezing Maryland weather wearing only a thin hospital gown and socks.

“Is this what healthcare in Baltimore City has come to?” asked Imamu Baraka, who captured the disturbing scene on his cell phone. The video has since garnered more than two million views. The link to the video: www.commondreams.org/news/2018/01/12/viral-video-hospital-dumping-woman-freezing-cold-stirs-demand-medicare-all.

Baraka’s video soon sparked national headlines and widespread outrage, with many noting that “patient dumping” is a pervasive and under-discussed product of a system that does not guarantee healthcare as a right to all.

“Attempted murder” is how one analyst described the medical center’s decision to leave an incapacitated young woman at a bus stop in frigid weather

RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, concluded that the only solution is to “implement single-payer, Medicare for All or Americans continue to suffer/die.”

Others echoed DeMoro’s call, arguing that the medical center’s behavior is essentially “attempted murder.”

The hospital issued an apology following the flood of outrage, taking “full responsibility for this failure” to provide “basic humanity and compassion.”

“We are taking this matter very seriously, conducting a thorough review, and are evaluating the appropriate response, including the possibility of personnel action,” hospital spokeswoman Lisa Clough said in a statement.

Jake Johnson is a Staff Writer at CommonDreams.org. Originally published at Comondreams.org.

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