Arizona mom accuses Valleywise Hospital of neglecting her quadriplegic son
Phoenix Police are investigating after a mother says her son, who is a quadriplegic, was dumped out of a wheelchair and onto the ground outside a major hospital in the Valley.
The man's family says he was having issues with his catheter, but claim the hospital didn’t fully treat him and left him in a park where he was bitten by hundreds of ants.
To make matters worse, this allegedly happened during the summer heat. However, a homeless man living in the park where the man was allegedly dumped is being called a hero.
According to the victim and police paperwork, that witness saw it all happen in front of him, and let the victim use his phone to call for his mom. He then waited until she arrived.
Video shows Cessie Garcia's son laying on the ground outside hospital
AZ hospital accused of neglecting quadriplegic man
Phoenix Police are investigating after a mother says her quadriplegic son was dumped out of a wheelchair, and onto the ground outside a major Valley hospital. FOX 10's Stephanie Bennett reports. (NOTE: Due to the potentially upsetting nature of this video, viewer discretion is advised)
"See, this is my son. Why did they throw you here?" Cessie Garcia was heard saying in a video.
"Because they didn’t want to call you," Garcia's son, 33-year-old Jesus Gomez, replied.
"So, I am suppose to pick you up here. This is how they discharged my son from the hospital," Garcia was heard saying.
Garcia held back tears after she found Gomez laying half-naked on the ground outside Valleywise Health’s Maryvale campus.
"So, when I got to the park, I just turned on my phone and started recording," said Garcia.
On June 14, paramedics with the Phoenix Fire Department took Jesus to Valleywise, after he says he was having issues with his catheter. Garcia works as a caregiver to her son and others, so she was not able to go with him in the ambulance.
"A doctor came," said Jesus. "They looked at me, they wrote down my name, they wrote down all my information. They gave me a shot, and then they said ‘alright come on. Let’s go. Let's get out of here.'"
Jesus says as he was waiting, three security guards came up asking for his name, phone number and address. Jesus says he was in a lot of pain and felt dizzy. He also suffers from a brain injury, and was unable to remember that information. That’s when Jesus claims the three security guards started pushing his wheelchair out of the hospital.
"Just pushed me all the way across the street on the wheelchair, threw me off the wheelchair on the floor at the park. They walked away," said Jesus.
"They have that information when the paramedics left. They said we left everything. They should have all the information. They are supposed to call somebody else to put him on a gurney and take him back home, but they didn’t do that," said Garcia.
Garcia called 911, and the same paramedics picked him up and took him to a different hospital.
"I'm sorry that happened to you mam because I was the guy that was talking to you earlier," a firefighter was heard saying in the video.
Police paperwork provide additional details
Jesus Gomes and his mother, Cessie Garcia.
According to police paperwork we obtained, when officers and the fire captain questioned hospital staff, they claimed ‘Jesus refused treatment, got into a non-motorized wheelchair, and left the hospital alone.’
The paperwork also states that the wheelchair had a safety lever on the back, which is only deactivated by the person pushing the wheelchair from behind, making the ‘probability of Jesus operating the wheelchair alone highly unlikely,' let alone the fact that he is a quadriplegic.
Paperwork also shows that the wheelchair was nowhere to be seen, indicating that someone brought it back inside.
"I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything for myself," said Jesus.
While on the ground, Jesus suffered severe swelling and blistering from ants. Paramedics took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was admitted for six days and underwent surgery for his original catheter issue.
Hospital issues statement
In a statement, officials with Valleywise said:
"While we cannot discuss individual patient cases due to patient privacy rules (HIPAA), Valleywise Health remains committed to providing exceptional care, every patient, every time. In the event an issue arises that’s not in line with our mission, we take steps to improve outcomes for all patients and modify any policies or procedures to ensure safe and top quality care."
"He's vulnerable. Very vulnerable. "He can't fight back. Justice will prevail," said Garcia.
Phoenix Police are still investigating the alleged incident, and they said when they are done, they will hand it over to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for review. Police also said they have notified Adult Protective Services and the Arizona Department of Health.
Jesus' family said they will take the matter to court.