Los Angeles -- Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was accused of stonewalling prosecutors' investigation Wednesday into a Febuary 8, 2007, incident in which witnesses saw a 41-year-old paraplegic man crawling on the street after being dropped off by a hospital contracted van. Hospital officials denied the allegations.

Hospital officials reportedly refused City Attorney's Office requests for the patient's medical records accompanied by a signed patient authorization for release of the information. Hospital lawyers are quoted by media as questioning the validity of the document and being concerned about the patient's privacy. Prosecutors stated that the release was signed in the presence of City Attorney's personnel and questioned the motives of the hospital.

"It is never a good idea to put your lawyer up-front in an EMTALA case...the appearance of obstructionism can make CMS very demanding in plans of correction." -- Stephen A. Frew

City officials are looking into possible EMTALA violations in the release or transfer of a medically unstable patient.

In 2005, the hospital was charged with dumping a patient in the skid-row area while unable to walk and strapped to a guerny. Medlaw.com reported a Kaiser facility was charged with skid-row dumping in November 2006. Media reports have not mentioned disposition on the prior cases.

EMTALA violations carry potential penalties of termination from Medicare (a potential financial death sentence for most hospitals) or citation and fines of up to $50,000 per incident, plus California state penalties