Disturbing body camera footage shows the last moments of an Oregon man who overdoses at a hospital before a doctor, assuming he was “playing the possum,” turned him over to police and suggested he be taken to a bus stop before he later died.
Jean DesCamps, 26, was admitted to Providence Milwaukie Hospital on Dec. 12 after he was found covered in feces and moving slowly on the Portland TriMet MAX train.
He told police he was using drugs and in pain, so he was taken to the hospital, according to a Multnomah County Prosecutor’s Office review provided to The Post.
He was showered, given antibiotics for infections and given “a little bit” of Narcan for “mild opioid poisoning,” but the hospital did not appear to order a toxicology report or drug test for DesCamps, whom staff described to the police as a “chronic problem.”
Shortly after, doctors decided he was ready to be discharged.
Jean DesCamps, 26, died of an overdose after doctors at an Oregon hospital said she was faking it. KGW8
A hospital security guard asked police at 9:45 p.m. to remove DesCamps from the emergency department for “being difficult” and refusing to leave. When police arrived, they reported seeing him “moaning and drooling” and appearing incapacitated.
Images released by the Milwaukie Police Department show Descamp slumped in a hotel chair with scabs and sores covering his legs, the Daily Mail reported.
“There is no longer any medical reason for him to be here, and it’s all behavior,” a staff member can be heard telling officers, according to the clip.
An emergency department doctor said DesCamps was “playing the possum” and that “officers should just drop him off at a bus stop,” the prosecutor’s memo said.
DesCamps was drooling and appeared incapacitated when he was released from Providence Milwaukie Hospital.
When an officer suggested he might die, the doctor said he had been cleared and was faking his symptoms.
He had several warrants for criminal mischief and unauthorized use of a vehicle, but the Clackamas County Jail told police it would not accept DesCamps if he could not walk or care for himself.
Body camera footage shows two officers holding the man’s arms above his head while placing handcuffs on his limp wrists.
He is gently lifted and placed in a wheelchair, as the video shows.
“Are you comfortable with any of what’s going on right now?” an officer asks in the video as DesCamps is loaded into the car.
Police officers protested DesCamps’ discharge from the hospital in his state. KGW8
“No,” responds another.
They decided to take him to another hospital, Unity Behavioral Medical Center in Portland, calling and telling the center that DesCcamps was in “bad shape,” according to the prosecutor’s findings.
While waiting for staff to retrieve him outside the hospital, an officer asked if DesCamps was still breathing.
“When they were unable to confirm a pulse, officers immediately removed DesCamps from the vehicle, removed his handcuffs, and performed CPR until medics took over,” the district attorney’s office said.
He was pronounced dead at 11:31 p.m.
“I’ve been saying for years that it’s a matter of time before they refuse to provide care and force us to do something,” an officer tells an ambulance medic in the body camera footage.
“That guy doesn’t need to be dead right now. His mentality is, ‘Oh, he’s just another drug addict.’”
EMS told officers they did everything right and said they should call an ambulance for medical transport from a hospital if they were in a similar situation again with a similar patient.
An officer explains that Providence Hospital refused to readmit the man.
“I mean, he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t talk, he drools involuntarily and they’re like, ‘No, there’s nothing wrong with him,’” he says.
DesCamps later died after police transported him to another hospital. KGW8
The State Medical Examiner’s Office determined that DesCamps died of a drug overdose and natural causes.
The police officers were cleared of any wrongdoing related to his death, the district attorney’s office said.
“At no point in that footage does DesCamps respond in any meaningful way to what is happening around him,” the document reads. “The footage captures the officers’ concern and the hospital’s responses, and supports the conclusion that DesCamps was only placed on police hold and transported to Unity when it became clear that the hospital would not treat him further.”
The Post has reached out to DesCamps family attorney Amity Girt for comment.
Federal funding for Providence Milwaukie Hospital has been threatened as a result of the incident. KGW8
Providence said the body camera footage “is difficult to watch” and is conducting an internal review of the incident.
“We recognize that we have a lot of work to do to build better relationships with our first responders, especially the officers of the Milwaukie Police Department,” the facility told The Post in a statement.
“Police and emergency personnel have difficult, high-pressure jobs, and we are committed to doing more to make their way easier.”
The Oregon Health Authority notified Providence Milwaukie Hospital that it faced an “immediate jeopardy notice,” threatening its federal funding.
The hospital said it was addressing OHA’s concerns by “reinforcing our existing processes for caring for and discharging patients to our Providence Milwaukie caregivers.”
Providence confirmed that the emergency department doctors are not employees of Providence, but are contracted with Oregon Emergency Physicians.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn