Woman discharged in only gown, socks

BALTIMORE — The man who said he came to the aid of a woman discharged from a Baltimore hospital wearing only a gown and socks on a cold winter’s night says he was left outraged and stunned at how she was treated.

Imamu Baraka, identified in local reports as the person who sought to help the woman, said he was so angry he decided to record Tuesday night’s events on cellphone video, fearing no one would believe him if he reported a woman being left at a bus stop like that.

“I saw the unthinkable: another human in a wheelchair being wheeled out in the dead of cold,” he said Thursday evening.

He described frigid temperatures and a cold wind blowing at the woman’s hospital gown, exposing her to the elements. Baraka, who said he has a psychotherapy practice in a building across the street from the Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, said he rushed back to his office, retrieved his cellphone, returned and hit record while growing increasingly angry. As a medical professional, the psychotherapist said he sought to keep his emotions in check even as he repeatedly challenged those who had wheeled the woman out to the street in the dark.

“At first I was shocked. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And I move beyond that to the next level from being shocked. I became ... irritated and fearful for the young lady. And then I became angry,” he recalled.

Dr. Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of University of Maryland Medical Center Midtown Campus, told a news conference on Thursday afternoon that the hospital had “failed” after the video posted on Facebook showed the unidentified woman mumbling and appearing disoriented in frigid weather outside. Suntha also said there were no excuses for what happened to the woman.