Joseph Castillo suffered from cancer, dementia, diabetes and had a trachea tube in his throat. (Family Photo) |
LONG BEACH -- Family members are blaming a Long Beach hospital for the death of a cancer-stricken man who was found lying at the bottom of a freeway embankment less than two weeks after he was released from the facility during the early morning hours.
The body of 63-year-old Joseph Castillo was found shortly before 8:30 a.m. Friday at the bottom of an embankment alongside the San Diego (405) Freeway at the Long Beach (710) Freeway off-ramp.
Police said he appeared to have been dead for several days.
Castillo, who also suffered from dementia and diabetes, was reported missing by his family shortly after he was released from Pacific Hospital in Long Beach at 2 a.m. July 4.
Castillo's daughter, Anita Castillo, tells the Long Beach Press Telegram he had been taken there by ambulance July 3 after he collapsed near his home in Carson.
She says if the hospital would have called her upon his release he'd still be alive.
The hospital said in a statement that Castillo provided his full medical history during an examination in the emergency and continued to express desire to leave once the doctor was finished.
"With no justification for him to remain, he was allowed to leave," hospital spokeswoman Laura Salas told the Press-Telegram. "At the time he left our ER, he was noted to be alert, oriented, and ambulating with no difficulty."
Anita Castillo says her father was a Medi-Cal patient, which she believes contributed to his quick release from the hospital.
The body of 63-year-old Joseph Castillo was found shortly before 8:30 a.m. Friday at the bottom of an embankment alongside the San Diego (405) Freeway at the Long Beach (710) Freeway off-ramp.
Police said he appeared to have been dead for several days.
Castillo, who also suffered from dementia and diabetes, was reported missing by his family shortly after he was released from Pacific Hospital in Long Beach at 2 a.m. July 4.
Castillo's daughter, Anita Castillo, tells the Long Beach Press Telegram he had been taken there by ambulance July 3 after he collapsed near his home in Carson.
She says if the hospital would have called her upon his release he'd still be alive.
The hospital said in a statement that Castillo provided his full medical history during an examination in the emergency and continued to express desire to leave once the doctor was finished.
"With no justification for him to remain, he was allowed to leave," hospital spokeswoman Laura Salas told the Press-Telegram. "At the time he left our ER, he was noted to be alert, oriented, and ambulating with no difficulty."
Anita Castillo says her father was a Medi-Cal patient, which she believes contributed to his quick release from the hospital.
