Home Health Broward Health Hospice Contractor VITAS Denies Admission To Dying, Indigent Inmate

Broward Health Hospice Contractor VITAS Denies Admission To Dying, Indigent Inmate

dying
Publicity photo for VITAS Healthcare’s inpatient hospice unit at Broward Health North

A dying homeless man ordered released from jail Friday so he could be sent for hospice care at Broward Health was instead denied admission to hospice after he refused to sign a form, according to email obtained by FloridaBulldog.org.

Pablo Hernandez, a 65-year-old indigent suffering from terminal liver cancer, remained hospitalized in custody Monday in a secure, non-hospice facility. His lawyer said Broward County Jail officials said he likely will be returned to jail soon.

Refusing to sign the form wasn’t the only apparent reason Havana-born Hernandez was denied access to hospice. In an email copied to Hernandez’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Lorena Mastrarrigo, Broward Sheriff’s transportation Sgt. Carl Richardt said a nurse had informed him “the onsite hospice provider VITAS (Healthcare) refused him due to him being undocumented.”

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By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org, Special to SouthFloridaReporter.com, Mar. 15, 2016 

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