The family of a man who was found dead in a ditch near a freeway overpass is blaming a Long Beach hospital for his death. Joseph Castillo, 63, had apparently been dead for several days when his body was found near the 405 Freeway near the 710 Freeway off-ramp.
According to family, Castillo suffered from advanced cancer, dementia, and diabetes, and had a trachea tube in his throat when he was released from Pacific Hospital in Long Beach at 2:00 a.m. on the 4th of July. He had been taken there when he collapsed at home the day before. After spending several hours in the hospital, he was released from the hospital, where it appears he just walked away.
When Castillo didn’t return home, the hospital called the police to report him missing. Castillo’s daughter said her family was unaware that her father was going to be released from the hospital, and expected that she, or someone else from her family, would have received a call to take the dementia suffering Castillo home. She believes her father was released prematurely because he was a Medi-Cal patient, and that he would be alive today had the family been contacted.
Source: KTLA.com
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