Judge: Grady dialysis lawsuit will be dismissed
A Fulton County Superior Court judge said Tuesday he will dismiss the lawsuit by patients trying to force Grady Memorial Hospital to reopen its outpatient dialysis clinic, according to a lawyer in the case.
Judge Ural Glanville granted the hospital's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, said Grady attorney Bernard Taylor.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of about 50 patients who are needy illegal immigrants. For many, Grady was their only option to receive the free care, since they don't qualify for government aid.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported preliminary plans to close the Grady dialysis clinic in May.
The patients and advocates said the closing of the clinic violated their constitutional right to the health care service. The patients also asserted that the closure represented medical abandonment.
But the judge agreed with the hospital that these patients did not have either a state or federal constitutional right to outpatient dialysis service, and that Grady was not legally bound to provide it.
Taylor said that the hospital did not abandon the patients because it provided ample notice of the impending closure. The hospital began notifying the patients in August and closed the clinic in early October.
Grady officials, struggling to save money at the financially strapped medical center, said the clinic was losing upwards of $4 million a year.
Patient Ignacio Lopez said he felt "very badly" about the judge's decision. The clinic was "the only way for us to live."
Grady is paying for care for the patients at a private dialysis clinic. The hospital's agreement with the patients ends that care on Jan. 3. Grady's contract with the private clinic allows for the care of patients until September.
After Jan. 3, the extension of care at the clinic will be decided on a "case-by-case" basis, said Grady spokesman Matt Gove.
The advocate group that filed the lawsuit said it will appeal the decision.
Dorothy Leone-Glasser, head of the Grady Advocates for Responsible Care, said the group wants the courts to at least order Grady to pay for all the patients to receive care until September.
Glasser said she realizes that some people don't believe the patients are entitled to such care because they are illegal immigrants.
"They are human beings, and we all have the right to live," she said. "These people are going to die without this."
Grady has helped relocate several back to their home countries and to other states that provide such care for illegal immigrants.
Gove, the Grady spokesman, said three of the clinic patients have died since the clinic closed. Two had moved to Mexico and one remained here in metro Atlanta. None of them died because they could not receive dialysis, he said.
