Man died of overdose after hospital staff dismissed his symptoms as faking and discharged him, bodycam footage shows

On a December night in 2023, staff at Providence Milwaukie Hospital in Milwaukie, Oregon, called police to help remove Jean Descamps, a 26-year-old man who had arrived by ambulance earlier that day. Body camera footage released by the Milwaukie Police Department showed Descamps lying limp in a hospital bed, moaning and drooling. Hospital staff had administered naloxone after his arrival, but told police he no longer had a medical reason to remain: "It's not really a medical problem, it's malingering," one staffer said.

Officers on scene raised objections. "He can't be on his own," one officer said. "Why is he being released? We have no place to take him." A hospital worker suggested a bus station would be acceptable. Officers ultimately complied, rolling Descamps in a wheelchair into the parking lot and covering him with a blanket. Police transported him toward an emergency behavioral health center in Portland. During the ride, officers grew alarmed at his condition. Descamps was pronounced dead from street drugs already in his system. A local prosecutor's investigation found the hospital had not conducted a toxicology test before discharging him.

Providence Milwaukie Hospital subsequently expressed regret, stating, "In this case, we fell short of our goal of providing safe, reliable, compassionate care to our patient." A follow-up investigation by the Oregon Health Authority, made public in February 2024, found the facility was still discharging vulnerable patients without proper safeguards and warned of the "possibility that a similar event could occur." Oregon officials later said the facility is no longer under scrutiny. The hospital and its staff faced no recorded disciplinary action or sanction.