Can you take a coma patient home?

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Can you take a coma patient home?

    If you had a son or daughter in a coma at a hospital and you believed they were being mistreated could you refuse care, check them out and take them home?

    Do you have that right? Would you be able to just have a personal physician come by the house and set everything up and periodically come by and do checks on them?

    I have a character who sees some foul play going on and is paranoid he and his son is being hunted by the government. He wants to take his son home and care for him himself.
    One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

    The Fiction Story Room

  • #2
    Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

    Yes, you can. People do.
    "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

      A possible complication to add is that adult/child protective services becomes involved because of a complaint from the hospital and asks a judge to sign an emergency or non-emergency physical custody order.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

        Originally posted by jmpowell7 View Post
        A possible complication to add is that adult/child protective services becomes involved because of a complaint from the hospital and asks a judge to sign an emergency or non-emergency physical custody order.
        They can do this even if there are other doctors ready and willing to take over care, even if those doctors are at another hospital where the child would be taken to rather than the child being taken home.
        "You have idea 1, you're excited. It flops. You have idea 99, you're excited. It flops.
        Only a fool is excited by the 100th idea. Fools keep trying. God rewards fools." --Martin Hellman, paraphrased

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

          Interesting...so if the parent tried to escape child custody with his kid is he looking at jail time or prison for kidnapping his own kid if they wanted to be jerks about it?
          One must be fearless and tenacious when pursuing their dreams. If you don't, regret will be your reward.

          The Fiction Story Room

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

            According to the final episode of Dexter, you just need to take them on a boat and sail into a huge storm... then no-one will notice them even missing.
            Check out my blog:
            Rookie Australian Screenwriter

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

              Originally posted by Juno Styles View Post
              Interesting...so if the parent tried to escape child custody with his kid is he looking at jail time or prison for kidnapping his own kid if they wanted to be jerks about it?
              Any punitive measures against a parent are in most cases used to obtain physical custody of the child and not to punish the parent afterwards, although it could happen if someone wanted to make a point. For an example of how a judge might become involved in such a situation, although it was not a fight over a child, look at the final days of Casey Kasem.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Can you take a coma patient home?

                More food for thought.

                In reality, much of this also depends on the state of the coma. If it's the initial stages after whatever caused the coma, where they aren't sure of the prognosis yet, and they are giving medical treatment to try to keep them alive, and heal them, and there's hope they will come out of it, and if it's a minor, or there's no medical directive, then you would definitely have trouble trying to just take them out of the hospital and taking them home before they are ready, nor would you ever want to.

                But if the coma patient has reached a milestone, 6 months to a year, maybe, depending, and is still in a vegetative or unconscious state, and doctors have no real hope of recovery, but the family does not want to remove oxygen, if they even need it, or sustenance, and let them pass, then the hospital will usually move them to a medical facility that houses coma patients, if they haven't already. So at that point, some people will just move their loved one home to care for them, or possibly to let them die at home, instead. The hospital won't care if you take them at that point, but I would suppose there must be some type of authority to check on the patient and make sure they are not being abused, if they aren't facilitating death. And I imagine different states have different laws, especially when it comes to children.

                Obviously, you can manipulate matters any way you want to, to fit your story needs, although you don't want to strain incredulity to the point where the audience balks. And if the government and the hospital were in cahoots on some nefarious plan, then they can do anything they want anyway, but that would not be the case in real life. And if the evil government wanted the patient, they can get to them at home, too. If you are talking about a secret kidnapping to an unknown location, then the laws don't matter.

                You can always google the facts and various stories about people taking loved ones home. I've always been interested in the subject of comas, partly for stories, but also because it's fascinating.
                "The Hollywood film business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." Hunter S Thompson

                Comment


                • #9
                  Hospitals, Medical Centers, assisted living centers.....

                  I've worked in a few medical centers & assisted living centers over the years.
                  From what I know, you can leave AMA or against medical advice. If the person is under a power of atty/advance directives they could be moved.

                  Most hospitals & medical centers honestly don't care if a patient leaves, they want turn-over & need to get the room(s). I'm not saying many medical professionals don't want to help or are apathetic but many people need medical care & it frees up space/time.

                  Beef
                  I'd rather get bank credit, than screen credit.

                  Comment

                  Working...
                  X