Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare has turned to the courts to remove a patient it says has refused to leave a hospital room despite a formal discharge order issued in October, according to a lawsuit filed in Tallahassee.
In the case, the hospital sought an injunction directing the patient to vacate Room 373, and it asked the court to authorize assistance from the county sheriff’s office if necessary. The hospital also said it has repeatedly tried to coordinate the patient’s departure with family members and offered transportation to help obtain identification.
In legal filings, the hospital argued that the patient’s continued occupancy blocks access to the bed for patients who need acute care. The lawsuit did not specify what medical treatment the patient received or what her hospital bill was, according to the AP account.
The lawsuit also described the timeline leading to the court request: the patient was admitted for medical treatment, clinicians later determined she no longer needed acute care services, and a formal discharge order was issued Oct. 6, the filing said.
Tallahassee Memorial’s attorneys and spokeswoman declined to comment on the dispute beyond the court filing itself. Rachel Givens, an attorney for the hospital, said the hospital had no comment, while spokeswoman Macy Layton said the hospital could not discuss active legal matters in response to emailed questions.
The lawsuit said the hospital offered efforts to arrange departure, including transportation to obtain necessary identification. But the AP reported that the lawsuit does not say how the patient remained at the hospital for more than five months after discharge, and that the patient has not been represented by an attorney.
The AP reported that no attorney was listed for the patient, who is representing herself, and that phone numbers listed for her in an online database were disconnected. The AP also reported that no one answered a call placed to the patient’s hospital room.
A key scheduled step in the case is an online court hearing at the end of the month. The lawsuit invokes federal obligations under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which applies to hospitals that receive Medicare funds and requires them to provide treatment that stabilizes anyone arriving to an emergency department with an emergency medical condition, including if the patient lacks insurance or ability to pay.
Federal guidance cited in the AP story explains that hospitals can discharge patients once clinicians determine that further care can be provided as an outpatient, provided the discharge instructions include a plan for appropriate follow-up care. How that federal framework interacts with a discharge dispute that moves into state court, including whether a court order is warranted to free a hospital bed, is expected to be addressed in the scheduled hearing.