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https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/13/health/mayo-clinic-escape-1-eprise/index.html
Now, this entire story (in two parts) is from mostly the Family's perspective, so it may be slanted, but this sounds crazy.
As someone who's spent their fair share in hospitals being an advocate for a family member, I'm not shocked the family felt like they had to speak up to get things done. It's common. I think too many patients are alone, and unable to get good care, because of the snap shots of time you get to have with the doctor (sometimes not even awake!). Nurses can only do what they're ordered to do. We had a medication that my wife was supposed to get every 4 hours. But, the nurses couldn't even get her medication to her within 6 hours. They just didn't have the staff to follow the doctor's orders. It's stupid. So, why write the order that way?!?!?! I've had to complain to get medications changed, to get a status on where we are with testing? We spent at least one extra day in the hospital, just because the doctors found a result, we could have easily explained, but no, they ran a confirmation test to realize it wasn't an issue, when we could have just told them that ahead of time. I finally had to complain to talk to whatever doctor was in charge about what's going on,what's the plan, what are they still trying to figure out? When you can't answer the basic question, "why am I here and what are we trying to figure out?" then you have a big problem.
It's akin to "we need to make sure you're not pregnant before we allow you to get an X-ray". "I don't have a uterus.. and I told the nurse and doctor that". "oh, nevermind, let's get that x-ray".
Hospitals get so bogged down in protocol that they often forget to just listen to the patient. I"m sure many lie too, or are confused, but I've experienced it enough times, that if you don't have a healthy patient advocate, you're going to be less comfortable, or even potentially miserable.
Sherburn, Minnesota (CNN)In a jaw-dropping moment caught on video, an 18-year-old high school senior rushes to escape from the hospital that saved her life and then, she says, held her captive.
At the entrance to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, the young woman's stepfather helps her out of a wheelchair and into the family car.
Staff members come running toward him, yelling "No! No!" One of them grabs the young woman's arm.
"Get your hands off my daughter!" her stepfather yells.
The car speeds away, the stepfather and the patient inside, her mother at the wheel.
Mayo security calls 911.
"We have had a patient abduction," the security officer tells police, according to a transcript of the call.
'A cautionary tale'
The patient's name is Alyssa Gilderhus.
She and her family say she wasn't abducted from the Mayo Clinic in February 2017; rather, she escaped. They say the hospital was keeping her there against her will -- that Mayo "medically kidnapped" her.
Unhappy with the care she was receiving at Mayo, they say, they repeatedly asked for her to be transferred to another hospital. They say Mayo refused.
According to police, Mayo officials had a different plan for Alyssa: They had asked the county for assistance in "gaining guardianship of Alyssa," who was an adult.
Now, this entire story (in two parts) is from mostly the Family's perspective, so it may be slanted, but this sounds crazy.
As someone who's spent their fair share in hospitals being an advocate for a family member, I'm not shocked the family felt like they had to speak up to get things done. It's common. I think too many patients are alone, and unable to get good care, because of the snap shots of time you get to have with the doctor (sometimes not even awake!). Nurses can only do what they're ordered to do. We had a medication that my wife was supposed to get every 4 hours. But, the nurses couldn't even get her medication to her within 6 hours. They just didn't have the staff to follow the doctor's orders. It's stupid. So, why write the order that way?!?!?! I've had to complain to get medications changed, to get a status on where we are with testing? We spent at least one extra day in the hospital, just because the doctors found a result, we could have easily explained, but no, they ran a confirmation test to realize it wasn't an issue, when we could have just told them that ahead of time. I finally had to complain to talk to whatever doctor was in charge about what's going on,what's the plan, what are they still trying to figure out? When you can't answer the basic question, "why am I here and what are we trying to figure out?" then you have a big problem.
It's akin to "we need to make sure you're not pregnant before we allow you to get an X-ray". "I don't have a uterus.. and I told the nurse and doctor that". "oh, nevermind, let's get that x-ray".
Hospitals get so bogged down in protocol that they often forget to just listen to the patient. I"m sure many lie too, or are confused, but I've experienced it enough times, that if you don't have a healthy patient advocate, you're going to be less comfortable, or even potentially miserable.