# Can I leave a hospital whenever I want? Seriously. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161 "2010-07-09T22:46:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![T-1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@T-1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T-1000)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/21 "2010-07-10T03:23:58Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > True, but not having an advanced degree does not necessarily mean you are a smart person either. Also true. I do have a fairly advanced degree, and also know people with better degrees than mine that are just useless. ---
**Author:** ![T-1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@T-1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T-1000)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/22 "2010-07-10T03:27:15Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Haven’t you seen the innumerable TV shows that portray someone waking up in a hospital, angrily tearing out tubes, and storming out? Also true. Just wanted to make sure I could do that too. Hopefully machines around me will also go crazy, “Booooooooooppppppppp BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP ALERT.” ---
**Author:** ![T-1000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@T-1000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T-1000)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/23 "2010-07-10T03:28:49Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Yeah, and I used to watch a TV show with a talking horse. > > mmm Horses talk to me all the time. You’ve never seen a talking horse? Guess you’re not very well traveled, you obviously haven’t been to Narnia. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/24 "2010-07-10T05:22:13Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I would say that if you can get up and wander around the floor, you probably don’t need to be in the hospital. > [@zagloba](#): > > This bit isn’t true. For example, I was kept in the hospital for three days following surgery while they got the infection under control and made sure all my systems restarted correctly. During this time the doctor ordered my to get up and walk around the floor. I was in the hospital for nine miserable weeks at the end of my last pregnancy and I was physically able to get up and wander around the floor. I certainly wasn’t encouraged to do so, because I was on “modified bed rest” - allowed to sit in a chair, get up to go to the bathroom or get dressed, but not supposed to stand for longer than it took to take a shower. (I was hospitalized because I had placenta previa and was on blood thinners, a combination that makes OBs blanch. I never hemorrhaged, but it was always a threat.) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/25 "2010-07-10T05:36:56Z")
> [@T-1000](#): > > Cool. Thanks y’all. > > I just see TV shows all the time that portray doctors as the final answer, and holding absolute authority. I’ve seen a lot of TV shows where the patients just leaves and the TV character has to sign an “against medical advice” waiver. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/26 "2010-07-10T06:06:08Z")
> [@mittu](#): > > You can discharge yourself from hospital at any time. The hospital will get you to sign a waiver stating that you are leaving of your own free will and that you are aware that you are doing this against medical advice. In other words, if you die as a result the hospital cannot be held accountable. Are waivers actually useful if push came to shove and you tried to sue the hospital? Also, I assume they can’t actually _make_ you sign the waiver - but it is hard to imagine that refusing to do so suddenly puts all the liability on the hospital, especially if they are on record as strongly advising against leaving. I guess its just another piece of evidence if they need to show you ignored their advice? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/27 "2010-07-10T06:50:28Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > Haven’t you seen the innumerable TV shows that portray someone waking up in a hospital, angrily tearing out tubes, and storming out? Well, I haven’t seen it on TV, but I’ve seen it at a local [famous] hospital. A guy with a seriously bloodied and mashed up face in a hospital gown started walking out the front door. A number of security guys tried to argue with him, and kept repeating “once you’re out, you can’t come back…” He said fine and left anyway. Of course, storming out of a locked psych ward is a little different. Plus you sign a zillion forms anyway allowing yourself to not be allowed to leave (sorry about the grammar). ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/28 "2010-07-10T11:29:54Z")
> [@T-1000](#): > > I have a serious question. I’ve thought about this a few times lately. > > Let’s say I get in a serious accident, and wake up in the hospital. I wake up, I feel OK, and I sit up. > > There appears to be nothing wrong with me, based on a visual inspection and moving around some. > > Can I pull out whatever IV’s, get up, and leave? Can a hospital legally make you stay? > > I think the “fact” that you have to wear medical gowns, and that you “have” to stay in a hospital (or in your room) is bullshit, and probably illegal. I don’t see why or how doctors can have such dominion over people, even with their education. > > Especially because as many of you know, an advanced degree _does not_ mean you are necessarily a smart person. > > Also, this is my first post. Hi. 🙂 In the United States, in general, consent for treatment is required before treatment can be given. For mentally incompetent patients with no guardian or pre-existing paper documentation present, consent for treatment is implied, and treatment is rendered against a standard of due care to protect the health of a patient. Such situations would include a comatose trauma patient, an acutely agitated person possibly under the influence of drugs or disease, and so on. A mentally competent patient can withdraw permission for treatment at any time. When treatment is refused, hospitals and physicians try to document competence (or lack of it), along with explanations for the rationale of treatment. In general, if the treatment is considered to be vital for the patient’s safety, the patient will be asked to sign a waiver of responsibility if he is refusing treatment against medical advice. An AMA waiver should include documentation of mental competence. Payors may have contractual statements permitting them to refuse payment if a patient does not follow medical advice, but in practice insurance companies do not refuse to pay simply because a patient has electively refused care. See [here.](http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(09)01798-3/fulltext) This makes sense since an insurance payor has little interest in demanding the patient spend more money. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/29 "2010-07-10T12:04:50Z")
You’re a T-1000. Of course you can leave a hospital whenever you want. Just slip under the door, or imitate a janitor. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/30 "2010-07-10T14:29:53Z")
Add me to the list of people wondering: What if you refuse to sign the AMA? (It’s not the doctors drawing the blood for tests, e.g., this happened to me the last time they -tried- to draw my blood. It’s them running the tests that’s so stupid, as on _House_. Doctors are not MTs. And interns make lousy phlebotomists.) ---
**Author:** ![BigBertha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@BigBertha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBertha)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/31 "2010-07-10T16:34:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I knew a guy that did this. He had collapsed due to chest pains and was taken to a local hospital by ambulance. When he got there he recovered enough that he was conscious and told the ER staff he felt better and wanted to leave. They tried to convince him this was a really bad idea as he might have just had a heart attack or something. But he’s a stubborn idiot and he insisted. So they had him sign a waiver that he was leaving against medical advice and let him go. WELL? Did he live? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/32 "2010-07-10T16:38:35Z")
When I was medical laboratory technologist (the people in the hospitals who actually draw the blood for lab tests and run those tests), we were told that if anyone indicated they did not want their blood drawn, we were to withdraw immediately. The doctor would be notified, and it was up to him to convince the patient that the tests were necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Pedant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@Chief\_Pedant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Pedant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/33 "2010-07-10T16:49:05Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Add me to the list of people wondering: What if you refuse to sign the AMA? > > (It’s not the doctors drawing the blood for tests, e.g., this happened to me the last time they -tried- to draw my blood. It’s them running the tests that’s so stupid, as on _House_. Doctors are not MTs. And interns make lousy phlebotomists.) Nothing, really… A patient is not able to be dragooned into signing an AMA, obviously (except psychologically, perhaps, or by incorrect threat such as implying a third-party payor will not take care of the bill). So all that happens is that the medical-side record reflects this refusal to sign. Normally AMA forms are witnessed by fellow-providers, and particularly so if the patient refuses to sign. Implied threat of, or actual physical restraint, of a mentally competent patient leaving a healthcare facility would be criminal assault and battery, respectively, and never worth it to the healthcare facility. It’s actually usually in the patient’s best interest to sign a form and possibly add any of their own comments as to why. Otherwise the entire record is created only by the side unilaterally documenting an uncooperative patient. A polite but firm refusal for care is the best approach and will not likely be contested by the caregivers, except to point out their view of the patient’s best interest. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/34 "2010-07-10T17:00:59Z")
> [@](#): > > WELL? Did he live? He lived. And as far as I know he’s still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/35 "2010-07-10T17:05:55Z")
IANAL but I think the value of a signed waiver is mostly as evidence. The presense of a waiver won’t prevent a lawsuit and the absense of a waiver won’t guarantee a successful lawsuit. But a signed waiver is going to be an important piece of evidence. It’s going to make it a lot harder for the patient (or his family is he dies) to claim that the hospital failed to make it clear that he needed treatment. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/36 "2010-07-10T22:49:30Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > When I was medical laboratory technologist (the people in the hospitals who actually draw the blood for lab tests and run those tests), we were told that if anyone indicated they did not want their blood drawn, we were to withdraw immediately. The doctor would be notified, and it was up to him to convince the patient that the tests were necessary. I _do_ wish more people realized this! When my mother was in the final year of her life (and we knew it was the final year; lung cancer, y’know), she kept having minor heart attacks. Every time she had one, the doctor would order a blood gas test. My mother hated them passionately. They were painful. I kept telling her “Mom, tell them “NO”. They _cannot_ force you to have a test you refuse, and it’s not going to help you any to have the test! It only helps them fill in the blank in a form.” But she just wouldn’t do it. She was conditioned to believe that what a doctor said was canon, and should not be argued with. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/37 "2010-07-11T01:21:15Z")
I’ve only had 2 patients leave AMA. So far! One came in through the ER because according to his family, he hadn’t pooped in 4 days. He had multiple serious health issues, and was dying slowly. After I got the ordered enema done and he pooped, his family wanted to take him home. The hospitalist disagreed strenuously, but the family prevailed. They physically picked Dad up, put him in a wheelchair and headed for the door. I was trotting alongside with the papers, looking like a fool,and trying to give him discharge instructions and they were studiously ignoring me. They never did sign, but several co-workers wrote up the incident as witnesses. I saw his obituary about 6 weeks later. I understood how the family felt, I just had my job responsibilty to try to get them to sign. The second one was just angry. He was getting dialysis for the first time, and it did not set well with him. He bullied me because I was a new nurse and he sensed weakness and inexperience. Everything I did was wrong. Everything about the hospital was wrong. Things came to a head one evening, and to appease him, he was changed to a different room with a “more comfortable mattress.” The next morning he left AMA, but he did sign the papers. He went home. The next morning, a few minutes before his daughter was to pick him up to take him to outpatient dialysis he shot himself in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/38 "2010-07-11T13:12:31Z")
Adding a question along the lines of the OP: Is it true that hospitals roll you out in a wheelchair when you are discharged? If so, suppose you refuse to do that and demand to walk out? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/39 "2010-07-11T17:25:31Z")
Yes, they wheel you to the door in a wheelchair. I’m told it’s so you don’t fall and hurt yourself on the way out or something along those lines. My husband has, on one occasion, insisted upon walking out the door (he has issues with wheelchairs and being denied walking privileges). So he walked down the hallway holding onto the wheelchair his escort was pushing, with his personal stuff sitting in the seat. I don’t know how he swung that, but then, he’s spent a LOT of time in hospitals and knows how to work the system. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/40 "2010-07-11T18:16:34Z")
> [@norinew](#): > > I _do_ wish more people realized this! When my mother was in the final year of her life (and we knew it was the final year; lung cancer, y’know), she kept having minor heart attacks. Every time she had one, the doctor would order a blood gas test. My mother hated them passionately. They were painful. I kept telling her “Mom, tell them “NO”. They _cannot_ force you to have a test you refuse, and it’s not going to help you any to have the test! It only helps them fill in the blank in a form.” But she just wouldn’t do it. She was conditioned to believe that what a doctor said was canon, and should not be argued with. :rolleyes: Well, we weren’t supposed to go broadcasting it up and down the hallways. 🙂 I think this is a case where it is very important to have some responsibility for your own health - as a former lab tech, I _know_ there were times when the doctors just ordered the easy or obvious things without concern for the patient’s particular case (tests ordered on obviously dying older people are a great example - there are A LOT of cover-your-ass tests ordered on old people, and for them to just tell us to get lost and quit taking blood was fine by us, too - taking blood from a desperately sick old lady with huge bruises up and down her arms made US want to refuse and just leave her alone, but the doctor’s orders are the doctor’s orders). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161.md?page=3)