# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Prosecrafter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@Prosecrafter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prosecrafter)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/81 "2013-01-03T18:43:45Z")
What happens if a minor escapes from a hospital AMA? Can they be forcibly brought back? I’m writing a book about a person in a clinic/hospital setting. She is a minor and her parents won’t sign a waiver, so she decides to escape. What are the legal ramifications? ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/82 "2013-01-03T20:11:46Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Then all the medicals left and a nice, soft-spoken, neatly groomed young man siddled up to the bed and asked “Is there anyone you want present?” I responded that competant medical staff would be nice. \ I’ll have to remember that line. 😃 I have been having a fair amount of my medical care done at Yale-New Haven Hospital over the last 5 years, so I actually have a fair acquaintance with some of the staff there and most of them would appreciate that type of humor from a patient. Never gone AMA from there yet, but I had done it a couple times from the ER at Backus in Norwich. The nursing staff are just fine, but a couple of the ER docs have cranio-rectal inversion pretty badly. [you know, there is a _reason_ I carry an [epi-pen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epinephrine_autoinjector). If I use it, I have a reason, it isn’t like some sort of abusable drug, I can’t think of anything it does to me other than save my life that I find an enjoyable ‘ride’.] I don’t do ERs as drug seeking behavior, I already _have_ the good drugs at home. I really don’t need more, I have enough, thanks.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![April\_R](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@April\_R](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/April_R)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/83 "2013-01-03T20:24:10Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > 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.) Can you go to this thread and answer the question about medically prescribed bed rest? Thanks! > **[When pregnant women are instructed to stay in the hospital for weeks, who...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677655)** > > Someone else just mentioned it in another thread, and I also remember my sister-in-law had to spend the last month of her pregnancy in the hospital on bed rest. That’s got to add up to a lot of money. Does insurance pay for that? Or does the poor... ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/84 "2013-01-03T21:00:35Z")
> [@April\_R](#): > > Can you go to this thread and answer the question about medically prescribed bed rest? > Thanks! > [When pregnant women are instructed to stay in the hospital for weeks, who pays for that? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=677655) You may want to PM her since that post was made 2 yr ago. ---
**Author:** ![yiyayiya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/49beb7/32.png) [@yiyayiya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yiyayiya)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/85 "2013-01-21T14:38:45Z")
You do not “Have” to do anything that you dont want to, despite these medical professionals, trying to make you think that you do. You say what happens to you, noone else. If you wish to leave, you leave. You dont even have to sign the released against medical advice form, there is nothing they can do to stop you. If they do make sure you take them to court for false imprisonment and battery. ---
**Author:** ![yiyayiya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/49beb7/32.png) [@yiyayiya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yiyayiya)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/86 "2013-01-21T14:41:18Z")
further to previous response, same thing applies with tests etc. You dont want them, just refuse, there is nothing they can do about it, unless they want to be sued and lose their licence. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/87 "2013-01-21T15:00:48Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I don’t think that’s always true. > > I know a guy who was in the hospital and was ready to be checked out - his doctor had told him he could leave that day. Problem was that his doctor was in surgery all the next day and couldn’t sign the papers, so the hospital wouldn’t release him. > > In theory he could have just gotten dressed and walked out, as people here suggest. . I’ve done it in similar circumstances, but it was a public hospital(tax payer supported) so there was no billing details to worry about. I had been brought in because of a severe asthma attack, then stayed overnight in what I found out was the seizure ward. The head nurse asked why I was there :dubious: Good question and the doctors had not left any instructions on asthma, the nurse took a risk giving me a nebulizer treatment overnight instead of making me go back down to the ER. For whatever reason the doctors were convinced I had a seizure, not an asthma attack. Had asthma my whole life, it was an asthma attack(my fault for trying to go without my meds). Just seemed like a waste of time. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/88 "2013-01-21T15:54:58Z")
> [@Prosecrafter](#): > > What happens if a minor escapes from a hospital AMA? Can they be forcibly brought back? I’m writing a book about a person in a clinic/hospital setting. She is a minor and her parents won’t sign a waiver, so she decides to escape. What are the legal ramifications? In my experience as a minor attempting to leave a hospital AMA, I didn’t make it out the door before I was forcibly restrained. I was placed in a locked room and treatment continued despite my objections. I did not like the big-black-box-major-warning-type side effects of medication I was experiencing. I’m still not a fan of chest pain and a racing heart rate. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2013, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/89 "2013-01-21T16:06:42Z")
You MAY leave at any time. Whether or not you CAN is another question, dependent on your condition. ---
**Author:** ![yiyayiya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/49beb7/32.png) [@yiyayiya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yiyayiya)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/90 "2013-02-11T23:19:12Z")
The recurrent theme here is that noone can tell you what to do at any time. You, and you alone decide what happens to you (assuming mental competency). I have been to the doctor and hospital on numerous occassions and have said exactly what treatment / procedures that I will accept and which I wont and there is not a damn thing they can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/91 "2013-02-12T00:04:31Z")
Speaking from the insurance side of things, there is a two digit code to report what the status of the patient is at the time of the billing (01=routine discharge, 20=dead, 30=still here, etc) and left AMA medical advice is an option, but my commercial insurance couldn’t care less what the code is except in certain rare situations where contract benefits depend on how long a stay is. Also, there’s about 200 codes we can use explaining why we denied a claim, and there’s not one for “patient left AMA”. If Medicare does deny a claim for leaving against AMA the would have to use a very generic, nonspecific code like “96” (noncovered charges). " ---
**Author:** ![gerund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@gerund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gerund)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/92 "2013-02-12T00:53:54Z")
> [@Mdcastle](#): > > Speaking from the insurance side of things, there is a two digit code to report what the status of the patient is at the time of the billing (01=routine discharge, 20=dead, 30=still here, etc) and left AMA medical advice is an option, but my commercial insurance couldn’t care less what the code is except in certain rare situations where contract benefits depend on how long a stay is. Also, there’s about 200 codes we can use explaining why we denied a claim, and there’s not one for “patient left AMA”. If Medicare does deny a claim for leaving against AMA the would have to use a very generic, nonspecific code like “96” (noncovered charges). > > " If deemed to lack capacity, one cannot leave the hospital AMA (Against Medical Advice). There are certain criteria for capacity that a physician uses in assessing for this (eg, ability to state a desired course of treatment, rationally manipulate the info. presented and an ability to assess risks of not obtaining treatment, etc.). Any physician can determine a patient to have/ lack capacity, but most doctors will defer this decision to a psychiatrist, who is specially trained in such assessments. ---
**Author:** ![steviep24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@steviep24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steviep24)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/93 "2013-02-12T01:40:15Z")
Zombies may leave the hospital anytime they want. ---
**Author:** ![yiyayiya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/49beb7/32.png) [@yiyayiya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yiyayiya)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/94 "2013-07-11T14:58:56Z")
Apparently not. The hospital routinely drew blood every morning. Seems like it was some sort of general policy. (This was Mt. Sinai in NY.) One thing that was striking about being in a hospital was the sheer number of people who had their hands on you, and they weren’t all coordinated with each other. The guy I placed my trust in was my doctor, who had admitting privileges at the hospital, but the hospital itself had their own people - residents and such - who would show up and do their own thing. Plus they had general doctors, specialists, pain specialists, nutritionists and so on. Not all these people had a clear idea of what the rest were doing. Hospital policy means nothing. They cannot perform any action on anyone without their consent. Numerous times I have refused to have the canicula thing in my arm and various other treatments. Also, just refuse to see other doctors or have anyone else “examine you”. You are in charge of what happens to your body - not them. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/95 "2013-07-11T15:08:40Z")
I haven’t read the other responses so please excuse me for probably repeating them. For the most part you can get up an leave AMA (Against Medical Advice). This will almost certainly mean that your insurance won’t pay for the visit. It also could have repercussions if you need future treatment from the same accident. Also if the accident wasn’t your fault, you may have trouble suing for proper damages if you walked out of hospital without full treatment. There are exceptions. 1. If the accident was due to something like your drunk driving, you may be under arrest by the police. Then you can’t leave. However this is more of a legal than medical issue. 2. If the accident was due to trying to commit suicide, then you may be detained at the hospital until your mental status has been clarified by mental health professionals. ---
**Author:** ![LMarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@LMarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LMarie)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/96 "2013-07-11T16:35:31Z")
Yes, I know a woman who did so just last Friday. She’s a retired registered nurse who filled out an AMA (Against Medical Advice) form prior to leaving. After trying everything to convince her to stay, one nurse on duty tried to delay her by stating they were required to wait for her doctor’s return phone call before releasing her. She flat out told them that with 40 years of nursing under her belt, she knew better. They backed down and had the valet bring her car to her (which was the only reason she was waiting around after signing the form anyway). Someone who didn’t know any better may have been talked into staying. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/97 "2013-07-11T23:49:32Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#): > > I haven’t read the other responses so please excuse me for probably repeating them. > > For the most part you can get up an leave AMA (Against Medical Advice). This will almost certainly mean that your insurance won’t pay for the visit… No it doesn’t. Your insurance company doesn’t care as long as the care you did receive was covered under your policy, and the appropriate preauthorization (or retroactive authorization if it was an emergency) was obtained. Like Mdcastle said they’d only deny the claim if the hospital billing department botched up the claim form. I’ll grant you that if your employer self-insures they can (subject to federal regulations) cover or exclude whatever they want and right all kinds of crazy stuff into the plan, especially if it’s a religious organization. ---
**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 12, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/98 "2013-07-12T01:25:29Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#): > > If the accident was due to something like your drunk driving, you may be under arrest by the police. Then you can’t leave. However this is more of a legal than medical issue. No, I ran into this situation once. The hospital staff told me they’re not a law enforcement agency and they don’t perform citizen’s arrests and hold people in custody. If there’s somebody who broke a law it’s up to the police or some other law enforcement agency to arrest them. Otherwise the suspect can walk leave like any other patient. Now if the police show up at the hospital and arrest you, it’s a somewhat different situation. You can still leave the hospital if you choose but you’ll still be in police custody when you do so. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/99 "2013-07-12T01:55:26Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > No it doesn’t. Your insurance company doesn’t care as long as the care you did receive was covered under your policy, and the appropriate preauthorization (or retroactive authorization if it was an emergency) was obtained. Like Mdcastle said they’d only deny the claim if the hospital billing department botched up the claim form. I’ll grant you that if your employer self-insures they can (subject to federal regulations) cover or exclude whatever they want and right all kinds of crazy stuff into the plan, especially if it’s a religious organization. If insurance benefits could be conditioned on you submitting to every whim of the treating doctors, it would be possible for an insurance company to, ahem, encourage the doctor to subject you to unnecessary treatment or restrictions in order to drive you away so the insurance company can deny your claim. Yes sir, the doctor said you need another rectal exam and he also scheduled you for a few hours in the hyperbaric chamber. He also updated your chart to indicate that, based on his professional judgment, your diet is now restricted to anchovies and seaweed. Sort of like a “constructive dismissal” from an employer where they really want to fire you but don’t want to pay unemployment benefits so they micromanage you, give you bad performance reviews, and arbitrarily change your hours around until you can’t take any more and resign. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2013, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161/100 "2013-07-12T02:06:10Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You mean the doctors won’t hang all the IVs for me and draw their own labs? > > Damn. > 😃 They also don’t sit in a chair by the patient’s bedside waiting for the family to come in, and they also don’t inform family members of a death or serious illness in the parking lot or a crowded hallway either. Yes, people sign out AMA all the time, but like other posters said, it can create insurance issues. I don’t think these people were restrained, but where I used to work, most of the babies placed for adoption were, contrary to popular belief, not born to teenagers, but usually to women in their 20s, 30s, or even 40s. A huge percentage had other children, and a surprising number were married, although not necessarily to the baby’s father. The story usually went like this: She walked into the ER in labor, having had no prenatal care, and said she just wanted to have the baby and leave it there. She had to stay for 2 hours after the placenta was delivered, because the risk of hemorrhage and other complications drops off drastically around that time, and most of the vaginal births did indeed leave then. Women who had c-sections usually left the next day. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-leave-a-hospital-whenever-i-want-seriously/546161.md?page=6)