My question is hypothetical: if a person of moderate or poor means is admitted to hospital because of an accident or other emergency, the paramedics or ER doctors will usually (at least as seen on TV) cut away his clothes to treat his wounds quickly, or the clothes will already be damaged from the accident itself. Lets say they aren’t salvable anymore, and thrown into the trash.
While the person is in the hospital, he gets some kind of pyjamas or similar from the hospital. But what happens when he’s well enough again to be released? In normal cases, the patient calls his friends or family, but what about those people who don’t have friends, and whose family is dead or too far away to help?
Somebody with a high income can send for a suit of 100$ from a clothes shop, but what about a person with low income, no contacts. He might have another set of clothes at home, or he might have to go to a thrift shop, because he can’t afford to spend more than 20$ and there’s no delivery for that. So
does the hospital release him with the pyjama only, saying “hard luck, sorry”?
is there a small clothes chamber operated by Goodwill or the Red cross for such cases?
… ?
(I’m leaving out the whole question of how he pays his hospital bills itself, because that’s a very different and complicated can of worms.)
I know that this doesn’t answer the question in your country but I thought this might interest you anyway.
I can only speak from my own experience here in Australia.
The first has happened to me once - complete with no shoes and a very long walk home from the hospital (mind you I hadn’t been admitted to a ward - just 24hours in A&E/ER). There were lots of factors involved other than my lack of money (including a doctor who was/is a an evil power mad dick) don’t really want to go into it here.
The second is the case 99% percent of the time (IME) or something very similar- I have worn clothes from a cache keep at the hospital and I have worn clothes acquired by the hospital social worker.
Oh, sorry, I should have made this clear: I’m asking the hypothetical for the US, not Germany. (Thinking of situations like in TV shows with the “Fugitive” concept where the main character travels around)
First off, TV drastically overstates the amount of times someone’s clothes need to be cut off. I’m a paramedic in a busy urban system and I probably cut someone’s clothes off once a month. I don’t see other people doing it on a regular basis either. Generally you’ll only see it done for major trauma or cardiac arrests. Otherwise, there’s really no need.
That said, your situation does happen. A lot of the hospitals around here collect used clothes for that sort of situation. When the hospital doesn’t do this or there aren’t any clothes that fit, the patient generally gets some disposable scrubs to wear. Every once in a while, we’ll transport a transient that’s still wearing their disposable scrubs.
At one hospital I have personal experience with in KC, they get replacement street clothes from Goodwill, the Salvation Army, or one of several Christian charities when an indigent patient needs them.
What I’ve seen happen (TX) is that there is often clothing left by patients, and if they don’t return to retrieve it, it goes into storage and can be distributed by social workers to indigent patients if necessary. As above, I’ve also seen people discharged with scrubs.
At the VA where I used to work, service organizations would organize collection drives for clothing for vets who needed it to go home. They were mostly looking for sweatpants and sweatshirts, IIRC, but they may also have been looking for used clothing.
I’m reasonably sure that hospital auxiliaries do similar drives for patients at their hospitals.
As St. Urho says we usually cut the clothes off trauma patients to some extent. I work in a trauma center so I see this frequently. How much of the clothing is ruined depends on how bad the trauma is. The shirt is almost always cut because it’s hard to take someone’s shirt off without moving their neck. Pants are more variable. If the patient is stable, awake, coherent and has no leg/hip pain we’ll try to pull their pants off. If they fail any of those criteria (and a large proportion of trauma patients do) we cut the pants off although we usually unbuckle belts rather than cut them. Shoes we almost always remove undamaged. So depending on the severity of your accident you may end up with nothing but your shoes left or missing only your t-shirt. People who come in with no pulse will get at least their shirt cut off during resuscitation. People who come in “found down” may get their clothing cut off depending on the specifics of their situation.
What kind of clothes we give you at discharge varies widely between hospitals. Some places have nothing to give you besides disposable paper scrubs. Other places have a supply of clothing, usually managed by the social workers. Some hospitals buy this but it’s more likely to be donations either from charitable organizations or clothing drives that the hospital organizes. Even at places that have a clothing bank you’ll probably have to specifically ask in order to get it.
Hmm, I’ve been scrubbified twice (each in a different California hospital):
The first time I was discharged from the ER as is, scrubs, grip socks, bloody face and all. I was sent home in a taxi (that I paid for) holding a bucket of clothes, stained with piss, blood and vomit from the night before. It certainly drew some stares when I got off the taxi and still-drunkenly stumbled up to my college dorm.
The second hospital was much nicer: After an 3-day stay, they found a pair of jeans (a bit tight, but workable) and a bunch of shirts to pick from (I chose the red sweater). I was let go with my stuff wrapped and sealed in plastic bags and with a pair of free bus tickets to boot. But I kept the scrubs as a souvenir
When my dad dislocated his shoulder & fractured his shoulder blade, the ER cut off his T-shirt and (after treatment) sent him home with the hospital gown draped over his upper body and arm-in-a-sling.
Yes, he was wearing pants.
Suburban Chicago.
