Thursday, October 10, 2019

Family Arranges to Transfer Dead Patient to Another Hospital (Bobby Reyes)

Transferring a patient to another hospital is a common dispute resolution pathway for medical futility conflicts. In fact, it is built into a majority of state statutes on healthcare decision-making. But it is not common to transfer a patient already determined dead.

 Nevertheless, that is apparently what the family of Bobby Reyes was able to accomplish this week. Clinicians at the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital determined him dead on neurologic criteria. The family obtained a court injunction forbidding the hospital from stopping organ-sustaining measures. During this time, the family was able to arrange a transfer to Allegiant Health Care of Phoenix.

 Coincidentally, Arizona is the location of another recent brain death conflict that was litigated in the courts just weeks ago.

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 10, 2019 at 6:57 AM

    this person is incorrectly declared dead using neurological criteria that have been discredited both medically and legally in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KimberlyOctober 10, 2019 at 4:41 PM

    Apparently there's an update. https://www.clickondetroit.com/all-about-ann-arbor/downriver-mother-fights-to-keep-child-on-life-support-facility-rejects-transfer

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 14, 2019 at 8:49 AM

    Probably the refusal of transfer originated from lack of future health insurance coverage of post-acute care in Arizona because the University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital unilaterally declared him to be dead.

    ReplyDelete