False Imprisonment at a V.A. Hospital

[mbrevaldo]

My question involves medical malpractice in the state of: Florida

My husband broke his back in 4 places 9 years ago. He has been on pain killers since then. He doesn't abuse them, but because he has been on them for so long, he is obviously addicted. He has decided he wants to come off of them and try other alternative methods. He tried to do it on his won, but the side effects of that are too severe.

Last week he had an appointment to see an addiction specialist at the VA. The doctor informed him that there are a few methods in which he could use, but he recommended a "Rapid Detox". He explained this to my husband, myself, and my Mother in law and said that he would be put under anesthesia and given medication to flush his system. My husband has seizure disorder and he said this would be the best way to detox because doing it any other way could be dangerous. He advised us all that he would stay about 3 days for observation and could then go home with no medication. He said that he would be in a regular hospital room, would be able to keep himself busy by watching football, nascar, whatever he needed to do to keep his mind off of it. He told him to bring some comfortable clothes to wear, some money for vending machines, maybe a book to read.

I took my husband yesterday to drop him off. I was told by the doctor that for the first 24 hours I would not be able to stay with him. So I left and went home. About 5 hours later I get a frantic call from my husband telling me he had walked 9 miles and I needed to come and get him immediately. When I arrived, his shirt was ripped, his face scratched and he was as pale as a ghost.

When they took him back, they took him into the Psychiatric ward, man handled him, stripped his clothes off of him, tried to do a Cavity Search, took all of his belongings, tried to dope him up on Psychiatric drugs, give him paper clothes to wear (they said this was due to him being suicidal?) He advised them they had him confused with someone else, but they didn't. The orderly told him that there version of Rapid Detox is he would be locked in a room anywhere from 7-16 days and he would be given Psychiatric drugs and he would have to sweat it out. The room had no Tv, no phone, nothing. My husband explained to him what his doctor had described and the orderly told him, "Yeah, that is what Dr. Sampson tells people to get them in here". Also, he asked for many hours to speak with HIS doctor and they refused to call him. When he would not cooperate and insisted on being released they man handled him (3 orderlies) and took him to the floor. The orderly then was going to give him a shot to render him unconscious. My husband told them that if they give him that shot he would sue. He asked if he could at least call his wife to let me know that he wouldn't be coming home and that I would not be able to visit, they told him no. He wouldn't not see daylight nor a phone for at least 7 days. (He was trying to let me know what was happening) So, after many hours of fighting with them, they called an administrator up to speak with my husband. My husband told the administrator what had happened and he said he didn't believe my husband... but myself and my Mother in law heard every word Dr. Sampson said... my husband was not lying! The administrator finally agreed to release my husband, but told him he will now lose all of his VA benefits?

Is there anything we can do? Didn't they falsely imprison my husband? How many other people are stuck in that place that does not need to be there? Isn't it unethical of this Doctor to be lying to his patients like this? Could we file a suit for assault? Or can we even do anything since the VA is considered the Government?

[Mr. Knowitall]

There's more to the story than you've told us. Your husband, for some reason, ran away from the hospital after he initially checked in. It seems quite possible that his diagnosis and the approach to treatment changed as a result of whatever led to his running away. The scope of medical tasks you're attributing to an orderly suggests that the person was more likely a nurse. If you want to know what happened, have somebody review the complete medical records for what happened that day at the hospital - there are so many unknowns here, we can't tell you if there's a potential legal claim.

In terms of losing V.A. benefits, your husband would need to investigate that further and, if necessary, avail himself of any administrative appeals.

[Bubba Jimmy]

I get my medical services from the VA and something rings very untrue about this account. I have some knowledge about addiction and the trevails treatment for it entails. There is no painless detox from narcotics addiction. It is not done in a locked facility. It is, however, done with medical supervision. People admited for detox from narcotics do, however, have their belongings confiscated and they are subject to a search because, uhm, drug addicts often sneak drugs in to detox and rehab. You complain that they tried to give your husband medication to "dope him up" and yet it was described to him that he would be given medications. Did he think there was an easy painless way to detox from narcotic addiction? Well, there isn't.

[aaron]

Rapid detox for opiate dependence is typically used to describe the procedure of placing an opiate addict under general anesthesia or heavy sedation, administering opiate antagonists like Narcan and Naltrexone, and having the patient complete the detoxification process while sedated, usually over approximately a four hour period.

[mbrevaldo]

Rapid detox for opiate dependence is typically used to describe the procedure of placing an opiate addict under general anesthesia or heavy sedation, administering opiate antagonists like Narcan and Naltrexone, and having the patient complete the detoxification process while sedated, usually over approximately a four hour period.

That is exactly what was explained to him by his Doctor. But once he admitted himself, he never seen his doctor again. And the doctor that was there that night pulled this mess. And giving that the "nurse" told him that this is what the good doctor tells his patients to get them in there, that really disturbs me! I have found another treatment facility that will do the Rapid Detox, but my questions still stands... is there anything I can do about the VA? We have never had a problem with the VA in the past, but this issue is something that needs to be addressed.
I did read that there are laws preventing physicians from keeping a patient without their consent, unless otherwise determined by a court order. But this would be a tort, False Imprisonment, it has nothing to do with Medical MalPractice, and I feel that this physician should be reprimanded for doing this to his patients. I plan to call Patient Advocacy tomorrow, I will keep you posted.
And I understand that this story sounds far fetched, believe me, we couldn't believe it either!

[jk]

have you spoken to his doctor since this incident? It almost sounds like they were not intending on a rapid detox and were simply admitting him for detox the hard way.

I did read that there are laws preventing physicians from keeping a patient without their consent, unless otherwise determined by a court order.

there are rules and laws that allow a medical facility to retain a patient for psychiatric care under certain situations without a court order.


Have you tried to contact Dr. Sampson to even attempt to determine what happened? I would think trying to figure out what happened would be more important than trying to find out if you can sue them.