Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers, Fla., is suing to evict a patient with dementia and Parkinson's disease who has remained at the Fort Myers, Fla.-based hospital for nearly three months after physicians cleared him to leave.
In its lawsuit against the patient's family, Lee Memorial claims multiple nursing homes have agreed to take the patient, who is identified in court documents only as "John Doe" because of medical privacy regulations. However, Lee Memorial alleges the patient's daughter, who is his caretaker, refuses to apply for Medicaid to cover the costs of his nursing home stay, according to The News-Press.
Regarding the suit, hospital spokeswoman Mary Briggs to the Sun Herald that, "We understand it is always hard for a family to make difficult decisions relating to their loved one's care. Unfortunately, Lee Memorial Health System does not have the physical space to hold patients who no longer medically need to be in the hospital, but refuse to leave."
This isn't the first suit Lee Memorial has brought to transfer a patient from its facility. In May, a judge gave the hospital permission to evict a brain-injured patient who had remained at the hospital for more than a year after physicians said he was ready to go home or be transferred to a nursing home.
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