<p>How? The college will need to get a BILL for the services and time in the hospital…none of which they are entitled to due to privacy issues…unless the patient agrees to this. I can’t even see my kid’s dentist bill when I am offering to pay the balance! It is NONE of my business that she went to the dentist.</p>
<p>The college would need a bill to pay. Bills usually are itemized…right? And presumably the family insurance will be billed first. Is the college expecting the fsmily to give them EOBs?</p>
<p>No one is saying there should be a (costly) fully staffed health center, but really…someone on call for the occasional time this happens over the weekend would be nice. Good that Veterans Day is today…what if it had been Monday? Health services closed that day if it was a holiday.</p>
<p>Makes no sense. A hospital doc signs the discharge papers. And since when would a hospital doc discharge a patient ONLY under the condition that such patient sees another doc within minutes. The typical directive is, 'go see your primary care provider in the next few days for followup…, not ‘go see your primary care provider immediately’.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Because it is. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Perhaps, but the law says that these so-called “kids” are adults of legal age. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And nor can the hospital bill the college without the daughter’s permission. (But maybe that was part of her discharge: ‘sign here, so we can babysit you for two days and bill your college for it.’)</p>
<p>Thumper, regarding the college paying, I was going by information given at the start of the thread.</p>
<p>I think it would be good to have more information before continuing this debate (at least that is my feeling). We don’t know what the daughter went in for, for one thing. As soon as you enter an ER you are caught up in the system, though you never lose the freedom to walk away unless you are pink slipped. I would assume the college policy has been fully examined by lawyers. Perhaps it can be challenged. I think a knee-jerk reaction of outrage may miss some of the complexity of the situation, and would love to know more.</p>
<p>I hope the original poster comes back to let us know what her family has found out about the policy and how the daughter is doing.</p>
<p>It doesn’t really matter which hospital, there had to be some sort of “agreement” between the college and the hospital. Even the bill is secondary, but if I were Pizza i wouldn’t be paying anything after the original discharge plan (not the extended discharge plan). If the college picks up the tab that is a whole different conversation along the lines of who is the physician that picks up the case and why couldn’t the physician pick it up on Saturday as opposed to Monday to “protect” kids that don’t medically need to be in the hospital two more nights and need to get back to their room and their studies and are medically able as determined by the attending hospitalist or physician. If it’s anyone less than an NP, I’d have an issue about the arbitrariness of the “handoff” even if I weren’t paying the bill. </p>
<p>“The family will not pay for this, the school will. Blossom seems to be the only poster here who gets this situation.”</p>
<p>I am not so naive as to believe they aren’t going to try to slip this in and get as much from my insurance company as they can, which is why we’ve informed the insurance company of this. Not that I love insurance companies, but my premiums aren’t to be used for babysitting services as dictated by a third party. The college alleges they’ll pay, and that’s also what blossom is suggesting - they’d rather pay X number of these bills per year than staff a health services center on the weekend.</p>
<p>“Parents who are physicians, nor not physicians, cannot communicate about the daughter without her permission.”</p>
<p>Irrelevant in this case. Daughter gave permission for us to communicate with everyone, and was on the phone for some of the conversations as relevant. </p>
<p>“If a student had something going on sufficient to land in the ER or the hospital, and there is no MD to see upon discharge, again, liability concerns would dictate this policy.”</p>
<p>But medically discharged means - you’re healthy enough to go home. Not - you need to walk out of here and see another MD within the hour. It might mean longer-term followup (“be sure you see someone within the week”). </p>
<p>“I would argue that there are occasions when this policy is a win win for students too, and if it does not fit the case of this daughter, she should have signed herself out.”</p>
<p>Again, D would have signed herself out except that the college specifically said to my husband (and I learned that it was outright said, not insinuated) that if she did so, they would change her keycard to prevent her getting into her dorm. That was how they “forced” her to stay until Monday. </p>
<p>“If the college picks up the tab that is a whole different conversation along the lines of who is the physician that picks up the case and why couldn’t the physician pick it up on Saturday as opposed to Monday to “protect” kids that don’t medically need to be in the hospital two more nights”</p>
<p>Because everyone’s darn lazy. Seriously. Oh, god, heaven forbid a weekend-on-call person exert themselves enough to go to the hospital, fill out 10 minutes of paperwork and say “on your way you go” for the few times a year that this happened. Nope, better they hold a young person hostage AND cost their college thousands of dollars in the tab, because Saturdays and Sundays are sacrosanct. Really. It is just a pathetic excuse for a work ethic. </p>
<p>“I would have told my kid to leave AMA and stay with a friend in this situation.”</p>
<p>Compmom, my daughter attends a school where 99% of the students live on campus. This isn’t a community where her friends would have apartments. And no, why should she camp out on a friend’s floor when she has her own freakin’ room and board which I pay for? </p>
<p>“How? The college will need to get a BILL for the services and time in the hospital…none of which they are entitled to due to privacy issues…unless the patient agrees to this.”</p>
<p>TBH, this isn’t really my concern or my daughter’s. If anything, I want to see that bill myself and ensure that it reflects exactly what was done to my daughter over the weekend, which was essentially nothing. I want to make darn sure there aren’t “phantom” doctor visits or procedures. </p>
<p>What justification did they use for saying they would change her keycard to keep her out of her room? It does seem outrageous as she was not a danger to herself or others. Glad she’s okay.</p>
<p>You know, I’d raise holy hell with the school, and publicly, too, if this happened to us. Beyond the billing, I think some people here aren’t getting the civil liberties angle. By what right does a school justify threatening a student with locking her out if she doesn’t follow medical directions from the school??? I think I’d be threatening lawyers and publicity. It’s not just about the money, but this is a young woman forced to stay where she didn’t want to be, instead of her home, which as PG points out, has been freaking paid for.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t care what they claim their policy was; I would do my best to make sure they rethought it. I’m truly appalled that anyone thinks this is all right.</p>
<p>As a health care worker this situation sounds like a mental health issue/attempted suicide. That’s the only reason I can think of she would be held over the weekend. Especially in light of recent suicides on campuses nationwide it’s usually universities policies to be very pro-active with mental health problems. </p>
<p>Yes, we need more information. It does sound like a situation short of a pink slip but of almost equal concern. This story just seems incomplete. If it was a minor medical issue like a sprained toe, then I would love to hear the wording of the policy and the school and hospital justification for it. There are medical issues (for instance, seizures, hypoglycemia on insulin, asthma attack) that might also seem to require some medical help on campus for a safe return. I am not naive about the behavior of institutions but it seems unlikely they would violate civil rights as blatantly as this thread would seem to indicate. What information is missing here?</p>
<p>I can imagine a school and medical facility not being able to release all info , even to parents, if the adult child has not given permission. I think an adult child can and should be able to have a facility release limited info to their parents. Is that possible? For instance, you can tell my parents I’m okay but can’t release any specific mental health, sexual, drug or alcohol info, etc. Maybe that could be behind some of the stonewalling by school and hospital . Who knows, just glad she’s okay.</p>
<p>The only way any hospital/medical provider can hold an adult “against their will” is if you have made threats to harm yourself or others. Once you make threats like that; and believe me this is more common than you think, you basically give up your civil rights. Typical scenario at my small town ER: college student (usually female) shows up with friends, crying over her life situation at that point; boyfriend, homesick, etc. (sometimes slightly drunk.) Her friends are concerned because she made a statement wishing she were dead, etc. The ER doctor will not release the student until a qualified mental health provider will talk with them and declare they are not a danger to themselves (or others). If this happens on Friday night sometimes the mental health provider is not available until Monday. I can promise you this; there is not an ER doctor left in the US that will allow someone to walk out of their hospital making threats to harm themselves or others. Police will be called and restraints used if necessary. And this is all perfectly legal.</p>
<p>PG, I had an ER visit as an adult, and they would not let me check out. I had a concussion, and they would not let me go because I was going to take a taxi. They said that they couldnt let me go in case the taxi driver would assault me…I guess they meant sexually. They would have released me if anybody would pick me up. After about 12 hours I had raised enough hell, they had me preform some tests, asked me general questions and finally let me go. I couldn’t justt walk out, they had my clothes and my purse because I was brought in by ambulance. Although a different situation, iI can feel your frustration.</p>