A Minnesota man with COVID-19 has been transferred to a Texas hospital after a court order halted the removal of his ventilator. Now, he is making steps toward recovery and his wife is questioning hospital protocols for coronavirus patients.
Scott Quiner, 55, had been in critical condition since November when Mercy Hospital, a Minnesota facility run by Allina Health, decided it was time to take him off life support. On January 11, the medical team informed Scott’s wife Anne that they were scheduled to pull the plug on January 13.
Court order
According to the Daily Beast, however, Anne “vehemently” disagreed with this decision. Having power of attorney over her husband’s health decisions, she refused to give up on Scott. With little time to work, she quickly lawyered up and petitioned the Anoka County Court to halt the action. She wrote that, “Absent an Order from the court my husband will die.”
The court order came at the 11th hour, on January 13, just hours before Scott’s ventilator was set to be turned off. Fox 9 reports that Anne sought and found a spot for Scott at an unnamed Texas hospital, where he was moved over the weekend. Now his new doctors say he is taking “baby steps” toward recovery.
Malnourished
In an interview with ABC News, the Quiner’s lawyer, Marjorie J. Holsten suggested that Mercy Hospital had neglected Scott. She cited the Texas hospital’s evaluation of his health as “severely undernourished.”
“Scott has been receiving much-needed nourishment and hydration and medications that were not given by Mercy. He is being weaned off of the sedating drugs and has already been able to follow with his eyes movements the doctor made with his hands. He is making progress in the right direction, though he has a long road ahead of him and continued prayers are appreciated.”
Holsten went on to note that all of Scott’s organs are functioning properly, except his lungs. Washington Post noted that Scott is conscious and can communicate by blinking, nodding, and squeezing hands.
Protocols in question
Now that her husband is making strides towards recovery, Anne is questioning the medical protocols that almost failed her husband. While it is unclear if she will seek to take Mercy Hospital to court over their handling of Scott’s case, she did call for a reevaluation of hospital protocols:
“I think the world is watching what is going on with Scott,” Holsten told FOX 9’s Paul Blume. “And as he gets better and better, we are going to see that you know what, there are protocols that should be used that hospitals have not been using. And I am hoping that changes are going to be made as a result of this case.”
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