• Life Advice & Visual Arts Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    🌌 Share Your Dreams! 🌌
    📸 15 Years of Photo Contests 📸
  • LAVA Moderator: Shinji Ikari

How long will a hospital keep a patient on machines if they have medicaid?

hustlababy09

hustlababy09

Bluelighter
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
253
Location
Chicago, IL
Wednesday night one of my friends was riding his bike home from someone's house and was hit by an SUV. It was a hit-and-run. :X Someone saw him in the street, called 911 and he was rushed to the hospital. He has a collapsed lung, broken bones, blood in his stomach, kidneys, and lungs, and he's in a coma. He's on a breathing machine. How long will they keep him on the machines if he's on Medicaid or if he has no insurance? (His family doesn't have a lot of money so I know they're either on Medicaid or don't have insurance at all.) If anyone has an idea of how long they'll give him to wake up before pulling the plug that would be really helpful. :( Thanks.
 
I don't think they can leagally pull the plug unless the treatment is deemed medically futile (basically that having him hooked up will only preserve his current condition and there being no hope for improvement).
 
Thanks for the reply. :) I was trying to Google it but all that kept showing up was info on comas and life support, nothing about no insurance and life support.
 
I do believe it is upto the Medical ethics committee in the Hospital. The determine it by estimating the quality of life and the viability of life if one was to recover. I do know that after 10 years on life support, the body's major organs start to shut down and they can expire on life support.

If the person had a living will this will also direct the hospital to carry out the patients wishes. Also, if the hospital deems to as you say pull the plug, the family can fight that decision in the courts. It really doesn't have anything to do with being on medicaid.

I personally have a living will that says I will not be on life support for more that 7 days and that I am a DNR ( Do Not Resuscitate) also states that I will not be given a feeding tube or any other life sustaining products or procedures after the 7 days. That way, no one has to make the decision. No one has to be the "bad guy" and I don't have to lay their live a vegetable. But, that is just my opinion anfd how I feel.
 
If the family wants to go into debt keeping him on life support, the hospital will continue to provide services.
Some people insist on keeping family members "alive" with machines against the advisement of doctors and they pay for it.
An insurance company is not going to continue to pay for a "treatment" that is not medically advisable nor helpful for the condition.
 
The doctors said there is a decent chance he will come out of this. If he doesn't, the family doesn't want him on there for a long time. I was just worried because he doesn't have insurance that the hospital would take him off the machines in 3 days or something... Thanks for the answers though.
 
You were right, they didn't take him off of it. He was on for about a week and a half but his parents took him off on Saturday because he had no brain activity for 3 days. His wake is tomorrow. I still can't believe it... :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top