A recent fall put my dad in the hospital for a few days. Thankfully, nothing was seriously damaged, but he did wrench a knee pretty badly, so they transferred him to in-patient rehab to strengthen it before sending him home (he lives alone).
Dad is NOT happy about this, and is threatening to refuse to participate in the therapy. He's already refused to wear the braces that have been ordered. I think he'd leave against-medical-advice (AMA) if he had a car on the premises. Right now he needs me to take him home, and I think he's in the right place :)
My question is this -- what might the hospital do about this? I'm concerned that refusing necessary care might lead to someone trying argue to a judge that he is a danger to himself or that he's incapable of making decisions in his own interests. I hold medical POA, so a declaration of incompetency or the like would make it my problem. :(
Anyone have experience with this? What might I expect, if he continues to refuse to cooperate?
Yesterday he threatened to walk out directly to the doctor - who informed him that if he left AMA that Medicare wouldn't pay for any part of his stay. I don't know if that is strictly true, but it shut down that argument pretty quickly :) He's still arguing about participating in the therapy program -- but I hadn't taken into account the fact that the rehab folks clearly have plenty of experience dealing with patients like him :) Waiting to watch the next round.
Sounds like he doesn't realize he needs therapy to recover, and isn't recognizing that his life at home will be much more difficult if he doesn't get therapy.
Has he had any therapy at the hospital? In my experience, therapists come in to assess and start limited therapy while a patient is still in the hospital. If he has, perhaps he didn't like the therapists or the exercises. If he hasn't, perhaps the doctor could order it and he can see how much it will help him.
Who does he think will take care of him at home if he refuses to get therapy? Perhaps some talk of bringing in home care might help - you can get a feel for whether he's opposed to therapy in general or just a rehab facility in particular.
Or perhaps the orthopedic physican can tell him bluntly what his recovery will be like, and the chances of regaining full use of his knee, if he continues to refuse therapy. Sometimes a wake-up call from the doctors as to the dire consequences is more effective than anything a family can do.
Good luck and hope this works out better for you.
Hang Tough!
Oh my goodness, we spent weeks trying to get him to go see the doctor. But we made it within the deadline. He refused to do the home PT, so that was discontinued. So was their home care services.
It's very good that the medical staff explained this to you about coverage.