COVID patient on ventilator saved in 11th hour by court order

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. 

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. 

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.” 

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. 

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: 

Read more at the New York Post.