A Mayo Clinic teen patient and her family allege the clinic kept the 18-year-old against her will during rehabilitation from multiple brain surgeries in actions that resulted in “medical kidnapping.”
High school senior Alyssa Gilderhus was transferred to the Mayo Clinic just after Christmas 2016 because of a brain aneurysm and at her parents’ request, CNN reported.
Over the course of four brain surgeries, Mayo Clinic doctors saved Gilderhus’ life and stabilized her despite giving her only a 2 percent chance of survival when she first arrived there, according to CNN.
“Mayo neurosurgeons saved her life,” her mother Amber Engebretson said, CNN reported. “We’ll be grateful to them forever.”
When the teen left the surgical wing and went to rehabilitation, however, her family reportedly began to see problems and have conflicts with doctors there. Engebretson clashed with staff members who wanted to take Gilderhus off oxycodone despite her being in tremendous pain, there were problems with a feeding tube that was the wrong size, and family members — not medical staff — detected a bladder infection, CNN reported. A social worker also spoke about private information in front of other family members, according to the family.
Engebretson and the teen's stepfather Duane Engebretson asked for a doctor and social worker to be replaced, CNN reported, but then they were pushed out of the picture and told they could no longer make medical decisions for Gilderhus.
According to CNN, Amber Engebretson was even barred from being at the hospital, and the family later found out the hospital was trying to get a guardian appointed for Gilderhus so she would be a ward of the state.
Meanwhile, Gilderhus said she became very uncomfortable at Mayo Clinic and felt like a prisoner, CNN reported.
The teen's family was able to take her from the hospital in February 2017 in what Mayo Clinic called an “abduction,” but other doctors and legal professionals said was simply an adult leaving the facility against medical advice.
Gilderhus later got other therapy, and her condition has continued to improve.
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