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Tampa General files to remove patient overstaying welcome

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A Tampa woman has overstayed her welcome at Tampa General Hospital, forcing the hospital to petition for Expedited Judicial Intervention.

On Sept. 24, 2014, Theresia Fombo was brought to Tampa General after suffering a stroke. Since then, she has become strong enough to be discharged. Her three physicians determined she no longer needs acute care, however, she should be placed in long-term nursing care.

When she was first discharged, the hospital made plans for her to go home with her daughter, Doris Wanmban Fombo Ijang, 31. She became the proxy for her mother after Fombo was deemed to lack the capacity by psychiatric consult. Ijang is a registered nurse, but currently is not practicing.

The hospital offered to pay for and provide medical equipment to help in the transfer back home. Ijang and her siblings were uncooperative with the hospital by not making themselves available for delivery of the equipment.

Because of this, the hospital determined it would be in Fombo’s best interest to put her into a skilled nursing facility. Fombo requires tube feeding and constant oxygen through a trach collar.

In the petition, the hospital claims that Ijang failed to do her part as the proxy for her mother. The petition was filed March 29, 2016.

Following up on the past petition, Tampa General Hospital filed a Complaint and Request for Summary Procedure with the Hillsborough Circuit Court Oct. 20, 2016.

The complaint claims the family has continued to be unwilling to consent to the placement of their mother in a facility. Their consent is required because, without it, Fombo will not be accepted because she lacks the ability to make medical decisions on her own.

Tampa General is requesting the patient be placed in another facility to free up much-needed bed space. Because Fombo has been discharged, the hospital is entitled to the room and bed that she occupies.

The suit claims that “her continued occupancy of a bed at TGH is a misuse of a valuable and somewhat scarce resource: a hospital acute care bed.”

 

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