I have a question for you guys on AMA or Against Medical Advice,

My dad was is a motorcycle wreck and he was in the hospital for 2 weeks, he finally started to go to rehab but after 2 days he said he hated it there and signed AMA papers. My mother told him it was a bad idea but I said to him if he wanted to go home I would take some time off work (at this time he was doing good) And my mother was furious, But now he's always in pain and I'm thinking he needs to go back to rehab.

Would the rehab place take him back and would insurance pay for it again since he signed AMA papers?

My big concern is I don't think he was %100 in the head when he signed the papers, I think he was having a "good day" and wasn't fully understanding what he was doing, could the doctor's understand this?


also if there's any links you wanna post about this I would greatly appreciate it!

I know in terms of if someone signed AMA then wanted services they would absolutely be provided pre-hospit and the previous AMA wouldn't mean anything in regards to how insurance paid.  Same if someone signed out of the ER.  

Now I work with health insurance companies.  But I really don't know the exact answer. I would personally call the health insurance company that was paying for his long term care, or whatever.  It may be a simple yes.  Around here (Lancaster/Berks counties) the problem years ago when I was involved professionally the problem was sometimes having a slot open up at whatever facility you're trying to get him into.   If it is in Lanc county and you can provide the facility name, and get insurance approval, I may be able to try to get a favor if they are full and will be more then happy to try to make some calls for you.  

Good luck, I wouldn't be too worried, if he needs the care it should be fine.

Well thanks it's in Clinton county, And I just talked to my mom and she said to call his doctor and see what he says. and when you mean pre-hospital what do you mean?

Pre-hospital as in Emergency Medical Services.   But I dealt directly with rehab and long term care places quite a bit.  You do want to make sure the Dr recommends it obviously, but you do want to make sure you have the insurance companies approval as well.   Most places would check this themselves before admitting your father.  Once you have that lined up, if his Dr isn't doing it for him you just have to call the place and get him in.

Ok so Check with the doctor 1st to see if he would recommend him coming back, then call his insurance company to see if he could come back to rehab?
Before he left rehab wanted him to stay but could keep him there, Which in the long run they should of have, I do believe he wasn't in the right mind set to be released. But from what I read they couldn't stop him

I'm sorry I'm still somewhat new to all of this

No worries.  Yes I would follow that path unless when you talk to his dr he gives you other advice.  Also don't stress, it will get taken care of!

well I talked to his doctor and he gave me the "I told you" speech and then he said he can't do anything because of the AMA, but he did say to take him to the ER because of his memory issues
Should I still call his insurance still?

Now he's refusing to go to the hospital. I swear I'm going to lose my mind

He left against medical advice.  Doesn't mean he has to refuse to treat him. That's the Drs choice fyi.  

I would call the insurance provider first for solutions.   You could just take him to the ER and most likely be covered but sometimes they have other solutions too.  

If they reccomend ER and he refuses to go, just drag his ass out there, after you used up all other options.  Or lie and say you are taking him back to the facility he was at then take him to the ER.

Well the rehab called his insurance and they said they will pay for everything and get him back to the rehab, the doc said everything would be fine! But my dad will not leave his house no matter what, A family friend is coming over with his wife to try to talk some sense into him . We were thinking about either calling the cops or drug him (yes I know it's a horrible thing to do ) to get him to go. I swear he can be VERY hard headed sometimes.
But he is not doing good at home even though he think's he is, He is not eating, sleeping, taking meds, or exercising like he's supposed to. I talked with one of my cousins and he said with his head injury they shouldn't of even brought up AMA or even knowledge it. They should of kept him there because he wasn't all with it.

thanks BTW for all the info. I'm very grateful for everything you said, I'm having a hard time with this between my family and work everything is just getting to me .
Hopefully we can get him to go back (one way or another). I'll try to keep posting if something changes.

Best of luck with everything.  I've been on the convincing end a few times and it is tough.  Sometimes cops do help if you get one who cares, but generally there is nothing they can do unless the person threatens to harms themselves.  I've been out with some officers who did a great job of convincing people to voluntarily go.  If he won't do it for himself make sure he knows that he needs to go for your peace of mind (as his son).  I'd say to him, dad, when I was a kid if you insisted I do something like this I would of done it, now I need you to do this for me.  Get treated properly so you can live a better quality life for longer.  I love you dad and it hurts me to see you doing this to yourself by refusing to go down there for a short while.  

It maybe pointless, maybe you've said stuff like that already, but just trying to help.  I feel for ya, just keep being strong and it will work out.

I tried everything He won't go anywhere, The only thing I can do is pray that tomorrow will be a better day

You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.  I wish I could help you out more man.

Thank you so much for everything! even if it's just as little as this. All we can do is pray for the best. Now I'm going to try to get some sleep.