Grace Sungeun Lee Being Blocked From Leaving Hospital?
While the court battle may have ended for Grace Sungeun Lee and her family after the terminally ill woman decided to stay on life support, the Lees are now allegedly being blocked from leaving the hospital and entering a nursing home.
According to the family's posts this week on the Save Grace SungEun Lee Facebook page, Lee – who has a tumor on her brain stem and is paralyzed from the neck down – wants to get out of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., "now." But the hospital has not been aiding the family in that process, they claim.
"Before - We were told by North Shore University Hospital that the nursing homes wouldn't accept Grace because they couldn't provide the same level of care," the family stated on Facebook Wednesday. "NOW!!! - We contacted the nursing home and they told us that the nursing home has everything that the hospital said was needed. They were ready and even WILLING to accept Grace.
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"All they requested was the record of the medications that Grace has taken in the last 7 days. They told us that North Shore Hospital has REJECTED and DENIED that request and said that it could not be done."
The Lees have been in conflict with hospital staff since the 28-year-old woman was admitted in early September after suffering seizures. Her doctors said she only has weeks or, at most, months to live though the family believes she can recover.
The family went to court as it tried to prevent the hospital from removing Lee's breathing tube. Hospital staff have testified that she repeatedly asked for her breathing tube to be taken out.
A state appeals court ruled last week that Lee is capable of making her own medical decisions. Following that ruling, Lee decided to remain on life support and allow her father, a pastor, to make medical decisions for her.
On Tuesday, a judge signed off on an agreement ending the court battle, according to The Associated Press.
The Lees are now in the process of searching for a nursing home but the hospital has been making that process difficult, they say.
According to the family, the hospital agreed to let Lee enter another facility of their choice as long as that facility had a ventilator, medicines, and the same level of nurses and also met certain financial conditions.
The hospital told the family that it went ahead and sent out applications to nursing home and hospice programs for Lee but they were all denied.
Tracy Moore, director of social work at the hospital, informed the family that "no other place has the level of care that Grace needs." When the family tried to press for more answers and for reasons why Lee got rejected from the nursing homes, Moore hung up the phone, the family claims.
The Lees were able to get a list of the nursing homes that North Shore contacted and they found out that "the nursing home" has "everything that the hospital said was needed."
But the nursing home's request for a record of the medications Lee has taken in the last week was rejected and denied by North Shore, the family claims.
"It only takes a few minutes to look up the records of medicine and print it and send it. It doesn't sound too difficult so why can't North Shore Hospital fulfill this request???" they posed on their Facebook page.
Expressing the urgency of the matter, the family stated that "Grace does not want to stay there any longer, not even another hour."
"Please pray and support Grace so she can be free."
