Eight times in my life I have been hospitalized. Three of those times happened before I was five years old. There were a few other times for same-day procedures. The words you looked forward to hearing were, “You can go home.” Discharge didn’t happen fast enough. At one of the more recent surgeries, I remember being told around 9 a.m. that I could get dressed because I was going home. While I didn’t expect it to happen in the next 30 seconds, I also didn’t expect it to happen three hours later! By that time, you are beyond ready to get going.
Such was not the case for a woman who was discharged on October 6, 2025.
HIPAA prevents us from know why the woman was admitted, what she had done, or how long she had been there. All we know is the date of her official discharge. She didn’t leave the hospital until March 31, 2026.
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital (TMH) became the home for this squatter for nearly six months. “The doctors informed her that she no longer needed acute medical care. However, she refused to leave her room, which led the hospital to take legal action to remove her.
“According to the court documents, the staff tried multiple times to help her leave safely. “TMH staff made repeated efforts to assist the defendant in safely completing discharge,” the hospital mentioned in the complaint.
“In addition to this, the officials said they offered her other forms of support. “TMH offered assistance, including coordination with family members and offering non-emergency medical transportation to obtain necessary identification,” the complaint says. “TMH has limited inpatient beds … The defendant’s continued occupancy prevents use of the bed for patients needing acute care,” it added. The complaint also mentioned that her “continued presence” was taking up resources and staff time.
“The case drew enough attention from the public because such incidents happen rarely in the U.S. hospitals. Facilities sometimes struggle to discharge patients who lack housing, identification or family support. However, if the patient still does not leave the premises, the case can lead to legal disputes.”1
TMH brought legal action against the woman in the form of a lawsuit. “According to the filing, she no longer required acute care after a formal discharge order.”2 “Roughly two weeks after it was revealed that Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare filed a lawsuit against a patient who refused to leave a hospital room five months after discharge, the organization confirmed it has withdrawn the civil complaint.
“Citing court records, the Tallahassee Democrat reports
that the lawsuit was withdrawn on March 16, with the Florida hospital filing a “notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice,” typically meaning the case is now resolved.
“The move means that Tallahassee Memorial is now not allowed to sue this particular patient again related to the same incident, and the matter is now closed.”3
Why didn’t this woman want to leave the hospital? The public may never know. I doubt it was the food, comfortable bed, fragranced soaps in the shower, and other amenities that kept her from wanting to leave for so long. Something must have been going on in her life or there was some mental illness.
Maybe she just wanted to be sick.
Have you ever met someone who wanted to be sick? They wanted something to be found wrong with them. Hypochondriacs! If they get the sniffles, they are certain it’s a brain tumor in their sinus cavity. An ache or pain must be cancer. They take their symptoms to Dr. Google and self-diagnose, looking for the worst disease imaginable and convincing themselves that they’ve got it.
Through the years, I’ve dealt with some Christians who seem to want to remain sick rather than becoming whole and healed. They aren’t spiritual hypochondriacs, creating illnesses for themselves. Instead, they are genuinely sick in sin. Admissions are made that they are not where they should be in their walk with the Lord. Buckets of tears are cried. They leave our meeting willing to take the prescription of Scripture that was offered but sometimes within hours, they go right back to the same way of sick living.
The Lord taught this lesson through a parable in Luke 15:13-19. It’s the story of a young man we call the prodigal son. Jumping into the middle of the story, the passage says, “And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. (14) And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. (15) And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. (16) And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. (17) And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (18) I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, (19) And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.”
This man was at the lowest point in life that he had ever been. He was sick in sin. He knew where he could get help but resigned himself that he would never be totally “well.” The “cure” that he settled upon would take him from the lowest point in life to another low point that wasn’t as bad – he would be a servant.
Read how the story unfolds when he came home. “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (21) And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. (22) But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: (23) And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: (24) For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.” (Luke15:20-24)
He who was sick in sin found salvation and healing for his soul as well as his situation. I really doubt that if we could track his life beyond this moment of restoration that we would ever see him stepping foot in the places that brought him to his lowest moment of life. Pigs caused a Jew to shudder on a good day. Imagine how this man felt every time he walked past a pig pin or caught the whiff of hog slop and fodder! It served as a reminder of a place 
he never wanted to revisit.
Are you sick in sin today? Do you really want to be well or is it just words without meaning? The solution is always found in Jesus. If it is a matter of lacking salvation, the Father in Heaven is ready to forgive and supply new life in Christ. If you are saved and have strayed into spiritual sickness, be healed today! 1 John 1:9 tells us what to do.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1https://www.inquisitr.com/patient-refuses-to-exit-hospital-for-months-case-ends-after-legal-twist/
2https://www.foxnews.com/us/florida-hospital-patient-finally-leaves-room-after-5-months-amid-legal-battle?msockid=23f5497f882e65cf0be65e05895d64c4
3https://healthexec.com/topics/healthcare-management/legal-news/lawsuit-dropped-against-squatter-patient-who-refused-leave-hospital-room-5-months
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