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Chapter Twenty One - AMA

The sun did not materialise come morning. Instead dull thunderous clouds had rolled in to take its place. Ironically this had not served yet to make it any cooler, but rather seemed to have trapped the heat in. The rain was heavy and battered against the hospital room window casting a shadow across Arin's face as she sat awake in the visitors chair, dressed in her (or rather Zen's) own clothes anticipating the arrival of the nurse for her morning vitals check. The gown sat folded on the made bed.

Absently she gently scratched the IV site where it still resided in her hand. She had removed the rest of the monitoring equipment but did not dare attempt to pull the line out herself. The events of the previous night and her newfound clarity about her condition had given her the resolve to take matters finally into her own hands but that was maybe a step too far.

With trepidation she turned her attention to the sound of movement outside the door and bit her lip when at precisely 7 am, a blond haired woman in pink scrubs entered.

Arin sized her up as she maneuvered a rolling basket stand into the room and did a double take at the empty bed before checking the chair. "Oh." She said in surprise.

"Good Morning." Arin said, she tried for nonchalant but what came out was a wavering tone.  She cleared her throat, almost convinced the woman would hear the thundering sound her heart was making in her chest from across the room.

"Good morning" the woman smiled warmly. Her surprise quickly reined in, "I'm Carol, I'm here to do your vitals and give you your meds...Is that ok?" She trailed off uncertainty colouring her tone once more.

Arin considered her and whether or not the caring demeanor was a job requirement.

Carol gave a small frown as the unscripted scene before her continued and she noted the monitoring equipment had been removed. She didn't wait for Arin to answer her question but instead continued "You took off the monitors." She noted the folded gown. "And look dressed for the day." Her tone became mildly scolding "You were just moved from observation to inpatient status. You're not scheduled to be discharged. Has your Doctor authorised this?" She asked absently picking up the chart to look at it, no one had indicated such a thing at handover.

"I doubt it. But I don't think it'll matter in a second, and I won't be needing you to check my vitals this morning or the medication."

Carol looked up and raised her eyebrows "Really?" She asked skeptically "Well it says here that you still need both and you do look a good bit flushed sweetheart." Her expression softened somewhat "Are you still feeling unwell?"

Arin hesitated a moment, trying to work out how best to deal with this woman. She had to say this calmly and with the right hint of authority so she wouldn't be dismissed. "I'm feeling fine, thank you. Much better in fact. I removed the monitoring stuff because I have been doing some thinking, and I've come to a decision." She took a breath and squared her shoulders. "I'd like to go home this morning. Immediately actually so...I'd like all treatment to stop and to leave please."

Carol blinked at her again. "You'd like to sign out against medical advice?" She clarified.

So that's what it was called. A bell rang in her head as the memory of Harrison, her grandfather's assistant, explained what having medical proxy would mean and how she could and couldn't use it if her grandfather was not available. Colour flooded her cheeks as the realisation dawned that technically she could have left any time she wanted when House was not in the room trying to stop her. She clenched her fists and swallowed trying to maintain her calm confident demeanor. "Yes, thank you."

The nurse's expression became strangely sympathetic "Are you sure about this? Leaving the hospital against medical advice is...is a big big decision." Her tone told Arin that she wasn't entirely being taken seriously. "Maybe we should wait and discuss it with your parents or your Doctor..." she trailed off as she checked the file again and came across the medical proxy sticker and then the name of the attending, she visibly blanched.