TikTok footage from a California hospice center recently went viral, showing a group of medical staffers stuck in the center.
Hospice Lens Center, known as user @hospicelens on TikTok, uploaded the footage, captioning it, “Let’s take care of these healthcare heroes.” As of Friday, the video reached nearly 300,000 views.
Why the medical staffers were stuck in the center isn’t entirely certain. The creator of the TikTok video, Hospice Lens Network, said they hadn’t been paid because their checks bounced, but they still wouldn’t leave their patients, even during the holidays.
However, one TikTok viewer speculated that the medical staffers stayed out of fear of legal trouble, saying they could be sued for patient abandonment.
“They won’t leave bc its patient abandonment, and they can be sued and licenses removed. Trust me they want to leave,” the viewer commented on the video.
According to the California Medical Association, physicians can be sued for patient abandonment if they end the relationship without giving the patient notice, a reasonable opportunity to find substitute care, and the information necessary to obtain the patient’s medical records.
It’s unclear if this would be a case of patient abandonment or not because the TikTok only showed the staffers standing in a circle in the hospice center.
A separate TikTok from the Hospice Lens Center account showed a woman explaining that all the center’s patients were being evicted without notice.
In both TikTok videos, the creator and viewers tagged other accounts, urging them to do something to help the patients and staffers. Some viewers tagged news outlets like CNN and NBC, while others tagged celebrities like Dwayne Johnson and Kelly Clarkson.
Some viewers commented that the hospice center should immediately contact the state. In a response to one of the comments, the TikTok creator wrote, “The state has taken over way of contractor. No payroll, told to leave.”
TikTok user @hospicelens did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
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