Woman brings elderly mother to doctor’s appointment. Then they abandon her and lock her inside the office: ‘This happens often’

Doctors have pretty good PR. When most people imagine a doctor, they picture someone who is responsible. But at the end of the day, they're just people.

Now, one woman is going viral for capturing a doctor's colossal mistake, which left her mother waiting to continue an appointment that never finished.

‘There is nobody in the doctor's office'

Content creator Dorian Gary (@stillaladyy) shared what happened when she went to pick her elderly mother up from an appointment. Her video has since accumulated more than 135,000 views.

Gary said she'd dropped her mother off at the doctor's office with no issue. But when she returned, she found the door locked. She had to call her mother to get inside the office.

“Y'all, there is nobody in the doctor's office,” Gary said. “The doctor just up and left my mom in the doctor's office by herself. She's been here since 1 [p.m.]. It is like 2 [p.m.]. Nobody's in here. No other staff. No other patients. Nothing.”

Gary said she began filming so as to document that she wasn't disturbing anything in the office. She pointed out that patient files were left out in the open.

Then Gary's mother called the office.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Denise. I don't know what's going on with your husband,” she said. “I have an appointment at 1 o'clock. Do you know he left and locked me in here?”

Gary's mother explained she'd been called back into a room. She watched the doctor walk around before he left to attend an office party. Then she realized she'd been sitting alone for some time.

“My daughter came to check on me, and she knocked on the door,” she said on the phone. “She called me. She knocked on the door, and she said, ‘Mom, the door is locked.'”

The doctor's wife said she'd be over “in five minutes,” but Gary and her mother were still in shock.

“How could he forget?” Gary's mother said. “I think he's been [meaning] to retire, because he's having issues … I told him I was going to go out to the car and get my purse. So how could he not know I'm still in here?”

Gary affirmed her mother's feelings, saying they “wouldn't have been wrong if [they'd] called the police.”

“That's basically kidnapping somebody when you lock somebody in somewhere,” Gary said.

@stillaladyy Exposed UPDATE: on my mom be locked in the Dr's office and the Dr leaving her in the room…. Here the full video #elderlywomenbeinglockedinthedrsoffice #applevalley #malpractice ##abuse##update ♬ original sound – stillalady

Are patients allowed to be left alone in a doctor's office?

There isn't a single blanket law requiring a staff member to remain physically present with their patients at all times. But leaving a patient unattended and locked inside a facility could amount to medical malpractice in some circumstances.

One such example of potential medical malpractice is “patient abandonment.” According to Nolo's legal encyclopedia, patient abandonment “involves a health care provider's failure to properly end care or hand off a patient.” However, it's only technically malpractice if the patient experiences harm as a result of the abandonment.

“Patient abandonment can occur when a doctor, nurse, institution, or other health care provider ends the treatment relationship without reasonable notice or a reasonable excuse, and while failing to provide the patient with an opportunity to find a qualified replacement care provider,” Nolo writes. “The patient must suffer an injury (“damages” in the language of the law) as a direct result of the patient abandonment [in order to qualify for a malpractice claim].”

In terms of Gary's assertion that the mix-up amounted to “basically kidnapping,” she was referring to something called “false imprisonment.” According to FindLaw, false imprisonment “is the intentional unlawful confinement of a person against their will.” Judging by its further explanation, this isn't exactly what Gary's mother experienced.

“In healthcare, false imprisonment happens when a patient is held involuntarily in a hospital, nursing home, other health facility or institution, or even in an ambulance,” FindLaw states. “A critical element of the claim is consciousness of confinement. In other words, the person held had to reasonably believe they could not leave.”

Buzz News reached out to Gary via TikTok comment.