Judge stops Minnesota hospital from disconnecting ventilator

COON RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) — A man who has been suffering from a severe case of COVID-19 and was being kept alive by a ventilator has been moved from a Minnesota hospital to a Texas facility after a judge issued a restraining order stopping the hospital from turning off his machine.

Fifty-five-year-old Scott Quiner, of Buffalo, was a patient at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. According to the family’s attorney, he was flown to an unnamed facility in Texas over the weekend.

Allina Health, which operates Mercy Hospital, issued a statement saying it is grateful the family was able to find a health care facility that will meet their needs.

An Anoka County judge granted a petition from Quiner’s wife, Anne, that prevented Mercy from disconnecting the ventilator.