A Minnesota COVID-19 patient was flown to Texas after a judge prevented a hospital from disconnecting him from a ventilator

• A COVID-19 patient in Minnesota was relocated to a Texas hospital over the weekend.
• Last week, Mercy Hospital in Minnesota said it would disconnect Scott Quiner from a ventilator.

A COVID-19 patient was flown from Minnesota to Texas over the weekend after a judge issued an order preventing a hospital from disconnecting the man from a ventilator, the Star Tribune reported on Monday.

The patient, Scott Quiner, 55, had been on a ventilator at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, since November 6, the local paper reported. Quiner, who is unvaccinated, had not shown signs of improvement since he was admitted, the report said.

Mercy Hospital had said it would disconnect Quiner from the ventilator that was keeping him alive on Thursday. Shortly after the announcement, Quiner's wife, Anne Quiner, petitioned the court in Anoka County for an emergency order to prevent her husband from being disconnected from the ventilator and to move him to a new care facility.

Anne Quiner's attorney, Marjorie Holsten, did not specify what hospital Scott Quiner had been moved to but told the Star Tribune that he was "getting critical care" and that "all organs are working except his lungs."

After ruling in favor of Anne Quiner's request, the judge set a hearing for February 11. Fundraisers on GoFundMe and GiveSendGo have received over $70,000 to cover Scott Quiner's medical expenses.

Hospitalizations in Minnesota have steadily risen amid the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant and the resulting surge in cases. The Star Tribune reported last week that hospitalizations that don't include the intensive-care unit had increased by 34% in January, representing the state's highest total since December 2020.

"Minnesotans need to know that the omicron surge most definitely has reached Minnesota," Jan Malcolm, the commissioner of the state's health department, said earlier this month, according to the local news outlet MinnPost.