My son had the misfortune of being taken to the UAMS Emergency Department after suffering a head injury at work.

After a CT scan, Sean was told that surgery was not necessary, but the doctors wanted to keep him for observation. Their decision to admit him to the ICU was based, at least in part, on an error in the EMT’s paperwork.

The EMT reported that Sean had fallen 35 feet.

Sean did not look like someone who had fallen 35 feet. He did not act like someone who had fallen 35 feet. For a person to fall 35 feet and be in the condition Sean was in would have bordered on a miracle.

Yet none of the “brain surgeons” at UAMS thought to ask Sean how far he had actually fallen.

They did ask him about his pain level. Sean pointed to the “2” on the FACES pain scale.

For me, a 2 out of 10 is a stubbed toe. I imagine a 35-foot fall would feel more like a 15 out of 10.

Nevertheless, doctors earning well over half a million dollars a year decided Sean needed to remain in a room that costs approximately $10,000 per night for observation. They knew he had no insurance. They also mistakenly believed the expensive home where he was working belonged to him.

Sean said no.

Dr. Jordan Takasugi, Dr. Nolan Bruce, Dr. Natalie J. Applebaum, and Dr. Karrar Aljiboori were all involved in the decision to force Sean to stay. Without consent, without attempting to contact his family, and despite both verbal and physical resistance, the doctors caused Nurse Nathan Ernst to inject Sean with fentanyl.

UAMS destroyed the Emergency Room video recordings, leaving no reliable record of what happened next.

By the time Sean’s now ex-girlfriend found him the following day, he was naked and tied to a hospital bed.

There was no injury to his torso whatsoever. Why wasn’t he given shorts or pajama bottoms? Was it about control? Was it something worse?

The sedation and restraints continued for two weeks.

I did not fight harder for Sean’s release because I never saw him before the drugs were administered. Every person who spoke to me in Sean’s room insisted that UAMS had given him nothing stronger than acetaminophen for a headache.

That was not true.

The UAMS team told me my son might behave like a drugged 17-year-old for the rest of his life. They also told me he could die at any moment.

Arkansas law requires medical providers to obtain consent from the patient, an authorized surrogate, or a court before confining a patient, administering medication, or performing medical procedures. My understanding is that these requirements apply broadly, even to routine interventions such as blood pressure checks or Tylenol administration.

More than 82 UAMS staff members participated in Sean’s confinement. No petition was filed with a court. No counsel was appointed. No judicial process occurred.

When I objected, I was removed from Sean’s room.

When I attempted to record video, I was threatened with removal from the hospital.

Sean and I have now filed suit against UAMS and the employees we believe committed crimes against him. UAMS Police have refused to pursue criminal charges. UAMS also refused to provide addresses needed to serve the defendants.

We filed a motion requesting additional time to complete service. The motion was denied because the court ruled that we had not specifically documented our efforts to serve each defendant. Fortunately, the judge allowed us to refile.

That meant drafting 82 separate paragraphs, one for each defendant.

For example: “We requested the address of Dr. Elizabeth Brown, and UAMS refused to provide it unless we agreed to a protective order allowing UAMS to designate virtually any information it chose as confidential.”

Dr. Jennings Boyette and Dr. Sriram Navuluri, supported by others involved in Sean’s confinement, have asked the court to dismiss the claims against them because they were not served within the required time.

Their position appears to be this:

If hospital employees confine you, administer dangerous drugs against your will, and hold you without court authorization, they face no consequences unless you successfully navigate every procedural requirement necessary to sue them afterward.

They do not need to file a petition before taking your liberty.

They do not need to inform you of your rights.

They do not need to provide court-appointed counsel.

And they can still bill you for the treatment.

But if you seek compensation for the harm they caused, you had better file every document correctly, meet every deadline, and properly serve every defendant—or they will argue that your case should never be heard at all.