History Main / ThePatientHasLeftTheBuilding

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', an injured [[Characters/DCAUBatman Bruce Wayne]] considered his Batman duties important enough to defy his doctor's orders to stay in bed and recuperate.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', an injured Bruce Wayne considered his Batman duties important enough to defy his doctor's orders to stay in bed and recuperate.

To qualify, there should be someone arguing the case that the patient should stay in bed, or an obvious attempt to evade hospital staff as he sneaks out. '''If he just gets up, grabs his coat and waves to the nurse on his way out, it's not this trope.'''

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Film/OSS117LostInRio'' has a hilarious LowSpeedChase variant in which both the hero and the NaziGrandpa BigBad, Von Zimmel, find themselves in a hospital after falling off an InevitableWaterfall. Von Zimmel, who wasn't too injured, escapes using a walker, while OSS 117 is more severely unjured and tethered to a transfusion rig (which he also uses as a walking stick). Cue very slow pursuit with the appropriate spy movie chase music.

* From Webcomic/KillLaKillAU, ''Snowflakes'', due to wanting to play in the snow, Ryuuko has often tried to "escape" from the hospital. When she succeeds, her parents are justifiably displeased.

Said patient will often PullTheIV. It may also happen if the patient is AfraidOfDoctors. Potential visitors will most likely be told that the patient is NoLongerWithUs.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': In the aftermath of the "Freighter" version of the Merryweather Heist, [[GeniusCripple Lester]] bails out of a scheduled treatment for his wasting disease and rushes to the docks dressed in nothing but a backless surgical gown to warn Trevor that the object he just stole was a nuclear device that will make him and everyone else on the team the subject of an international manhunt if he doesn't put it back immediately.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': In "The One That Could Have Been: Part 1," Phoebe says that she was once offered a job by an executive from an investment firm because "she was good at stocks" (never mind that Phoebe didn't a degree in economics, or any type of education past middle school). When the WhatIf plot kicks in, Phoebe is a shrewd businesswoman who regularly argues with her colleagues and superiors, and [[MeanBoss belittles the subordinates]]. When the stress of her job, combined with her chain smoking, lands her in the hospital, Ross answers her cell-phone, since it's from work, and is informed that Phoebe's fired because a bad investment cost the firm millions of dollars. In "Part 2," Phoebe, not knowing of her firing, is desperate to get back to work, but she manages to sneak out by bullying a fellow patient into helping her escape. Back at the firm, she's informed that she was fired, and is sent back to the hospital when she has another heart attack.
* In an episode of ''Series/HomeImprovement'', Tim gets hurt celebrating getting an award for most driveways paved and is admitted to the hospital. Fearing that he would loses the award to rival Bob Villa, Tim sneaks out of the hospital and paves the driveway so he can officially claim the award. Unfortunately he incurs the wrath of the big man living in the house used for the location shoot when he crushes a toy car that belonged to the man's son. Mark then voices his disappointment when getting beaten up by the big man meant that Tim couldn't take him to the air show as he was readmitted to the hospital. When Tim arranges to have a Blue Angels pilot to take him to the air show, the pilot invites the rest of the family to go behind the scenes at the air show, Tim, a big fan of big powerful machines, tries to sneak out again, only to be stopped from leaving the room by a burly orderly.

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': At the end of the first arc, Kirito pulls this after two years in a coma from the titular game to find Asuna.

* In ''VideoGame/ItCameFromTheDesert: Antheads'', the player has to escape from a hospital controlled by the evil antheads... in a wheelchair.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2'' opens with Max waking up in a hospital and making an escape while armed thugs hunt him down. Later chapters provide a continuation to this escape and reveal how he ended up in the hospital in the first place.

** Another time, Roy found him drunk and soaked from the rain after running off. He dropped John at Dixie's place because he needed watching and Roy didn't have time to return him to Rampart (plus,John was hating himself for the death of Dixie's niece, and Dix was mad because of a misunderstanding about what happened, so Roy hoped it'd get them talking again). They have to undress him to wash and dry his clothes, but Dixie deliberately delays giving them back because she knows he can't leave naked and it'll force him to stay put a while and rest.

* ''Film/UnderTheInfluence'': A family patriach, admitted to the hospital for his alcoholism, breaks out of the hospital because he's so desperate for a drink, despite having been explicitly told that another drink will kill him. Sure enough, by the time his son (developing a drinking problem of his own) finds him, he's downed two bottles of whiskey and died.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' Shawn breaks a patient out of a mental hospital to stop him from receiving electric-shock treatment and as part of a plan to clear the patient's name in a murder case.