I must be missing something.
Websters Dictionary
patient n : one under medical care
With that many armed guards isn't inmate more appropos?
More like Death Row Inmate
Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schiavo's sister, left, Randall Terry, Schindler family spokesperson, center, and Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, right, react when Schiavo's condition is described at a news conference outside the Woodside Hospice where Terri Schiavo is a patient on Saturday, March 26, 2005 in Pinellas Park, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)