Jenna Roher was used to getting pinged for pickup at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Nurses and doctors often requested Ubers to get wherever they’re going after a shift. But for the Nashville driver, a summer ride quickly turned into one she says she’ll never forget.
The trip involved not a medical professional, but a patient, a dark facility driveway, and a major hospital now facing serious questions about how it arranged the ride in the first place.
On July 24, part-time Uber driver received a trip request from someone at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
When she arrived, a nurse escorted a barefoot man toward her car. He was yelling that the hospital had taken his phone and wouldn’t give it back.
Roher said she assumed he was simply having a rough day, maybe recently discharged.
But there was no conversation with the nurse. Just a quick “handoff.” The nurse placed the man in her car, made eye contact, and walked away.
As the drive began, the passenger grew quiet
Then he suddenly broke the silence with words that still rattle Roher.
Playing off her initial confusion at who he was and where they were going, he reportedly affirmed the lack of information she had about him. ““So, you don’t know where you’re taking me, and you don’t know who I am.”
“No, sir,” she responded.
Unnervingly, he then added, “I could be a schizophrenic psychopath, and you just let them put me in your car.”
Despite the troubling circumstances, the Uber driver decided to carry out the task at hand.
The destination was Mulberry Health and Rehabilitation, a facility Roher said she’d never heard of
As she pulled into a dimly lit back driveway, her passenger began to panic, insisting the place “didn’t look good.” No staff were waiting to receive him.
Unsure what to do, Roher called Uber’s security line
After several tense minutes, someone from the facility finally came outside, but they seemed confused and irritated.
Roher said they demanded more information and told her she couldn’t just drop the man off. Her response was simple: that’s exactly what Uber drivers do.
After leaving, she pulled over, shaken and in tears
She later called Vanderbilt to ask how an apparently unstable patient ended up in her car. Five days passed before she got an answer. When she did, hospital staff reportedly apologized and admitted it shouldn’t have happened.
Vanderbilt later told WSMV4 it maintains strict discharge protocols and is investigating the matter. Uber hasn’t responded to questions about its own safety measures. Mulberry Health and Rehabilitation hasn’t commented either.
Roher says she no longer accepts pickups near Vanderbilt’s campus, still haunted by the thought of what could have gone wrong on that ride.
