Under many hospital protocols in the United States most all patients who are deemed bedridden are heparinized with an intramuscular injection on a daily basis. The amount is very small, but I always refuse to have it.
I might add that heparin is also administered for several days before coumadin is prescribed, if they believe there is a high probability of a stroke developing from a clot.
That being said, heparin is usually administered only for the duration of the hospital stay when a patient is not able to move about.
Hubby wasn't bedridden, Physical Therapy had him up and walking around. He'd already had 2 TIA's in one day and was fine after both, even passed his Neuro checks. It wasn't until after his Angiogram and they had hooked his Heparin Drip back up that he had his 3rd TIA. And according to the Dr. that is what caused 3rd TIA plus his BP going up and down like crazy. We are getting very discouraged because of what happened.